kraftiekortie wrote:
If Ukraine lets Russia "save face," it would be equivalent to allowing Hitler to "save face" via the Munich Pact of 1938.
Yes, it was a bad deal. And therefore, for the 80+ years since and perhaps for the next 100 years, I suppose we must feel (?) duty-bound or similar to view any last-minute deal stopping a war with the highest suspicion. Obviously, I don’t think it has to be this way.
And if we really want to talk about British and French inaction, I think we ought to talk about when the Nazis re-armed the Rhineland on March 7, 1936.
This may have been the crucial turning point. And at this point, the Nazis had already been in power for about three years. But of course England and France didn’t want another terrible war so soon after the 1st World War [which at that point, was less than a 20-year generation previously].
However, I think the reason that even history textbooks focus on Munich in 1938 is that it has a juicy personality people can latch onto. Neville Chamberlain can be viewed as a fool, a simpleton, and most of all, as weak. I mean, even his first name is vaguely feminine! [although history books don’t focus on that part]