We often hear the comparison of Bush’s decision to invade Iraq to Chamberlain’s decision to not stop Hitler at Munich. If only Chamberlain had the foresight to have seen what would be the consequences of his appeasement (surrender on the installment plan- Churchill) he could have averted the tragedy of the holocaust and WWII.
But Chamberlain feared the results of the last war, millions killed for reasons atomized afters years of trench warfare, until both sides were exhausted. We seemed perpetually doomed to fight the last war.
But what if we compared Bush’s decision not to Chamberlain, but to Hitler’s decision to invade Russia. When France surrendered so quickly Hitler wanted to avoid interference from Russia when he invaded England. Stalin, having purged his military leaders, led Hitler to believe Russia would go down without much of a fight.
Today in hindsight Hitler’s decision was a catastrophic mistake. While our war movies glorify the heroism of American and British forces much of the havoc wreaked on Germany came from Russia.
History will tell us whether Bush avoided the blunder of Chamberlain or committed the blunder of Hitler.
I am certainly hoping for the first.
Inspired and summarized from Aug 5 Toronto Star, Vit Wagner review of Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World 1940-41 by Ian Kershaw, Tips to Doug Ott for the e-mail.
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