Zonie63
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Joined: 4/25/2011
From: The Old Pueblo
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ORIGINAL: Politesub53
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ORIGINAL: Zonie63
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ORIGINAL: Politesub53
Zonie, love the way Appeasement is thrown about, what were the US doing to stop Hitler prior to 1939 ?
We didn't really see that it was our job. Hitler was your creation, not ours. He was on your continent, not ours. He was the responsibility of Europeans to deal with.
Your Government didnt see it that way, since the Fourteen Point Plan was written by Wilson.... You all knew that, right ?
Wilson's Fourteen Points were discarded at Versailles, mainly at the insistence of the French who wanted a war guilt clause. The Russians also called for peace without annexations or indemnities, but that was also rejected by the French and British.
The Germans based their surrender in WW1 on the offer that the Allies would go along with the Fourteen Points, but when they didn't do that, it sparked an angry reaction in Germany which eventually led to Hitler's rise to power.
If Britain and France had faithfully followed the Fourteen Points and pledged an honorable peace without annexations or indemnities, it might very well have turned out differently.
Regardless of what was or wasn't written by Wilson, the fact remains that the US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or the US entry into the League of Nations. So, the volcanic resentment created within Germany afterwards was largely the fault of Britain's and France's governments, not our government.
The real tragedy of it all is that the Germans actually overthrew the Kaiser, the one who was truly guilty of causing the war, yet the British and French let him off the hook and instead chose to blame those who overthrew him and sued for peace. Germany was making an honest go at democratic government, while Britain and France kept poking at them and grabbing their pound of flesh all through the 1920s. So, when Hitler rises to power, Britain and France decide they're going to appease Germany?
That's what makes the Anglo-French position all the more curious and inexplicable. They put the screws to those who would have favored a peaceful and democratic Germany, yet gave a free pass to militant nationalists like the Kaiser and Hitler.
The main reason why Appeasement was even necessary was because the British and French needed to buy time. The Germans had been rapidly building up their armaments, reached parity with Britain and France, then kept building. Britain and France were caught unprepared, which was not a wise policy if they intended to enforce the terms of the Treaty of Versailles indefinitely.
So, that was another mistake on their part. They imposed an aggressive, heavy-handed policy on Germany, yet failed to maintain the military might needed to enforce that policy.
I don't see where any of this would have been the responsibility of the United States government. We didn't see that we had any obligation to stop Hitler at that point, but even if we did, it would still have had to be done with the cooperation of Britain and France. If they were unwilling to attack Germany back then, it's doubtful they would have allowed the U.S. to use their countries as staging areas to launch an attack. Our military was also undermanned and undersupplied at the time, so we didn't have the strength to stop Germany either, not in '38 or '39.
So, to answer your question "what were the US doing to stop Hitler prior to 1939 ?" it should be noted that that's something that many Americans ask each other. That brings us back to the earlier point of why the United States acts so aggressively and unilaterally around the world. The fact is, we didn't do enough early on to stop Hitler before he got going, and that's something that weighs heavily on the American collective conscience.
Both the US and UK have since recognized that Appeasement was a mistake, so I'm not even sure why you're defending it or trying to shift the blame to the U.S.
I've already mentioned that there's a sense of remorse and guilt in the U.S. over our failure to join the League of Nations or actively take steps to stop Hitler before 1939, so Americans already blame themselves. That's why the U.S. has the policies it does now, because we don't want to make that same mistake again.
By the same token, those who oppose US interventionism and militarism around the world are seen as making the same mistakes of Appeasement. It's a bit of a false argument, since it assumes that every rogue leader in the world is "just like Hitler" (or we might hear the phrase "Axis of Evil"), but all I was trying to do was explain the historical factors and motives behind America's apparent aggressive militarism in the present day.
< Message edited by Zonie63 -- 8/1/2013 5:17:49 AM >
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