Chamberlain
Everyone needs reminders of Neville Chamberlain every now and again so that such fools are never again given positions of power (actually, it's too late for "never again" but perhaps "as rarely as possible").
For those who have forgotten their history or had lousy teachers for it in public high school, Neville Chamberlain was prime minister of Great Britain from 1937 to 1940. Most of you remember him as an appeaser of Hitler and for his "peace in our time" speech. He returned from Germany on September 30, 1938, after making an agreement with Hitler which surrendered the Sudetenland (a portion of Czechoslovakia bordering Germany, the population of which was predominantly ethnically German) to the Nazis, waved the paper with the agreement over his head, and stated "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
If that quote weren't bad enough (peace wasn't close, and there wasn't any semblance of honor), he committed several more fallacies.
In March 1939, Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain made some noise, but, in essence, did nothing. He then "guaranteed" Polish independence, but that was as much because of public outcry as because of anything else.
During the summer of 1939, Chamberlain was still offering diplomatic concessions and major industrial loans if Hitler agreed to behave.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Chamberlain's government declared war on Germany. Then, [moment of suspense building here] it did nothing. No major attacks on Germany. Not really any minor attacks. They did start a blockade. A group of two dozen bombers was sent to attack part of the German navy, but the ships were tied to the dock, where civilians might be, so they didn't bomb. German fighters shot down ten of the unescorted bombers.
On April 5, 1940, Chamberlain declared "Hitler has missed the bus." During that month, he also wrote to his sister, "The accumulation of evidence that an attack [in the west] is imminent is formidable ... and yet I cannot convince myself that it is coming."
On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
On May 10, 1940, Germany launched its western campaign (against Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France). Chamberlain resigned as prime minister the same day.
There are those who say that Chamberlain only pursued appeasement because the British were not prepared for war. His delays in military preparement, his rhetoric to the people, and the evidence we have of his private thoughts all show what sheer poppycock that is, though.
There are still those in government today that suffer from the same mental disease that Chamberlain did. Those who think that toppling the Taliban and/or capturing Osama bin Laden would have been enough as far as the "war on terror" was concerned, those who view the terrorist threat as mostly a crime-fighting problem, and those who thought that we should have had no response to the attack of 9-11 all suffer from this intellectual impairment. Mostly, it affects members of a certain political party of the Left, though it also shows evidence of its presence in Pat Buchanan, Bob Novak, and certain others. Certain fights cannot be avoided; they must be joined and true leaders recognize that.
For those who have forgotten their history or had lousy teachers for it in public high school, Neville Chamberlain was prime minister of Great Britain from 1937 to 1940. Most of you remember him as an appeaser of Hitler and for his "peace in our time" speech. He returned from Germany on September 30, 1938, after making an agreement with Hitler which surrendered the Sudetenland (a portion of Czechoslovakia bordering Germany, the population of which was predominantly ethnically German) to the Nazis, waved the paper with the agreement over his head, and stated "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
If that quote weren't bad enough (peace wasn't close, and there wasn't any semblance of honor), he committed several more fallacies.
In March 1939, Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain made some noise, but, in essence, did nothing. He then "guaranteed" Polish independence, but that was as much because of public outcry as because of anything else.
During the summer of 1939, Chamberlain was still offering diplomatic concessions and major industrial loans if Hitler agreed to behave.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Chamberlain's government declared war on Germany. Then, [moment of suspense building here] it did nothing. No major attacks on Germany. Not really any minor attacks. They did start a blockade. A group of two dozen bombers was sent to attack part of the German navy, but the ships were tied to the dock, where civilians might be, so they didn't bomb. German fighters shot down ten of the unescorted bombers.
On April 5, 1940, Chamberlain declared "Hitler has missed the bus." During that month, he also wrote to his sister, "The accumulation of evidence that an attack [in the west] is imminent is formidable ... and yet I cannot convince myself that it is coming."
On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
On May 10, 1940, Germany launched its western campaign (against Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France). Chamberlain resigned as prime minister the same day.
There are those who say that Chamberlain only pursued appeasement because the British were not prepared for war. His delays in military preparement, his rhetoric to the people, and the evidence we have of his private thoughts all show what sheer poppycock that is, though.
There are still those in government today that suffer from the same mental disease that Chamberlain did. Those who think that toppling the Taliban and/or capturing Osama bin Laden would have been enough as far as the "war on terror" was concerned, those who view the terrorist threat as mostly a crime-fighting problem, and those who thought that we should have had no response to the attack of 9-11 all suffer from this intellectual impairment. Mostly, it affects members of a certain political party of the Left, though it also shows evidence of its presence in Pat Buchanan, Bob Novak, and certain others. Certain fights cannot be avoided; they must be joined and true leaders recognize that.
posted by DC | 4:03 AM
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