As the allies evacuate Norway, and May 9 - 10 approaches with Hitler's Fall Gelb "Case Yellow," we might take note of Patrick Buchanan today on C-Span again defending his 2008 book, "Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War."
I've argued here that Buchanan's logic, while interesting, is based on several false premises. Among them are:
- A quote from David Llyod George, British Prime Minister during the First World War, speaking of the Great War:
"We all blundered into the war."No. The German Kaiser and military wanted the First World War in 1914 -- no later -- because they believed Russia was quickly becoming too powerful to defeat.
Neither Serbia, Russia nor France declared war on Germany. And, none attacked until after Germany declared war and unleashed its "Schlieffen Plan."
So the only way for the Allies to avoid prolonged war in 1914 was immediately accept defeat by Germany. - That the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty was "unjust" and thus reasonable cause for grievances leading to WWII.
No. Based on peace terms Germany imposed on countries it defeated -- i.e., Belgium in 1914 and Russia in 1917 -- the Versailles terms were totally just and expected for a defeated nation.
Indeed, Germany received the least harsh treatment of all the defeated empires.
So the problem was not "unjust terms," but rather: the Germans did not feel defeated, and soon convinced themselves they had not been defeated, indeed, had never lost a battle, and so justice naturally demanded a "round two." - A quote from Churchill: "One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called.
"I said at once, 'The Unnecessary War.'
"There never was a war more easy to stop than that which was left of the world from the previous struggle.' "Easy for Churchill to say, since in his mind (and ours) blame fell entirely on Chamberlain and his Appeasement policy.
But Buchanan wants us to shift the blame from Chamberlain's appeasement to Churchill's defense of the British Empire. - Specifically, Buchanan blames Chamberlain's war guarantee to fascist-antisemitic Poland.
And in Buchanan's mind, this reckless act, though proposed by Foreign Minister Lord Halifax and committed by Prime Minister Chamberlain was actually the fault of an out-of-favor and out-of-power MP named Winston Churchill.Well, in Chamberlain's defense, he had taken Hitler's measure, judged Hitler a untrustworthy madman, and learned from bitter experience that to appease one Nazi demand after another was simply to invite more and more unreasonable demands.
It had to be stopped somewhere, and since that could not be Czechoslovakia, it must be Poland.Chamberlain was fully prepared to negotiate minor adjustments to Versailles, but not to turn all of Europe over to Hitler.
Churchill, of course, had argued all along there was no way to appease Hitler, he must be opposed. - Buchanan claims Hitler did not want war with France & Britain, he simply wanted to restore Germany to its pre-Versailles (1918 Brest Litovsk Treaty) borders.
But that would also mean those parts of France which Germany conquered -- and in which Corporal Hitler had served -- during the First World War. Such an outcome would have converted its Great War defeat into total victory -- an outcome which millions of young French and Brits had died to prevent.
Such an outcome was unthinkable to Neville Chamberlain, and to any reasonable person since.
