Lessons from a movie
Watched "Darkest Hour," the story of Churchill's selection as prime minister in May of 1940, at a time when Hitler's divisions had surrounded the entire British army at Dunkirk.
The movie was gripping because it showed how totally unprepared Britain was for war, despite everyone having watched Hitler take Poland and roll into western Europe nine months earlier. It showed how strong the pressure was by Britain's conservative establishment--the equivalent of our RINO's today--to open peace talks with Hitler rather than fight.
The previous prime minister--Neville Chamberlain--had done everything possible to appease Hitler and very little to prepare for war. In September of 1938 he had met Hitler in Munich and agreed to Hitler's demand to take over roughly a third of Czechoslovakia--without bothering to ask the residents. Chamberlain claimed Hitler had promised that if he was given the Sudetenland, it would be the last of his demands for territory--an agreement Chamberlain claimed secured "peace for our time."
Less than a year later Hitler's divisions poured into Poland and western Europe, starting WW2.
By May of 1940 Germany had surrounded 300,000 British and French troops at the port of Dunkirk on the French coast. This force constituted the entire Brit professional army, and the only French forces that hadn't already surrendered. There seemed to be no hope--due to a combination of a well-equipped, well-led German army and the poor armament and tactics of the Brits and French.
Watching Churchill trying to fight the British establishment and try to devise a way to rescue at least some of the trapped soldiers was absolutely gripping. And I thought: I've seen this, quite recently. We're living it today. Because for 8 interminable years the Democrats, led by Obama, allowed the US. military to languish. The prevailing view--by Democrat leaders, the Mainstream Media and the "elites"--was that war was unthinkable. Obsolete.
Unthinkable.
So what lessons should we have drawn from WW2? Lots. But if anyone did, those lessons were never passed down: Virtually no college student today knows a thing about any of it. I routinely ask my students who we fought, what ideologies they represented and so on. No one I've asked knows anything.
Churchill was brusque to the point of rudeness. Drank too much. Irritated lots of people. If he were alive today the British establishment would surrender before letting him take power.
If he were an American the Democrats and the Mainstream Media would shriek that he was a xenophobic, warmongering nationalist relic from a bygone era, clinging to archaic, uncool patriotism.
And I thought: Where have we heard this before? Something along the lines of "Putting America first" or "Making America great again."
Definitely uncool. Much cooler to just open peace talks with ISIS, eh? Maybe they'll be satisfied with just taking Britain. Yeah, dat's it.
Hey, it worked with that "Hilter" guy back 80-some years ago, dinnit?
The movie was gripping because it showed how totally unprepared Britain was for war, despite everyone having watched Hitler take Poland and roll into western Europe nine months earlier. It showed how strong the pressure was by Britain's conservative establishment--the equivalent of our RINO's today--to open peace talks with Hitler rather than fight.
The previous prime minister--Neville Chamberlain--had done everything possible to appease Hitler and very little to prepare for war. In September of 1938 he had met Hitler in Munich and agreed to Hitler's demand to take over roughly a third of Czechoslovakia--without bothering to ask the residents. Chamberlain claimed Hitler had promised that if he was given the Sudetenland, it would be the last of his demands for territory--an agreement Chamberlain claimed secured "peace for our time."
Less than a year later Hitler's divisions poured into Poland and western Europe, starting WW2.
By May of 1940 Germany had surrounded 300,000 British and French troops at the port of Dunkirk on the French coast. This force constituted the entire Brit professional army, and the only French forces that hadn't already surrendered. There seemed to be no hope--due to a combination of a well-equipped, well-led German army and the poor armament and tactics of the Brits and French.
Watching Churchill trying to fight the British establishment and try to devise a way to rescue at least some of the trapped soldiers was absolutely gripping. And I thought: I've seen this, quite recently. We're living it today. Because for 8 interminable years the Democrats, led by Obama, allowed the US. military to languish. The prevailing view--by Democrat leaders, the Mainstream Media and the "elites"--was that war was unthinkable. Obsolete.
Unthinkable.
So what lessons should we have drawn from WW2? Lots. But if anyone did, those lessons were never passed down: Virtually no college student today knows a thing about any of it. I routinely ask my students who we fought, what ideologies they represented and so on. No one I've asked knows anything.
Churchill was brusque to the point of rudeness. Drank too much. Irritated lots of people. If he were alive today the British establishment would surrender before letting him take power.
If he were an American the Democrats and the Mainstream Media would shriek that he was a xenophobic, warmongering nationalist relic from a bygone era, clinging to archaic, uncool patriotism.
And I thought: Where have we heard this before? Something along the lines of "Putting America first" or "Making America great again."
Definitely uncool. Much cooler to just open peace talks with ISIS, eh? Maybe they'll be satisfied with just taking Britain. Yeah, dat's it.
Hey, it worked with that "Hilter" guy back 80-some years ago, dinnit?
posted by SF at
8:46 PM
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