A warning from history.

[Curryman]

I'm currently reading a very interesting book, "The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940" by William L. Shirer, and came across the following quote. If one replaces the words Wilheim's Germany with Putin's Russia, and Germany with Russia etc in the text, the similarities of the problems in Ukraine today are quite startling. We never learn.

"Wilhelm’s Germany preferred to win its place in the sun on its own, chiefly by its invincible army, and its rapidly growing navy, that was threatening Britain’s supremacy of the seas. Caillaux, like his Radical-Socialist successors in the 1930s, did not learn, until it was too late, that to appease the Germans when they felt like conquerors only whetted their appetites."

 

[Lytham_fy8]

I'm currently reading a very interesting book, "The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940" by William L. Shirer, and came across the following quote. If one replaces the words Wilheim's Germany with Putin's Russia, and Germany with Russia etc in the text, the similarities of the problems in Ukraine today are quite startling. We never learn.

"Wilhelm’s Germany preferred to win its place in the sun on its own, chiefly by its invincible army, and its rapidly growing navy, that was threatening Britain’s supremacy of the seas. Caillaux, like his Radical-Socialist successors in the 1930s, did not learn, until it was too late, that to appease the Germans when they felt like conquerors only whetted their appetites."

It's nothing at all like the outbreak of WW1, we're not appeasing Putin in any way whatsoever from what I can see, a long way removed from 1914, we're also providing as much support possible to Ukraine while actively trying to avoid WW3, which in all probability none of us would survive.

 

[Mexboroseasider]

I'm currently reading a very interesting book, "The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940" by William L. Shirer, and came across the following quote. If one replaces the words Wilheim's Germany with Putin's Russia, and Germany with Russia etc in the text, the similarities of the problems in Ukraine today are quite startling. We never learn.

"Wilhelm’s Germany preferred to win its place in the sun on its own, chiefly by its invincible army, and its rapidly growing navy, that was threatening Britain’s supremacy of the seas. Caillaux, like his Radical-Socialist successors in the 1930s, did not learn, until it was too late, that to appease the Germans when they felt like conquerors only whetted their appetites."

British policy under Chamberlain was also appeasement. And that would probably have continued if Halifax had become PM instead of Churchill.

 

[1966_and_all_that]

Don't forget that in the wake of WW2 the western Europeans deliberately set themselves on a course of commercial integration in order to avoid military conflict. This continued integration has kept the EEC/EC/EU clear of conflict since 1945. Brexit shows how fragile this continent is. Yes, the Russians are wholly to blame for the Ukraine War. But the war shows how much we need to be together in order to deter this external, malicious intent.