Quote:
Originally Posted by Theshark888
Resumption of the draft in Germany breaking the 100K army limit - reason for sanctions, not invasion
Reoccupying the Rhineland - Germany Welcomed
Ansclhuss with Austria - Austria voted in favour
Breakup of Czechoslovakia - See below
German Non-Agression pact with Soviet Union - no reason to invade anyone
Invasion of Poland - this is when we declared war!
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I've missed all this for a few days, so thanks to Swiss et al for taking it up.
Good points well made.
I wonder why it is that threads like this one always seem to end up discussing America's global exploits?
Just to reply to 'theshark888' though, (even though it hardly seems relevant now!);
20/20 hindsight and a modern perspective is all well and good, but;
It was widely felt by the mid 30's that the restrictions of Versailles were
too restrictive for what was and is a major economic european power.
Consequently when Germany exceeded the 100k limit, was virtually welcomed into the Rhineland, Austria and the Sudetenland, diplomatic agreements were the order of the day. The remainder of Czechoslovakia was, in my view 'sacrificed' to give Britain time.
Britain needed time because in 37/38, the British military was in no fit state to take on the Werhmacht in a land war, and France simply wished to stay safe behind the Maginot Line, fearing a return to the conditions of 1914-18. No-one expected Germany to simply go around this line through Neutral States.
Even when we were given time, the combined forces of France and the British Expeditionary Force were unable to hold back the Blitzkrieg tactics of Guderian and co.
This is why it surprised me that it was thought that an earlier intervention would have cost only 'a few hundred lives'.
It's highly possible that an earlier, more overt intervention (although I can't envisage what form this would have taken) would have seen a return to the attrition of 14-18, albeit more mechanised.
Britain and France could easily have lost, as they did in France in 1940, leaving them in a worse state than post Dunkirk, and either way, Hitler would still have gone for the Soviet Union.
It's clear in 'Mein Kampf' that this, together with the destruction of 'World Jewry', was his main goal in life.
What seems to be forgotten is that from June 1944, after three years of terrible attrition in the east, and the combined forces of the British Commonwealth and the US in the West, it still took almost a further year to defeat Germany.
An earlier intervention could easily have led to a much greater catastrophe, as destruction of the British armed forces on land in Europe would probably have led to Britain under Chamberlain negotiating terms with Hitler. The US would have then been unable to launch a second front from Britain.
Hitler would only then need to concentrate on Russia, and may have won. Then he could have gone on to assist his Japanese allies in the east, but only after eliminating the 'untermensch Slavs' as well as the Jewish population.
Of course this is all conjecture......
As far as the Russian pilot goes, I take the view that if any of us had witnessed the destruction of our country's men and women over three years of total war as Russians did, we wouldn't hesitate to do the same.
It's Human Nature, which isn't as nice on a fundamental level as some people would like to believe.
