Aucune!

“None!”  That was the French prime minister’s response to Winston Churchill when the British prime minister asked where the country’s strategic military reserves were located.  

France had just succumbed to Hitler’s panzers at the banks of the Meuse River, where the Germans swept to victory with little challenge.  

France had fallen.  How could this debacle have happened? 

It had its roots in pacifism. 

Between WWI and WWII, the German people were dispirited.  Their economy was in a downward spiral induced by the fall of American banks in 1929 and the reparations they were forced to pay after WWI.  In addition, their quest for national prestige had been rudely interrupted when they lost the first world war (commenced when a Bosnian Serb assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, heir to the empire).  As penance for their Neaderthal ways, the Germans signed a non-aggression treaty with their neighbors on the Continent and England.  The treaty subjected Germany to loss of a substantial amount of land, payment of reparations, a prohibition on annexation of other states, and a decrease in military forces.  The parties also signed a pact by which all would draw down their weapons and demilitarize.  The Treaty of Versailles fostered a desperate hope, carried by the toothless League of Nations, as well as people throughout Europe, that there would be no more war.  

And so, in the aftermath of WWI, an isolationist mood prevailed.  Charles Lindburgh and Joseph Kennedy were at the forefront of the complacency in America.  Their overly optimistic view undermined our national security, and the American public rallied behind public figures who had no stomach for another fight and lacked the vision to secure a real peace.  (Reagan’s “Trust but verify” would have come in quite handy here). 

As the decade wore on and the governments of Europe became populated with appeasement-minded men, Hitler rose to power in Germany with the promise that he would restore the country’s right to rule the world and recoup its losses.  Unchecked by countries which hoped against hope for continued peace, der corporal enthusiastically built up his military in direct violation of the treaty.   Those who were willing to see, saw.  The rest turned a blind eye.  While Hitler abolished democracy in his country, induced conscription, and strengthened his armaments, the world sighed and looked the other way.    

In its first offensive, the German army invaded Poland and not one country  in Europe lifted a hand to stop it.  The consequences of their indifference would soon confront them.  Czechoslovakia was next.  Then came Scandinavia, which had done its best to remain neutral.  France couldn’t be far behind and indeed, was defeated soundly and promptly by Hitler’s forces. 

These days, the soaring rhetoric of liberal politicans has convinced many Americans that the road to true peace depends upon putting down our weapons, hollowing out our military, and placing our trust in madmen whose life’s mission is to destroy our nation.   History proves otherwise.  When are we ever going to learn?  Their premise involves a high degree of moral ineptitude and naïveté, since ignoring basic human nature is what usually gets us into these predicaments.  

There are two important lessons here.  Democrats in congress are hoping the American people will forget and move on, never learning the truth about who’s responsible for our current economic mess.  But unless we analyze our past mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them in future.  

The other lesson is this:  Just because you’re a pacifist doesn’t mean your enemies are.