The Lesson of Munich

In 1933, a new face appeared on the European horizon. This personality promised freedom and prosperity. He promised to bring Germany out of the debts left to it after World War I. Who was this? Adolf Hitler. Certainly he did bring Germany out of the woes of debt, but in the process put his ultimate goal into effect: Dominating all of Europe, and, later, the world.

After World War I, President Wilson and the League of Nations (precursor to the United Nations) put into effect the Appeasement Policy, which basically meant that these nations would do everything within their power to avoid war of any sort, even if it meant ignoring potentially dangerous figures such as Hitler. Although Winston Churchill, British politician and, later on, prime minister, saw right through Hitler, he was outnumbered by most of the major world leaders at the time, who saw Hitler as just one more leader who spoke large but acted in small bits.

Winston Churchill's skepticism towards this new hero of Germany would end up being validated when, upon his admittance into the German government as chancellor and the establishment of the Nazi Party and the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler began "expanding," or invading, his neighboring countries. Beginning with Austria and annexing it into Germany, he made his way through Belgium, and pretty soon was at the back door of Czechoslovakia. It was not until this point, in 1938, when he caught the eye of the rest of the world.

Surely he invaded a few neighboring countries. But their economies were weak, their people weary and their political structures in need of revamping. This was the excuse made via the Appeasement Policy. But when he began treading toward ground not associated with the German ownership, Britain stepped in. The British knew that if Hitler entered into Czechoslovakia, that meant the possible invasion of France, which was just across the English Channel from Britain.

So in September of 1938, Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler in Munich, Germany, to discuss and sign a treaty basically stating that Hitler would be able to keep what was now the Sudetenland (meaning that no one would try to take it back from him) in return for his not invading Czechoslovakia or any other countries. Hitler agreed to this, but only on paper.

In March of 1939, only six months after signing the Munich Agreement, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia then Poland. Britain was forced to declare war. These events lead up to what is now referred to as the "Lesson of Munich." The lesson itself is not to appease dangerous leaders or ignore potentially dangerous dictators, which is exactly what the Munich Agreement is guilty of doing.

Although the technology and the methods of world domination are different, there is still one key thing that every dangerous leader does: He wants the world to know that he is there and that he is not fooling around. Recently Kim Jung Il, dictator of North Korea, has been watched due to his releasing of missiles off the coast of North Korea. Although these missiles are not aimed at anyone in particular, one can see this either as his way of "testing" his missiles, or as a form of communicating to the world. However, the Lesson of Munich is to not ignore the potentially disastrous actions of seemingly weak and unprepared dictators.