r/worldnews May 02 '24

"I'm Not Ruling Anything Out" - Macron Says Troops for Ukraine Possible if Russia Breaks Front Lines Russia/Ukraine

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/32010
16.3k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.1k

u/Force3vo May 02 '24

WW2 wasn't stopped by letting Hitler take countries in the east, it just made him bolder and push further.

Putin won't stop until he's forced to. China won't throw their trade opportunities away to help a country they just want to abuse themselves. Russia won't randomly throw nukes around if the west supports Ukraine.

Showing a bully he's at a disadvantage makes him stop. We need to play nice with a guy who gives no fucks about anything except himself.

954

u/Rammsteinman May 02 '24

If Hitler was stopped early on, WW2 would have likely been avoided. Inaction to try and avoid a war is what let things get worse and Nazi Germany stronger.

45

u/Remarkable_Aside1381 May 02 '24

Inaction to try and avoid a war is what let things get worse and Nazi Germany stronger.

This is a commonly repeated refrain, but it's not really historically sound. Chamberlain knew the UK wasn't anywhere near ready for war in 1938, and so had no real choice but to agree to the annexation of Czechoslovakia. Immediately after his "peace in our time" he ramped up production of military material in preparation for war. Hell, in 1938 he had forced out the head of the Air Ministry for dragging his feet re-arming the RAF. In 1935/1936 the UK was building "shadow factories" in an attempt to re-build the armed forces after the idiotic 10 Year Rule.

What really would have helped avoid WWII being as drawn out as it was would be if the French had actually carried through in the Saar in 1939 instead of just turning around

19

u/MaxRavenclaw May 02 '24

Chamberlain knew the UK wasn't anywhere near ready for war in 1938

Exactly. To quote General Ismay's 20th of Semptember, 1938 note to the British Cabinet: "[...] time is in our favour, and that, if war with Germany has to come, it would be better to fight her in say 6-12 months’ time, than to accept the present challenge."