How Hitler still ruins peace in Europe in 2022 | Neutrality Studies
Channel: Neutrality Studies
Date: 2022-10-25

🌟In September 1938, the leaders of Britain, France, and Italy flew to Munich to meet with Adolf Hitler. The Fuhrer had demanded to receive the German speaking lands of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland. Hitler threatened war if his demands were not met. He wanted the other Great Powers—especially France, Czechoslovakia’s military ally—to pressure the Czech leaders. He got his way. Neville Chamberlin came back from Munich with a document signed by Hitler in which he infamously promised no further German expansion. Chamberlin believed he had reached “Peace for our time.” Only a few months later Hitler reneged on his promises, occupied all of Czechia, eradicating the sovereign state, and then moved on to invade Poland, starting WWII. “Munich 1938” has since become the go-to argument against so called appeasement: the idea of securing peace through concessions to an evil, expansionist power like Nazi Germany.  

Inadvertently, Hitler has ruined peace negotiations for ever, as any demands for agreements with a militarily power for the sake of preventing its intervention will automatically trigger the “Munich 1938” argument from those who believe that only force can counter force in international relations. It’s what I call, Hitler’s Long shadow. 

We see it playing out right now, as any and all voices calling for a negotiated settlement to the Russo-Ukraine war are decried immediately as appeasers, who forgot the lessons of Munich 1938. Vladimir Putin is Adolf Hitler, Russia is Nazi Germany, Ukraine is Czechoslovakia. One cannot negotiate with Hitler, the atrocities and the war that would follow later will be so much greater than the sacrifice of fighting now. Or inversely, if you want to negotiate with Putin, would you also negotiate with Hitler? Would you sell out Europe again? It's a compelling argument. For who would or could agree to bargaining with Hitler?

However, I have two objections to this argument. 

Picture Attributions
Video Stock Footage by videvo on videvo.com
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R69173 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R69173, Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs, zoomed, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Photographer/studio not provided. Public domain photo according to Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe, the national archive of Poland., Munich Agreement (Münchener Abkommen) 1938-09-30 Neville Chamberlaine showing the Anlo-German declaration ("Peace for our time"). Heston Aerodrome, west of London, England. Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe 3 1 0 5 268 3 1 111334 No known cop, zoomed, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2004-1202-505 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2004-1202-505, Prag, Burg, Besuch Adolf Hitler, zoome, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Kremlin.ru, Putin in Munchen, zoomed, CC BY 4.0
Harris & Ewing, George F. Kennan 1947, zoomed, CC0 1.0
CIA, Cuban crisis map missile range, zoomed, CC0 1.0
UnknownUnknown, Salvador Allende, 1972, zoomed, CC0 1.0
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Golpe de Estado 1973, zoomed version by Pascal Lottaz, CC BY 3.0 CL
Specialist Andrew Kosterman, US soldiers watch Iraqi paramilitary headquarter's burn Samawah, Iraq April 2003, Zoomed, CC0 1.0
United States Government, Colin Powell anthrax vial. 5 Feb 2003 at the UN, Zoomed, CC0 1.0
Nessa Gnatoush, Euromaidan Kyiv 1-12-13 by Gnatoush 005, zoomed, CC BY 2.0
Kremlin.ru, Dmitry Medvedev in Kharkov - 21 April 2010-9, zoomed, CC BY 4.0
Kremlin.ru, Normandy format talks in Minsk (February 2015) 03, zoomed, CC BY 4.0
Niele, 2014 Russo-ukrainian-conflict map, zoomed, CC BY-SA 4.0
US State Department Page on China Threat: https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-chinese-communist-party-threatening-global-peace-and-security/index.html
Cabinet Intelligence Bureau, Thirty-Second Army, Zoom, CC0 1.0
Specialist Andrew Kosterman, US soldiers watch Iraqi paramilitary headquarter's burn Samawah, Iraq April 2003, Zoomed, CC0 1.0
RT Article on Russia considering diplomacy: https://www.rt.com/news/564478-biden-putin-meeting-g20/

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How Hitler still ruins peace in Europe in 2022


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