Thursday, July 15, 2010

Hitler again?

There's a joke that says every internet conversation brings up Hitler within 15 posts. With that in mind, I recently read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in hopes of getting some understanding of the reality behind this frequently evoked historical bogeyman. I found out that these tired comparisons of Hitler and Chamberlain to everything that happens today need to be brought back to reality with some actual historical facts.

We already have more weapons than almost all the rest of the world put together. Hitler rebuilt his military over a period of several years, while Britain stood by, until Hitler's army was several times the size of England's There is no one like Hitler one the world scene at the moment, despite some people's willingness to see him everywhere. If another Hitler appeared, there would be plenty of time to build a larger military in response to his build up. That's all that Churchill was asking for, and if Britain had done so, Hitler would never have had a chance of conquering England. Even after the long irresponsible delay caused by Chamberlain's naivete, Britain still managed to hold off Hitler's army, and eventually beat him. It is ridiculous for the US to maintain an army of this size when there is no immediate danger, and compare this situation to Hitler and Chamberlain