Today, 62 years ago, the West paid once again the price of peace and freedom for our time. And a very dear price it was. D-Day, 6 June 1944, marked the invasion of the European continent by the allied forces. Probably the most complex military operation in human history. Many, many lives were lost on account of that operation.
But it could have been avoided. It would have been avoided were it not for the pacifism that reigned in people's minds during the 1930's. The German rearmament was evident, the intentions of Hitler had been announced by himself (Mein Kampf). Had the European powers of that day that faced Hitler acted in time, this long and deadly war would definitely have been averted. Even at Munich, the Allies were in clear superiority over Germany.
Still, politicians and people in general were willing to avoid war at all cost. Well, history shows us that you cannot avoid a war that is forced upon you. What you can do is postpone it in your own detriment.
And postpone it was what Great Britain and France did. We all know the consequences. Hitler got real close to getting his way. Indeed, for approximately 6 million Jews, he got his way.
This is a day the West should commemorate every year, and use it to think about our time. The West is still the guardian of the Rule of Law, Liberty (in all its manifestations) and Peace. But Peace never comes free. It is costly, and if we should lose the willingness to pay its price every now and then when the bill comes, there will come a time when we will lose it.
It will be upon us whether that time is now or has yet to come. In the meantime, always remember D-Day.
2 comments:
Thanks for this post, Jaime. Speaking of appeasement let's not forget the price paid for pretending Hitler's partner in crime, Stalin, was anything other than a mad-dog killer.
Indeed. And that makes me admire Churchill even more. Not only was he the only "nut" to understand the implications of letting Hitler do away with his rearmament during the 1930s. He was also the first to predict about the dangers of Communism in Europe. With this prediction, he was also sneered, as usual. And the Cold War we had afterwards. Churchill the "warmonger" was too damn right.
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