It was 70 years ago on March 31 when Great Britain committed the fatal blunder that led to World War II: issuing a war guarantee to Poland. This was the war, as Pat Buchanan says in his recent book, Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War, that “led to the slaughter of the Jews and tens of millions of Christians, the devastation of Europe, Stalinization of half the continent, the fall of China to Maoist madness, and half a century of Cold War.†Buchanan’s book is essential for understanding why World War II was so unnecessary.
So begins my article on The New American website. You can continue reading here.
Off topic..but is there a winner for the book naming contest/suggestion?
Fine essay: Think of all the triggers we have with all our world wide treaties. That doesn’t even include Israel, to which we have no treaty obligations, but surly would fight and die for. Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan and all the America firsters were right about all our imperial wars.
Alliances are a source of weakness, not strength. They draw you into affairs not of your own concern. Countries lose their ability to act as “free agents”, reacting to events as they see fit. The Kaiser didn’t give a swagger-stick about Serbia, but found himself drawn into a continental war because of his “blank-cheque” promise of support to his ally Austria-Hungary, a decision he didn’t think through and soon regretted. Look how Switzerland and Sweden were able to remain neutral in BOTH world wars. When countries, especially smaller countries, know they have allies to back them up they get much more obtuse in their dealings with other states. The United States doesn’t even have the ‘advantage’ of reciprocity in its alliances. An attack on our “ally” South Korea would involve America in a distant war. There is no chance that South Korea would come to America’s aid to help repel an Canadian attack on the USA. America has bought a pig in a poke with all these burdensome alliances – and didn’t even get the pig!
Great comment Andy! Alliances are dangerous because they have the potential to act as a conveyer belt for war. They can draw a major power into a catastrophic World War over some stupid ethnic conflict similar to what happened in WWI. A major step to avoid entangling the people of the United States in anymore foriegn wars would be to terminate the multiplicity of alliances the foriegn policy elite of the US government have entered into over the years. A good place to start would be with NATO.
Perhaps as great a mistake was the decison to declare war on Germany in 1914. Britain should have avoided war with Germany altogether.
heh Britain was a Global Empire.
The biggest blunder was right there … being another stupid empire, feeling you’re all powerful and making people want to emulate you.
At least most of the growth occurred BEFORE Great Britain was a democracy. That’s an excuse America doesn’t have.
Probably the biggest blunder in British history was Vortigern inviting Hengest and Horsa to help fight other British chieftains.
Blaming the UK for Mao’s triumph over Chiang Kai-shek is a blunder, alright, but one by the self-styled historian.
Lester Ness
Kunming
China
can anyone guess gordon browns biggest mistake?
hint, it happened back in 2000 and involved their central bank
selling off the gold ? .
anders- you got it. The guy from goldline radio show the other day said that was when he started telling people to buy. when central banks start doing weird stuff.
The ICC is targeting African Leaders. Why so when these Bush’s Blairs,and the people of Israel comiting war crimes. And no one is taking them to the ICC. God sees if we africans are stupid and senseles the creator is not. So the creator of mankind sees. Small time it will soon be over.
Good point, pjelil. It will be a cold day in hell before we see war criminals like Bush in the dock. “War criminals” is not necessarily hyperbole, as Bush’s aggressive war against Iraq is a prime example of what the Nuremberg Tribunals condemned. But victors never put themselves into legal jeopardy.
An even greater blunder was Britain’s alliance with Belgium which dragged it into WW1. America’s unnecessary entry into that pointless carnage served only to amplify the ensuing madness. Without WW1 there would have been no Soviet Union, Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. There would have been no depression, no unbacked dollar, no WW2, no cold war, no military industrial complex and no Israeli tail wagging the American dog.
All our ongoing economic nightmares and the leviathan state’s assault on our liberty and property can be traced back to that day in 1914 when Western civilization put a gun to its head and pulled the trigger.
America never should have gotten involved in the Great War. Woodrow Wilson has much to answer for.
Bush and Blair accused Basheer of Sudan of genocide and accepted that 200,000 people were killed as a matter of fact.However,they claimed that the study that showed that about 600,000 Iraqis were killed as a result of their invasion of Iraq was unaccurate!Not to mentiom the millions who became refugees.
Lear K,
I think Barfur is for people who want to have human rights bonafides but who don’t want to talk about Iraq or Gaza.
Good to know about this article to post the information about the blunder in British history. thanks for share this information.