Hello! Hello! Hello! Welcome to episode 42 of We Don’t Talk About P-word.
This week, I am going to tell you a story. It is, of course, a story of history. It is an important story that affects the whole world, not only the United States. It is an important story because it provides context. It is an important story because if we fail to remember history, we are doomed to repeat it.
I’m praying we can avoid that doom.
Our story starts at the end. The end of a war, that is. On June 28, 1919, the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles. This signaled the official end of World War I. It is of note that the United States did not sign this treaty. There were several reasons, but it largely stemmed from the President only seeking consent not advice. It would be more than two years before an official treaty of peace existed between the US and Germany.
Some viewed the Treaty of Versailles as more concerned with punishment than peace. The German people certainly saw it that way. The most astounding aspect is that the peace talks did not include Germany. The result was a treaty imposed on the losers. That is always sure to breed resentment.
Now, many of you may be thinking they lost, so they deserved it. Maybe you are right. Maybe they deserved blame for the atrocities of the war, but if you believe that only one side in any conflict is responsible for all the atrocities… Well, you are either naïve, uninformed, or purposely ignorant. I’m hoping it’s uninformed.
The problem is that when you punish a country for the actions of its leaders, you create bitterness. You create generations of people who hate those they view as their oppressors. You create a populace itching for revenge. You make a nation ripe for a dictator’s pickings.
After long and tense negotiations, the Allies agreed to the treaty. It required Germany to take full blame for the war. If you know anything about the start of World War I, you know that's not true. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife was the catalyst. His murder and secret treaties would plunge Europe into war. Germany was neither responsible for the assassination nor the ultimatums issued.
The treaty required the abolishment of the monarchy and established a German republic. It limited Germany’s ability to raise and equip a military in four ways:
	Limited the number of troops
	Forbade conscription
	Severely limited their navy
	Forbade an air force
The treaty also took close to 45,000 square miles of German territory. Here, 8 million German citizens lived. Lastly, it required Germany to pay restitution. The total was $33 billion, or roughly $587 billion today. The total amount would be reduced later, but the bill still wasn’t paid off until 2011. You heard right, 2011, only twelve years ago.

The war left the German people embarrassed. The treaty left them full of resentment. French General Ferdinand Foch would comment on the peace they imposed. “This is not peace; it is an armistice for 20 years.” He was eerily correct.
Things went bad for Germany quickly. They had financed the war on credit and lost many of their working-age men to the war. This would have a negative impact on their economy. The German people became incensed as hyperinflation took hold. They blamed the new government. Many in positions of authority encouraged this sentiment. 
The German High Command controlled the remains of the German military. They encouraged the big lie that Germany didn’t lose the war. They placed the blame on the oh-so-scary “other”, the crux of all bigoted propaganda. They blamed Jews, socialists, and communists for the situation Germany found itself in. The message was that Germany would have won WWI if not for these unpatriotic “traitors.” It was a message of hate and contradictions.
Germany limped along for the next decade. The Allies reworked their reparations, lowering the total amount. They only saw minor improvements in their economy. In 1929, an economic calamity devastated the world. The Great Depression would drive the German economy into poverty. The mark (their currency) became practically worthless. Children were using them to make kites.
Adolph Hitler, fresh from prison after leading a failed coup, rose to prominence. He became the leader of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, also known as the Nazi Party. (If you want to know why this party was neither socialist nor for the worker, check out episode nine.) They promised to tear up the Treaty of Versailles and resurrect the economy. The Nazi party gained control of the German legislature. The then President Paul von Hindenburg did not like or trust Hitler. The feeling was mutual. Hitler had lost to Hindenburg in the 1932 election. Even though the Nazi party held the most seats, he refused to name him Chancellor. After a couple of failed Chancellors, he relented. With reluctance, he named Hitler as Chancellor with a promise from non-Nazi legislators. They claimed they could keep him under control; they were wrong.
The Chancellor was a secondary executive position to the President. It blurred the lines of who was in charge. In this position, he began to merge power. He raised a secret force that swore an oath to Hitler, not to Germany. This force is known as the SA or brown shirts. Most of their leaders would later be murdered on Hitler’s orders. He did this to strengthen his control of the military, which saw the SA as a threat. It is remembered as the Night of the Long Knives. The world would come to remember the atrocities of their successor, the SS.
He declared himself the Fuhrer (or supreme leader) of Germany. He spread the idea of the racial superiority of the pure German Aryan race. He regaled the nation with the failures of the German republic. He pledged to expand the borders for the great German race to expand. In speeches, he promised the people that he would make Germany great again.
Don’t believe me? Check out The St. Louis Star and Times newspaper from, February 24, 1940. They printed one of his speeches in full. You can find it digitized online.
Hitler used manipulation to get on Hindenburg’s good side. This wasn’t hard, as Hindenburg hated the same people Hitler did. As Chancellor, Hitler would support disarmament and peace in front of the world. Behind the scenes, he had other plans. His attempts to calm the world were nothing more than a stalling tactic.
A reluctant legislature resisted Hitler’s attempt to claim more power. In February of 1933, the Reichstag burned down. This is the German parliament building. It would be like burning the US Capitol. A victim of arson, it was blamed on a Dutch communist movement. This provided grounds to arrest all communists and socialists serving in the government. This would silence their voice. Later, evidence would suggest the fire was set by the Nazis themselves.
In March, with the support of Hindenburg, the legislature passed the Enabling Act. This was in essence an amendment to their constitution. This act allowed the German Ministry (or cabinet) to rule by decree. The legislature could not override their directives. The law was designed to sunset in four years. It would be renewed twice. Through this act, Germany would become a one-party state under the Nazi party.
In early 1934, Hitler withdrew from the feckless League of Nations. This was a precursor to the United Nations created by the Treaty of Versailles. It was the brainchild of President Woodrow Wilson. The League of Nations was weak and failed for many reasons. The most significant is that the United States never joined. Congress never gave its support. Hitler also began to secretly militarize Germany. Trivia time! This secret militarization would give the world Volkswagen. In August, Hindenburg died in office. With the military’s consent, Hitler combined the offices of President and Chancellor. Hitler was, for all intents and purposes, the democratically appointed dictator of Germany.
As I said, the League of Nations was toothless. The League was created to serve as a barrier to future wars. Like NATO today, it existed on the premise that an attack on one member was an attack on all. That only works if you are willing to back up that commitment. Under the League’s watch, nothing seemed protected. The Japanese invaded China in 1931 and 1937 without repercussions. Italy invaded what is modern-day Ethiopia in 1936 with no consequences. In 1939, Italy annexed Albania. Germany, Italy, and Japan would enter treaties. This was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. No one batted an eye.
The US had returned to a state of isolation. The United Kingdom and France, with no stomach for more war, had adopted a policy of appeasement. They hoped that, by tolerating Hitler’s small aggressions, Germany would settle down. The League’s dismissal of these acts only emboldened those prone to aggression.
In 1936, Hitler stationed troops west of the Rhine River. This was another blatant violation of the Treaty of Versailles. In early 1938, Hitler marched troops into Austria. A vote the next day annexed Austria. The military threatened and killed to coerce Austrians to vote in favor. These actions resulted in 99.7% voting to support annexation. Soon after, appeasement continued. An agreement was signed to cede a part of the Czechoslovak Republic. The major powers agreed to give the primarily German-speaking Sudetenland to Germany. In 1939, Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. This pact sent shockwaves through world leadership. Part of this secret pact divided up eastern Europe.
The board was set.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the west. A treaty with Poland forced France and the United Kingdom’s hand, so they declared war on Germany. The Soviet Union began its attack from the east sixteen days later. In less than a month, Germany and the Soviet Union had forced a surrender and divided Poland. World War Two had begun.
World War Two would be fought throughout Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific for the next six years. (To be 100% factual, there was a single campaign in North America, too. The Battle of Attu has an interesting story all its own. You should check it out.) To date, World War II is the largest and most violent military conflict in human history. Millions of people lost their lives. This included nearly 15 million military personnel and more than 38 million civilians. (Accurate civilian numbers are hard to determine.) Of those, more than 418,000 Americans paid the ultimate price to defend the world from fascism.
Major cities like Berlin, London, Prague, and Tokyo were reduced to rubble. The cost to rebuild was monumental. The United States provided close to $13 billion under the Marshall Plan to rebuild. That is over $165 billion today. That doesn’t include what it cost to wage the war. That number rises well over $4 trillion today.
War isn’t cheap, in lives or dollars.
You might be asking yourself, “Why has he spent the last ten minutes telling us how World War Two began?”
Because... we have forgotten.
When we forget history, we doom ourselves to repeat it. As we get further and further from a historical event, it begins to look smaller in our rear-view mirror. As monumental and horrendous as it may have been, it begins to loom not so large. The consequences are not as readily recalled. The atrocities become easier to dismiss. 
Distance allows us to forget they happened. Time allows us to pretend it can’t happen again.
The truth is that we are still seeing the repercussions of this war today. The truth is that there are lessons we must remember. Otherwise, we doom ourselves to repeat the mistakes of our past.
Appeasement was not the answer then. It isn’t the answer now. American isolation has never proven a successful long-term policy. It isn’t today, either. We learned these lessons after World War Two. Unfortunately, it seems We the People have forgotten.
Thirty years ago, a dictator and would-be conqueror decided to enlarge their territory. They decided to take their neighbor’s land. This dictator faced weak opposition as they marched into the small neighboring state. Within two days, Kuwait was an occupied territory. The United States immediately sent troops to help defend our allies. In less than a month, Kuwait was annexed. For the next six months, Kuwait existed under occupied rule. The UN attempted diplomacy. Diplomacy failing, a US-led coalition drove the Iraqi military from Kuwait. We liberated the people of Kuwait and We the People knew we did the right thing. Where has our sense of freedom and democracy gone?
Unfortunately, we would return under false pretenses. Whether you believe the result was worth it or not. We waged an eight-year war to remove a dictator and restabilize the region. These wars cost us more than 4,500 American lives and more than $775 billion. 
Almost two years ago now, a would-be conqueror entered a neighboring country. He looked to rekindle his empire. Actions show it may have even been an attempt to enact genocide. At the very least, the International Criminal Court alleges his actions are criminal.
This would-be conqueror faced stiff resistance. To date, they have had little success. This would-be conqueror took plays from the dictator's playbook. They held annexation votes in the small territories they managed to hold. They spread lies of a fascist Nazi government to legitimize their conquest. They throw lives away in the interest of conquest.
This entire situation is connected to World War II. Many Russians look back at the end of World War II as the high point of Russian society. The fight to defeat the Nazis and push Germany out of their territory brings pride. Ukraine was an occupied territory during the war. There was a stiff resistance movement, but for a time Nazi Germany controlled Ukraine. Many Ukrainians were collaborators. Like many in France and other occupied countries, they worked with the Nazis. Putin uses this argument to strengthen his hand at home more than legitimize it to the rest of the world. Ukraine’s history of leaders isn’t perfect, but in this world, who is?
The United States, like many other nations, has invested in protecting democracy. To date, we have spent $75 billion in the interest of democracy in Ukraine. Relatively speaking, that is a small sum to keep World War Three at bay. But that isn’t the most important number. The most important number is that we have lost zero American servicemen and women in Ukraine. Sadly, this one madman’s thirst for power has cost 500,000 Ukrainian and Russian lives. This number will only grow as it continues and more accurate numbers get reported. If not our sense of freedom and democracy, maybe we’ll listen to the dollars and cents.
Let me see if I can sweeten the pot for you. To do so requires us to understand how this US funding works. Sure, some of it is dollars given to Ukraine to manage the war. But much of that funding goes to improve the US economy. Some of it even helps to modernize and update our own military. That total number includes the cost of equipment and supplies given from our own stocks. These are things like tanks, personnel carriers, ammunition, and body armor. We then turn around and spend that money on equipment to replace it. We may be giving another nation billions in funding. That money largely remains in the United States. Even if we weren’t protecting democracy from a mad tyrant, we would enjoy the money spent on our economy.
I get it, I agree with your horrified look. This is an insensitive way to look at the money we have provided Ukraine. But, from my experience, too many Americans don’t respond to empathy. Maybe a few dollars and cents can make it make… well, sense. Even if we double the $75 billion over the next two years, it is cheaper than the cost of the Gulf Wars. It is exponentially cheaper than fighting another world war. If no amount of money can make you see the sense of supporting Ukraine, how about American lives? Supporting democracy in Ukraine costs no American lives. You can bet if we appease Adolph… I mean, Vladimir Putin, it will only be a matter of time before it costs American lives.
This is true in Israel, as well. This conflict is also connected to World War II. Not quite in the same way, but Israel exists because of what happened during World War II. For centuries, the Jewish people have been used as scapegoats around the world. They have endured slavery, forced relocation, and ultimately a holocaust. Forced out of their homeland thousands of years ago, they were a people without a home. This made them easy to vilify and blame. This propaganda and bigotry would lead to the massacre of six million Jews.
The world created the state of Israel in 1948 to provide the Jewish people with a home. It was a complicated issue then, and it is a complicated issue now. Many Middle Eastern nations do not believe they have a right to exist. They believe that Israel was forced upon them. But like all people around the world, they deserve safety and happiness. I am not saying their methods are always right or even the best. After a campaign to exterminate them, we must accept their right to defend themselves.
But we cannot ignore the plight of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people are much like the Jewish people before World War II. They are a people without a state. They are a people persecuted because of bad actors in their midst. Most do not support Hamas, but they can’t say it. They live in a totalitarian state where the punishment for dissent is death. This isn’t hyperbole. 
The Palestinian people suffer in poverty. Their government spent billions to build tunnels to murder Israelis. Now, they suffer as their government uses them as human shields. 
This war is complicated. I pray that they can find a solution for the sake of the innocents. The US must remain involved. Not to control, but to be the angel (or at least not the devil) on the shoulder warning the players against bad actions. They must remain in the position of protecting the innocents of both Israel and Gaza as best they can. Whether that council is heeded or not will need to be seen. It is important to note that we cannot force any country to do what we say.
Before you say it, no, we cannot abandon them either. Like I said, it is complicated. If we abandoned them, more than Hamas would attack. We cannot even threaten it. It would be a hollow threat. They know that we cannot do it. It makes no sense in the lives that would be lost. It makes no sense in the world destabilization it would create. It is not an option. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be closely watched for war crimes. Punish the offenders, not the People.
That’s a lesson we should have learned after World War I.
Hitler counted on apathy. He counted on us not caring about other people. He counted on us to not care about people who look, think, and love differently than we do. He counted on us not to care about the elderly or the disabled.
That’s where we find ourselves today.
Americans have the attitude that “If it doesn’t affect me, it’s not important.” Americans walk by the homeless on our streets, pretending they don’t exist. Americans ignore the hungry begging for scraps. Americans dismiss the sick and elderly who die because they lack healthcare. Americans applaud as women and LGBTQ rights are threatened and taken away.
Is this who America is? Have we become this heartless? Is this who we have always been?
If this is who we are, today’s effort was to highlight the tangible costs of defending democracy. The point was to show that funding someone else’s war is much cheaper than fighting our own. The lives lost, the money spent… It’s like car maintenance. When that check engine light comes on, you can either take it to the mechanic or ignore it. But you can bet, if you ignore it, the long-term costs will be more than the preventive costs.
When Putin put troops on the border of Ukraine, that was when the engine light came on. We chose to try to keep the long-term costs low and invest in Ukraine’s defense. The cost to Americans is minimal at this point. If we pretend it isn’t happening, that cost will only grow, but that growth will include American lives.
Now if you want to talk about runaway government spending, I’m all about that. In fact, that needs to be part of an independent president’s agenda. We must address how much of and where we spend the People’s money. We cannot do that at the expense of democracy and stability around the world. The long-term costs are too high.
We are a nation built on the ideals of democracy. We cannot abandon democratic nations to the whims of a nostalgic dictator. We must protect the People… all the People.
If you can’t get behind that, then we must protect our wallets. We must protect our sons and daughters. It would have been a lot cheaper to stop Hitler at the Rhine than to fight World War Two. A few million dollars, a combined show of force…
If the Allies had it to do over…