1 00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:04,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 2: Chuck and we're just goose stepping to Jerry's orders like 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,079 Speaker 2: usual here on stuff you should do. Oh no, no, no, 5 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 2: thank you. I'm glad you cleared that up for the 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 2: new listeners who are like, oh, these guys are Nazis. 7 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 2: They hadn't realized. 8 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: No, this is I really enjoyed studying this one because I, 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: as you know, am not the biggest student of war, 10 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: so I never like sat around and watched the History Channel, 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: and this one is very much a History Channel type 12 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:44,880 Speaker 1: of episode. So I feel like I have a much 13 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,959 Speaker 1: better understanding of the lead up to World War Two. 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: And also it's amazing how much this reflects modern times 15 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: and what's going on with Russia and Ukraine for real, 16 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: for real, I kept going like, oh, oh, oh. 17 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's there's a very clear line you 18 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 2: can draw between what the Allies did to a peace 19 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 2: Hitler and what a lot of people are concerned that 20 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 2: the West is doing to appease Putin right now. And 21 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:12,759 Speaker 2: you can also see, though, I think there's another lesson 22 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 2: to be learned too, where once you kind of understand 23 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 2: what the Allies did pre World War Two, why they 24 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 2: were trying to appease Hitler, which in retrospect from our 25 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 2: position here in history, seems like the dumbest, most cowardly 26 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 2: thing you could have done. Yeah, if you understand what 27 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,320 Speaker 2: their actual reasoning was for that, and also that they 28 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 2: didn't have the benefit of hinde in sight, yeah, then 29 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 2: you can kind of understand a little more like what 30 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 2: a weird position we're in right now, you know, or 31 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 2: why people would even consider doing that to putin. 32 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: Now, Yeah for sure. Yeah, so I guess broadly we 33 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: should just say that appeasement was an official policy leading 34 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: up to World War or you know, they didn't know 35 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: there was going to be a World War Two. But 36 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: looking back once again, leading up to World War Two 37 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: that the Western Allies took where in a nutshell they 38 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: were basically like, you know what, let's sort of let Germany, 39 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: and we need to point out we're going to over 40 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: and over that they did not know Hitler was the madman. 41 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: We know him now, but. 42 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 2: No, they mistook him terribly. 43 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, they were like, let's let Germany. I think Hitler 44 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: just wants to kind of get Germany back on footing 45 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: after World War One and after the Treaty of Versailles 46 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: kind of wrecked Germany, and we need a strong Germany 47 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: in Europe, and like, let's give him what he wants 48 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,959 Speaker 1: and he says he'll stop there, and we believe him. 49 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, And like you said, they took Hitler to be 50 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 2: just like any other statesman leading a European power, which 51 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 2: was that he was a patrician colonizer who at the 52 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 2: end of the day answered to the aristocracy of his country. Yeah, 53 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 2: and that really he was more a threat to other people, 54 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: lesser people throughout the world whose lands he wanted to 55 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 2: turn into colonies. And we just needed to bring him 56 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 2: into the normal European way of doing things and Germany 57 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 2: will be back on its feet again. What was the 58 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 2: kind of the darker explanation of appeasement. Another explanation was 59 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 2: they had just been through World War One, yeah, a 60 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 2: dozen years before when all this really kind of started, 61 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 2: and no one was in the mood for a second 62 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 2: World war. So appeasement was the official policy by the 63 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 2: UK and France and then some of their supporters over 64 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: time that said, if we give you the stuff, you're 65 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 2: asking for now, we're hoping that eventually you're going to 66 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 2: reach your limit, you're going to get what you wanted, 67 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 2: and you're just going to be calm and everything's going 68 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 2: to be cool. From that point on, we won't have 69 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 2: to get in your way militarily, thus will avoid war. 70 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 2: So let's try this instead. So ultimately it was a 71 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 2: way to prevent World War Two. That was the entire 72 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 2: point of appeasement really from the outset. 73 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: Well, yeah, because I mean, at the time, like you said, 74 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: after World War One, none of these countries what would 75 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: end up being the Western Allies were in a great position. 76 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: They were still trying to build up armaments, some slower 77 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: than others. A Germany wasn't in a great position. So 78 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting. At the end, we're going to 79 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: go over a couple of like alternate histories of different 80 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: tacks that could have played out, or different plans that 81 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: they could have taken, and who knows how it would 82 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: have worked out. But I guess we should start with 83 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: the Treaty of Versailles, right, Yeah, for sure. So this 84 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: was after World War One and the Treaty of Versailles 85 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: came along and was signed, and it really it really 86 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: pounded Germany, and some historians even say like it went 87 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: too far as far as being punitive. Germany had to 88 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: reduce their army from one point nine million troops to 89 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: one hundred thousand, They had to get rid of most 90 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: of their navy, and they had to hand back territories 91 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: that it had taken over the last hundred years and 92 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: then pay hundreds of billion dollars in reparations. 93 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 2: Yeah. So not only was it like financially strapping them, 94 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 2: remember this is the time when German hyper reinflation happened 95 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 2: during the Weimar Republic, which is allion World War one 96 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,159 Speaker 2: and two. This is why. And then also it was 97 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 2: like demoralizing. It was meant to basically smack Germany down 98 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 2: and be like you're lesser. Now we're punishing you. And 99 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 2: so I saw a quote I forgot to send it 100 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:12,480 Speaker 2: to you. I don't remember who said it, but essentially 101 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 2: they said, this is not a treaty, this is an 102 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 2: armistice for twenty years. And it was somebody who looked 103 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 2: at this in nineteen nineteen and twenty years later World 104 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 2: War two broke out. Because it was so punidle, there 105 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 2: was no way that the German people were not going 106 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 2: to eventually rise up in retaliation for this, and we 107 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 2: were going to have a second World War. So a 108 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 2: lot of people point to that treaty as being the 109 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 2: thing that didn't necessarily directly lead to World War two, 110 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 2: but it laid all the groundwork to create a populace 111 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 2: that was in a vengeful mood, that would be willing 112 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 2: to support somebody with such nationalistic fervor as Hitler. 113 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's what Hitler was cooking up from the beginning. 114 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: He was basically like, Hey, we want to get Germany 115 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: back together. We need to get all of our rightful 116 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: lands basically where any Germanic peoples are and where anybody 117 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: is speaking German. And also, as we'll see, help out 118 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: any German minorities to our east, you know, which is 119 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: Russia and the Soviet Union at the time, because they're 120 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: going to come into play. And he whipped up this 121 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:18,159 Speaker 1: nationalistic fervor that everyone in Germany got behind, and that's 122 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: you know what eventually would of course lead to World 123 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: War Two. But I guess we should take it sort 124 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: of chronologically, because there were a series of appeasements starting 125 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty five, kind of one after the other 126 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 1: until finally, you know, they could take no more. 127 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, and just bear this in mind. Well, you're hearing 128 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:39,679 Speaker 2: all of these like high points of how we moved 129 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 2: toward World War two thanks to Germany. Hitler followed this awareness, 130 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 2: or this belief by the UK in France that what 131 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 2: Germany really wanted to do was climb back out of 132 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 2: from under the Treaty of Versacience, just get back to 133 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 2: where they were before. So Hiller followed that to a t. 134 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,040 Speaker 2: All of his demands, all of the aggressions that he 135 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 2: made were based on the Treaty of Versailles. And yet 136 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 2: in retrospect now we realize now these were he was 137 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 2: always going to try to go way further than that. 138 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 2: He was just playing upon the suppositions of the Allies 139 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 2: at the time. 140 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: Oh god, I mean, after studying all the stuff, he 141 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: played them for such suckers he did. 142 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 2: And what makes it a little worse though, too, is 143 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 2: he wrote all this stuff out in nineteen twenty five, 144 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 2: and top it's all laid out that push to the 145 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 2: east you're talking about where he wants to make more 146 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 2: room for German nationals that are outside of Germany, the 147 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 2: lebens Schrom, which basically says we're going to Russia eventually, 148 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 2: Like they knew this for ten years before he really 149 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 2: became a huge problem, and everybody just ignored it. 150 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, he's like I wrote a book about it, 151 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: and I guess you guys don't read German because I 152 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: basically said what I was going to do, right, all right. 153 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: So nineteen thirty five was the first sort of wave 154 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: of appeasement, and this was the Anglo German Naval Agreement, 155 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: basically where Britain said, you know what, we know that 156 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: you're breaking the Treaty of Versailles because we know you're 157 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: building up your navy even though you were supposed to 158 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: scuttle your navy and go ahead and build a new fleet. 159 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: A lot of people saw that as just sort of 160 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: an initial surrender to what Hitler wanted. But Britain knew 161 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: that they were cheating already. They had six on the ground, 162 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: specifically an agent named Carl Krueger in their U boat 163 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,720 Speaker 1: design office, which was a secret program at the time, 164 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: and they thought, hey, maybe we can get them to 165 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: build fewer U boats by endorsing them building these really big, 166 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: expensive battleships. It costs a lot of money and a 167 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: lot of raw materials, and it'll kind of kill their 168 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:43,319 Speaker 1: U boat program. It didn't exactly work. They were supposed 169 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: to build seventy two submarines and ended up building fifty four. 170 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 1: But I don't know if they were like hooray about that. 171 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 2: So yeah, that in and of itself is a problem. 172 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 2: Like this grand policy of like making them spend resources, 173 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 2: it really didn't lead to that big of a reduction 174 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 2: politically speaking. It basically said the UK was endorsing now 175 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 2: Germany breaking the Treaty of Versailles by agreeing with them 176 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 2: that Germany could build its navy back up. Yeah, there 177 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 2: was also another thing that had nothing to do with Germany, 178 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 2: but really played into this later on. France was led 179 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 2: by a couple of different appeasement pro appeasement prime ministers 180 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 2: or premiers during this time, and they were good friends 181 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 2: with Italy, and Italy invaded Ethiopia, as you'll remember from 182 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 2: our Holly Selassie episode in nineteen thirty five, and France said, 183 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 2: you know what, go with it, Italy, we don't care 184 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,839 Speaker 2: about that. Just promise us that if things go down, 185 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 2: if the S hits the Fan or le S hits 186 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 2: Lifhan you will be on our side against Germany, and 187 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,280 Speaker 2: Italy said, yes, definitely, you got it one hundred percent, 188 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 2: and then they just went and ravaged Ethiopia. 189 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, and we all know how that turned out in the. 190 00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 2: End, exactly. 191 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: That was those first two were thirty five. In nineteen 192 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:09,199 Speaker 1: thirty six, Germans west the Rhineland. They wanted to remilitarize 193 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,320 Speaker 1: that area. That again went against the Treaty of Versailles, 194 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: because that was supposed to be a buffer zone the 195 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: western part of Germany. And they had there was a 196 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: chance here to force fully respond here because they had 197 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: Czechoslovakia and Romania saying like, hey, you know, we got 198 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: your back if you want to do anything, but France 199 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: had Britain basically did nothing. 200 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 2: No Again, Frances kind of said, nah, we're kind of 201 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 2: busy with our own stuff, as we'll see, right, And 202 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 2: a lot of people also and who were heading the 203 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 2: politics in Western Europe at the time, were like, yeah, 204 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 2: good on them. Germany. They got that taken away from 205 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 2: him in the Treaty of Versailles. Let him have it back. 206 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 2: That's Germany, you know. 207 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: Yeah. 208 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 2: There was also the Anschluss, which was a different category 209 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 2: after the remilitarization of the Rhineland because this was where 210 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 2: they annexed Austria. Austria was a sovereign it was not 211 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 2: a part of Germany before World War One as far 212 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 2: as I know, Please God, don't let me be wrong 213 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 2: about that one. And Germany just said, Austria, you're now 214 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 2: part of Germany. You guys are Germanic by heritage, so 215 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 2: you're just part of Germany now. And the world just 216 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,280 Speaker 2: turned their heads and said, yeah, I guess that's fine too. 217 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 2: You know, Germany's doing it's Germanic thing. 218 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, we're going to talk a little 219 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: bit about public opinion here and there. But at the time, 220 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: this was March nineteen thirty eight, and this was Nebel 221 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: Chamberlain as PM in Britain, and the Bridge didn't want 222 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: to get involved. There was about a twenty five percent 223 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:40,840 Speaker 1: in a survey were in favor of, you know, a 224 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: determinate policy, so you know, I guess that's not aggression, 225 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: but determine. 226 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, most people were in favor of continuing to just 227 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,079 Speaker 2: kind of go along with Germany restabilizing or regaining what 228 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 2: it had before the Treaty of Versailles. Because again, this 229 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 2: is what people are thinking. But if you'll notice, we 230 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 2: started to pick up speed a little bit here, like 231 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 2: bigger things are so var to happen. That was March 232 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 2: of nineteen thirty eight when they took over Austria, and 233 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 2: then in September Hitler had been basically making speeches where 234 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 2: he was saying, hey, there's this part. He called it 235 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 2: the rump of Czechoslovakia that butts up against Germany. That's 236 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 2: really actually Germany. It's called the Sudan Land, and it's 237 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 2: just basically this mountain range. Czechoslovakia doesn't care about it, 238 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 2: but we care about it because we're reuniting Germany again. 239 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,440 Speaker 2: So we want that and we're going to go take it, 240 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:32,319 Speaker 2: whether you want us to or not. And Neville, Chamberlain 241 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 2: and PM Edouard de Dalier all ran to Mudich to 242 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 2: meet with Hitler on his own ground and said here, 243 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 2: what do you want. Well, let's make a deal. 244 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, And Hitler said, well, I've told you what I want. 245 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: I want this northwestern part of Czechoslovakia. We call it 246 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: the Sudetan Land. And they said, all right, you can 247 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 1: have that, but you got to promise, like, you know, 248 00:12:56,679 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 1: put your hand on this Bible, raise your right hand, 249 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: and you got to promise you to do anything else. 250 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 1: In Czechoslovakia. That's it. It stops there. And this is 251 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: where things are really I feel like echoing what's going 252 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: on in Ukraine like a putin. You know, eventually you're 253 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: going to get this stuff that you've conquered, but you're 254 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,959 Speaker 1: going to stop there, right, And that's what happened back then. 255 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: The Czechs were an ally to France. In Britain at 256 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: the time, they were not even invited to the summit, 257 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:27,400 Speaker 1: again echoing things that we see going on today. And 258 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: at the time there were even some German generals that thought, 259 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 1: like early on in September thirty eight when this happened, 260 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: they were like, hey, listen, if the Allies get behind 261 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: Czechoslovakia here, we could be in trouble. So there was 262 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: some kind of bluff calling happening basically, but Britain kind 263 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: of said no, let's let them do this, and they 264 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:50,360 Speaker 1: steered France to do the same and pressure Czechoslovakia to submit, 265 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:51,080 Speaker 1: and that's what happened. 266 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, and Czechoslovakia is like, fine, they can have the 267 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 2: sue date and land. We weren't even invited but we'll 268 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,360 Speaker 2: go along with it because our ally, France is telling 269 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 2: us to keep in mind, an ally is not just 270 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 2: like we're friends with you, we think you're pretty cool, 271 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 2: and ally means like you usually have some sort of 272 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,200 Speaker 2: documents or treaties saying, Okay, somebody tries to take part 273 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 2: of your country, we're going to come back you up militarily. 274 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 2: And when the Chips came down, France said no because 275 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 2: Great Britain was steering them. And one other point about 276 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 2: all this that's kind of hidden in there. Great Britain 277 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 2: was in a position to steer France because you could 278 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 2: make an argument that it was still the world's superpower. 279 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 2: The Empire was on the wane, but still by the thirties, 280 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 2: twenty five percent of the global population and twenty percent 281 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 2: of the earth's land masks were under British control. So 282 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 2: Britain was in a global position to basically set the 283 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 2: stage of how to deal with Germany, and the UK 284 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,680 Speaker 2: decided appeasement was the way to go, so everybody else 285 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 2: kind of follow it along. 286 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So that's September of thirty eight. They 287 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: give them the you know, they say you can have 288 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: this portion of Czechoslovaki as long as you promise not 289 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: to go in seven months later in March of nineteen 290 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: thirty nine, and he went into the rest of Czechoslovakia 291 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,360 Speaker 1: just like he wrote in his book basically, so you know, 292 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: Hitler renigged on that promise of course to leave Czechoslovakia 293 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: the rest of it alone. And that was like the 294 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 1: real decisive moment because I think I feel like that's 295 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: when Hitler was probably like, man, these guys are are 296 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: cowards and they're letting me do whatever I want. And 297 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: very quickly thereafter that was March of thirty nine. September 298 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: of thirty nine is when he invaded Poland, and then 299 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: it was on. 300 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, and even before he invaded Poland, once he renegged 301 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 2: on the Czechoslovakian deal, the Munich Agreement, he showed the 302 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 2: world like you like I'll tell you whatever you want 303 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 2: to hear, I'm not going to back it up. So 304 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 2: he immediately destroyed the policy of appeasement. Like appeasement policy 305 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 2: had about as much traction as like yesterday's non winning 306 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 2: lotto ticket that you'd find in the gutter, covered in 307 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 2: gum and maybe a little bit of blood from somewhere Yeah, 308 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 2: like that was appeasement. After we'll put after the invasion 309 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,359 Speaker 2: in Czechoslovakia, I got there eventually. 310 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know, Poland was invaded, and that's really 311 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: what kicked off. Like the beginnings of World War two. 312 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: Hitler tried to provoke war with Poland by saying, hey, 313 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: I want Danzig, not the band, no, but still the 314 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,400 Speaker 1: city of Danzig and Prussian territory that was granted to 315 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: you in nineteen nineteen after World War One. We feel 316 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: like it is ours. And Britain and France, you know, 317 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: they made guarantees to Poland at the time. But in August, 318 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: it was pretty shocking at the time, the Nazis and 319 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: the Soviets signed a pact to partition Poland out and 320 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: basically said you come in from the east, we'll come 321 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: in from the west, and Poland is ours. And two 322 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. 323 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 2: Yep, and I think that is a great place to stop. 324 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, boy, what a robust set up. 325 00:16:53,440 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 2: We'll be right back, So chuck where we left off. 326 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 2: Hitler had just invaded Poland and the UK and France 327 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 2: declared war on Germany. It took a lot what that 328 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 2: showed everybody was that appiasement was dead. The whole policy 329 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 2: had just shifted down to either containment or out and 330 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 2: out war now that they had had declared war. But 331 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:45,360 Speaker 2: this was like there was a lot of reasons for 332 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,680 Speaker 2: appeasement to have been tried. We talked about some of them, 333 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,199 Speaker 2: but a big one was the UK was really holding 334 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 2: on to that that world's greatest superpower status as hard 335 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 2: as they could, and another world war put that in 336 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 2: like real Shepard put him in a precarious position. 337 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they were, you know, everybody was trying 338 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: to rearm themselves, like I said earlier, since World War One. 339 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 1: Some a little quicker than others. I think the United States, 340 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: as will learn, wasn't making the greatest rearmament effort because 341 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,719 Speaker 1: Congress is kind of chilling the purse strings back when 342 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,879 Speaker 1: they could do stuff like that. But the writing was 343 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: on the wall for the UK. They were like, we 344 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: were not in any position, even though we're supposedly the 345 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,959 Speaker 1: world's greatest superpower to fight Germany, Japan and Italy all 346 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:35,639 Speaker 1: at the same time to prevent them from expanding their territories. 347 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: Like that's just not a possibility. And we might have 348 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: to enter an alliance with the US. If worst comes 349 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,560 Speaker 1: to worse, we might have to enter into an alliance 350 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: with the USSR. And that's just gonna make them, I mean, 351 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 1: that's gonna lessen their their their stance and their power 352 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: worldwide if they have to do stuff like that. 353 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,679 Speaker 2: Yeah, and with their their prestige or power lessened like 354 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:02,880 Speaker 2: on world stage, that's the kind of thing that can 355 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 2: spark decolonization movements. So they were worried about Jamaica, they 356 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 2: were worried about India, they were worried about Nigeria. All 357 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 2: of a sudden, being like the UK has overextended itself, 358 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 2: now's the time to declare independence from the UK. And 359 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:18,359 Speaker 2: not just the prestige that was lost, but more to 360 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 2: the point, the resources or aw materials, all the stuff 361 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 2: that Great Britain extracted from these colonies that would be 362 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,199 Speaker 2: lost as well. So what Great Britain wanted was no 363 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,120 Speaker 2: war please, at least in part to preserve its empire. 364 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 2: Other people who were in the British Parliament and the 365 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 2: government basically said, we're going to have to go to war, 366 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 2: it's inevitable, but we're supporting appeasement right now because we 367 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 2: need to stall for time to rearm ourselves, like you 368 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:47,159 Speaker 2: were saying. 369 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,679 Speaker 1: Right, which, as we'll see, also allowed Germany to do 370 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: the same yea, either through rearmament by building things or 371 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: by storming Czechoslovakia and all of a sudden they had 372 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: all their stuff. But appeasement was popular for a long time. 373 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: Throughout most of the nineteen thirties. The public didn't want 374 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,680 Speaker 1: to go to war again. They were shaking off of 375 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: World War One hangover. Still, no one wanted to go 376 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,879 Speaker 1: to a war that was more technologically advanced, like pretty 377 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: rapidly since World War At the end of World War One, 378 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: for a second World War, I think in nineteen thirty seven, 379 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: sixty two percent of British men said they wouldn't volunteer 380 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 1: and seventy eight percent of women said they would not 381 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: urge their husbands to go fight mm hm. And even 382 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,440 Speaker 1: after the Munich Agreement, when Czechoslovakia was left hanging out 383 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: to dry, seventy five percent still approved of appeasement in 384 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: Great Britain. 385 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 2: Yes, and so there was like a lot of anti 386 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 2: war anxiety. Apparently people had died by suicide, there were 387 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:52,680 Speaker 2: mental health problems. All of the appeasement pro appeasement sentiment 388 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 2: was also bolstered by the Times and I believe the 389 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 2: BBC two, which portrayed Hitler as a moderate, basically saying 390 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 2: like it could get way worse than that, let's just 391 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 2: deal with this guy. And then the reason why this 392 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,959 Speaker 2: matters is because at the time Britain had recently enfranchised 393 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,719 Speaker 2: it's women, like more and more people were voting, so 394 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 2: the public opinion about stuff mattered more and more to 395 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 2: the people calling the shots politically. And we'll also see 396 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 2: that also turned the politician's views against appeasement as public 397 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 2: opinion changed on appeasement. Two. 398 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, and you know there was a string 399 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: of pms that were all for it. Neville Chamberlain was 400 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:34,000 Speaker 1: the third British PM. He was in there from thirty 401 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 1: seven to forty during this time of appeasement, so it 402 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 1: wasn't just Chamberlain. I think he's kind of There's two 403 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,160 Speaker 1: things I feel like from Great Britain that are remembered 404 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: is and you know, it depends on how you want 405 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: to look at it, but I think a lot of 406 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 1: people eventually framed Neville Chamberlain as a coward and Winston 407 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,159 Speaker 1: Churchill as a hero because he was one of the 408 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: only ones that was like this guy Hitler, like, I 409 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 1: don't think you guys see the right on the wall here, 410 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: He's not going to stop and this appeasement thing is 411 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:03,400 Speaker 1: no good. 412 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,919 Speaker 2: Yeah. And he also, I mean he still alone basically 413 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 2: in his party. The conservatives were like, yeah, we're all 414 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 2: pro appeasement at least at the time. So he definitely 415 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 2: stood on his own in France. France also had lost 416 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 2: a lot of people and a lot of money in 417 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 2: World War One and was not very eager to do 418 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 2: a redo of it. But they were still anti Germany. 419 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 2: Like France was not a friend of Germany. They did 420 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,880 Speaker 2: not want to be friends of Germany. Their alliances were 421 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,159 Speaker 2: against Germany. But ultimately, and this is what's crazy to me, 422 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 2: it was racked by far right and far left internal 423 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 2: political conflict. 424 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 1: Yeah at the time, yeah, yeah, they were kind of 425 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 1: in an inter stalemate almost, right. 426 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 2: And so they were whether they wanted to be or not. 427 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 2: They were fairly drawn into domestic affairs rather than foreign affairs, 428 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 2: and it wasn't until Edouard d' laudier became Prime minister 429 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 2: that they really started to branch back out into foreign affairs. 430 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 2: But even then they were pretty pro appeasement, so they 431 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 2: didn't really have much of a stomach for going into 432 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 2: a second World War, understandably, but they didn't feel like 433 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 2: they were in a place to do anything, so essentially 434 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 2: they just went on the defense. They did not they 435 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 2: weren't going to go into a policy of containment or 436 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 2: anything like that. 437 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,480 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, as far as the US goes, at the time, 438 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,919 Speaker 1: we had FDR in there, Roosevelt was in there, and 439 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: he endorsed appeasement, like officially, he endorsed the Munich Agreement. 440 00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: They were into isolationism at the time and trying to 441 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 1: stay neutral. And we were also in no position militarily because, 442 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: like I mentioned, we were kind of you know, we 443 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: were also depleted by World War One and moving along 444 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 1: a little slower than even other eventual Allied countries because 445 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: Congress was kind of pulling those purse strings a little 446 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: tight as far as building the military back up. 447 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that you can make a case 448 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 2: that any country that was involved in World War One 449 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 2: really lost its appetite for war after that, like, yeah, 450 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,360 Speaker 2: to an amazing degree, understandably for sure. And then there 451 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 2: was another group of pro appeasers who was the Britain's aristocracy, 452 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,479 Speaker 2: and the reason why is because they wanted things to 453 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:17,879 Speaker 2: just basically, let's just go back to where we colonize 454 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 2: other places. And really it's the aristocracy running things. And 455 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 2: we're all related, and I'm your cousin, you're my cousin, 456 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,359 Speaker 2: and we're all three somehow married, but we all run everything. 457 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 2: We're all just crazy rich let's keep doing that. And 458 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 2: they saw Hitler as somebody who could help keep that 459 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 2: kind of status quo or get back to that kind 460 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,880 Speaker 2: of status quo. The group that was opposed to Hitler though, 461 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 2: they were the Soviets, and they were communists, and the aristocrats, 462 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:50,360 Speaker 2: who enjoy wealth inequality do not typically like communism more communists, 463 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 2: so they wanted to steer Britain away from any kind 464 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:56,679 Speaker 2: of alliances with the USSR that could support communists or 465 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 2: socialists in Britain and their causes, and more towards Hitler 466 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:04,359 Speaker 2: because Hitler's policies kind of jobbed with the aristocracy's views 467 00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 2: a little more. 468 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean they were sort of actively courting 469 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: one another because they saw Hitler as somebody who could 470 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:13,760 Speaker 1: you know, like you were saying, kind of let them 471 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: keep their their lifestyle in check right and Hitler in 472 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: Germany did nothing to make them think otherwise. You know, 473 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: they were playing on those peers of communism for sure. 474 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: They're like, you know, you got a lot of dough. 475 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: You know what happens when communism happens, And that, you know, 476 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: sent a chill through the British aristocratic scene. 477 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. They were known to say, croiky. 478 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:37,920 Speaker 1: Right, break time or shall we go on with Churchill? 479 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 2: Give me a break, Chuck, break me off a piece 480 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,160 Speaker 2: of that ad break bar, Oh. 481 00:25:44,000 --> 00:26:10,120 Speaker 1: Boy, we'll be right back all right. So that might 482 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 1: have been the best ad segue ever. 483 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:13,399 Speaker 2: With the R. 484 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: So I just I didn't see an allusion to kit 485 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: kat oh in this episode. 486 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:21,479 Speaker 2: Thanks all right. 487 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: So we mentioned Churchill sort of briefly before. Churchill was like, 488 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: we said, one of the sort of few outspoken dudes 489 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,399 Speaker 1: that was like, no, we can't do this. He visited 490 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,919 Speaker 1: Germany in nineteen thirty two and he was like, these 491 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: Nazis mean business. I don't think you guys understand what's 492 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: happening here. And he said, if we can see to Hitler, 493 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 1: things are going to get much worse. We have to 494 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: re arm ourselves, you know, quicker and get those factories 495 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,359 Speaker 1: to work. But you know, that's the kind of thing 496 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,120 Speaker 1: that can wreckon economy. So that's if people are wondering, like, well, 497 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 1: why didn't they all just rearm as fast as they could, 498 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: it's because it costs a ton of money and people. 499 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: So it's not great for the economy to have to 500 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,159 Speaker 1: build that war machine backup. But he was founding the 501 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:01,959 Speaker 1: drum to do so. 502 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and his whole take on Hitler, including the Munich Agreement, 503 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:09,240 Speaker 2: which he called a total and unmitigated defeat. This is 504 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 2: where the Allies went to Hitler and said, we'll let 505 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 2: you have part of Czechoslovakia, just don't invade the rest 506 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,679 Speaker 2: of Czechoslovakia. He like, when Neville Chamberlain came back to 507 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,959 Speaker 2: the UK, he was like basically waiving the agreement and 508 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,400 Speaker 2: saying he had negotiated a peace for our time that essentially, 509 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 2: like aggression from Germany was done. We were all going 510 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 2: to live in peace again. And it lasted a year 511 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 2: before we were at war with Germany. So it made 512 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:36,400 Speaker 2: Chamberlain look pretty bad. It made Churchill look like very 513 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 2: foresightful and exactly the kind of guy that you would 514 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,439 Speaker 2: want to fight Hitler. So essentially, after they got rid 515 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 2: of Chamberlain, the UK went to Churchill and said, you 516 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 2: don't like Hitler. We understand that we don't like Hitler 517 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 2: anymore now and so Europe. 518 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know a lot of people said that 519 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: was his aim, was to increase his political profile, and 520 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 1: you know who knows it. That was his aim, but 521 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: it worked. He took overs PM in nineteen forty after Chamberlain, 522 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:09,199 Speaker 1: like you said, and he wanted he basically later on 523 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: was like, hey, if we would have had a policy 524 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: of deterrence instead of appeasement, we might have prevented this 525 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: war to begin with. You know, Britain and France should 526 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: have strengthened our relationship, and that was our best hope 527 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:23,680 Speaker 1: was maybe to form what he called a grand alliance 528 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: with the Soviet Union, even in eastern European countries. But 529 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: the Soviet you know, there was a lot of distrust 530 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,920 Speaker 1: of the Soviet Union, especially you know, like we mentioned 531 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: the aristocracy who wanted to hang on to their pounds, 532 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: and of course what Stalin was doing, you know, they 533 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: didn't trust that either. So he was not going to 534 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: get support from the British or the French to sort 535 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: of be tougher. 536 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 2: No, but as we'll see later, it was not a 537 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 2: bad plan. Could have changed things dramatically. Yeah. One of 538 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,959 Speaker 2: the other things that made Churchill such a strident voice 539 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 2: about opposing Germany is that he had intelligence. I guess 540 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 2: as a Minister of Parliament, he had men on the inside. Yeah, 541 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 2: and he had an intelligence report from somebody in Germany 542 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 2: saying that Germany had a mean spirit of revenge, brutality, 543 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 2: amounting in many cases to best reality and complete ruthlessness. 544 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 2: And this is at a time when Chamberlain and Daladier 545 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 2: are basically saying, like, Hitler's our friend, we just need 546 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 2: to keep keep negotiating with him. He's getting reports about 547 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 2: how they're just brutal and ruthless, and those panned out 548 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 2: to be true. 549 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,760 Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh. We mentioned FDR in the US earlier that 550 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: officially they supported a peacement because they would not, you know, 551 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: sign any kind of formal agreement with the UK or France. 552 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: But on the inside, the administration was definitely trying to 553 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: kind of say, hey, UK, you gotta you got to 554 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,400 Speaker 1: change your stance here. You gotta, like Hitler means business 555 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: and only your military can can deter this guy. At 556 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: this point, but on the outside they were, you know, officially, like, hey, 557 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 1: we're not involved. This appeasement sounds pretty good to us. 558 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: And like we said, you know, the people of Britain 559 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: were largely for it, and most of the people were 560 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 1: didn't want to go back to war until the Crystal 561 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: Knacht on November nineteen thirty eight. That's when Germany, you know, 562 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: for the first time, attacked its own citizens and destroyed 563 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:26,080 Speaker 1: Jewish businesses and synagogues, killed about one hundred Jews and 564 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: arrested about one hundred thousand. And that's when the public 565 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: at large, kind of all around the world was like, oh, okay, 566 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 1: that's what this guy's about. This cannot stand right. 567 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 2: And remember now with the UK having all of these 568 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 2: new voters, their opinion mattered, so that helped change things too. 569 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, I wish I knew how to say too late 570 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: in German. 571 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 2: You don't. You didn't learn that in high school. 572 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: No. I was trying to think of I. 573 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 2: Can think, can you sound it out letter by letter? 574 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:57,239 Speaker 1: No? 575 00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 2: Oh wait, you'd have to know the word to do that. 576 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,240 Speaker 1: No. I remember what Canuts in the Mouse did and 577 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: at Hans Peter's house because I remember reading that chapter 578 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 1: over and over and over. 579 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 2: What did he do? 580 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: I really don't remember, but that the my friend Rad 581 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 1: and the cartographer in Montana. He'll be the only person 582 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: in the world that gets that joke, because it was 583 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: just a lot of stuff about canuts in the mouse 584 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,840 Speaker 1: and his owner Hans Peter, who was you know that 585 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: German textbook stuff? 586 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,800 Speaker 2: Okay? Was that like the German high school classes equivalent 587 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 2: of the Little Prince in the French Probably gotcha, I 588 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 2: understand exactly what you mean. 589 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:37,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fun on a big show like this to 590 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: make a joke for one human. 591 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 2: So why not. So there's one other group, chuck that 592 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,640 Speaker 2: we didn't talk about what they thought of a peace man. 593 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 2: That was the Nazis themselves in Hitler, and they loved it. Yeah, 594 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 2: probably not a big surprise. They saw it as a 595 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 2: clear sign of weakness by the world's leading powers, that 596 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 2: they that Hitler in Germany could do whatever it wanted 597 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 2: and France and the UK were just gonna bow their 598 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:08,360 Speaker 2: knees and their heads in front of Hitler and the 599 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:12,440 Speaker 2: people of the of Germany itself also picked up on 600 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 2: this too, like Hitler had, remember, he had taken power. 601 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,800 Speaker 2: It wasn't like you know he wasn't fully supported yet. 602 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,120 Speaker 2: There was like a courtship period that was still things 603 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 2: were up in the air. But when he came back 604 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 2: and said, I got back the Rhineland, I got back 605 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 2: to dayton Land, I got us Austria. What's next, you know? 606 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 2: And I did it all without a single shot fired. Yeah, 607 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 2: these guys just gave it back to us because that's 608 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 2: what they think of Germany. With me leading it, the 609 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 2: German people just went nuts. And Hitler was was the guy. 610 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: He was Derfer. 611 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 2: That was the day Hitler became der Feurer. 612 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it, man, You just walked off of a 613 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 1: History Channel show. You dropped the mic in the sound 614 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: studio and left. One thing we can say is that 615 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: appeasement did achieve the aim of rearmament. That was kind 616 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,000 Speaker 1: of one of the goals, Like we said a few times, 617 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: is that, you know, everyone was trying to put this 618 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: off so they could build back up their war stock 619 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,520 Speaker 1: or whatever, and that happened. Britain spent less on arms 620 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: than Germany did from nineteen thirty five to nineteen thirty nine, 621 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,240 Speaker 1: but they had the highest proportion of their GDP devoted 622 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: to building up their armaments in nineteen forty, and in 623 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty they rebuilt the navy to the you know, 624 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 1: once again the world's strongest navy. Shout out to British Seapower, 625 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: one of my favorite bands. And early on, you know, 626 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,480 Speaker 1: they had outpaced Germany. And you know, we're going to 627 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: talk about the alternate histories here shortly, like what if 628 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,800 Speaker 1: they had done something. They're in a pretty good position. 629 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: They between Britain and France. Their coalition had a five 630 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: to one armament superiority over Germany early on and France. 631 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: The fallow of France in nineteen forty apparently, and I 632 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: don't know enough about this stuff, but from what I've read, 633 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: it wasn't because they were unprepared and didn't have enough 634 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: bombs and things. Apparently it was about poor leadership at 635 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 1: that point. 636 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 2: Yeah. I couldn't find enough by that myself to speak 637 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,080 Speaker 2: confidently on it. All I know is that France did 638 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 2: not put up much of a fight from what I 639 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:14,839 Speaker 2: remember from the history books. Yeah, well, let's talk about that, Chuck, 640 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,799 Speaker 2: Let's talk about those alternate histories, especially with the view 641 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:22,040 Speaker 2: of armament. Because Neville Chamberlain, when he basically couldn't get 642 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 2: a coalition government together anymore after Hitler rinegg Don the 643 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 2: Munich agreement, and he was replaced like we saw with 644 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 2: by Winston Churchill in nineteen forty. That same year he 645 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:36,720 Speaker 2: died of cancer after Chamberlain was removed. But he spent 646 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:40,840 Speaker 2: that time basically saying like I bought us time. Appeasement 647 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 2: bought us time to rearm. And he's right, like you 648 00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 2: showed like Britain did have a chance to rearm. But 649 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,360 Speaker 2: there was a really critical window that we know about 650 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:56,320 Speaker 2: now where that policy of appeasing in order to rearm 651 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 2: didn't make sense, and that was about nineteen thirty to 652 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty nine. And the reason was is because France 653 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,680 Speaker 2: and the UK were rearming at a rate close to 654 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 2: Germany and were actually even overtaking it a little bit, 655 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:13,280 Speaker 2: and they could have put up a fight against Germany 656 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 2: and probably one especially together combining their stuff in nineteen 657 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:21,000 Speaker 2: thirty eight. By nineteen thirty nine things had changed. Germany 658 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 2: had gone even further overdrive into war production, but more 659 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:29,239 Speaker 2: to the point, they had taken over Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia had 660 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,400 Speaker 2: all sorts of munitions factories. Czechoslovakia had all sorts of 661 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:36,480 Speaker 2: people you could could script into free labor aka slave labor. 662 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:39,839 Speaker 2: There's all sorts of stuff that happened when they took 663 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 2: over Czechoslovakia and it tipped the balance whipped way up 664 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,640 Speaker 2: in favor of Germany's military after that. So that period 665 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,360 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty eight to nineteen thirty nine, appeasement did the 666 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 2: exact opposite, and it made the war way worse than 667 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 2: it would have been had the UK and France said 668 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 2: this is as good as going to get we gotta 669 00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:58,200 Speaker 2: go now. 670 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,440 Speaker 1: Well yeah, and you know, it also possibly made the 671 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:05,280 Speaker 1: war worst and a lot of people say it definitely 672 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:07,800 Speaker 1: made the war worse than it would have been because 673 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty Britain's holding out against Germany and they're 674 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: both seeking resources all around the world that you needed 675 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:19,480 Speaker 1: to get to win a world war, and that just 676 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,960 Speaker 1: expanded the war basically made it into a global thing, 677 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: a much larger thing than it might have been otherwise. Right, 678 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,680 Speaker 1: deterrence might have avoided all of that if they would 679 00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:31,359 Speaker 1: have formed a grand alliance and bonded their powers early on. 680 00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,600 Speaker 1: You know, because I mentioned earlier there were even generals 681 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:38,719 Speaker 1: within Germany's it's kind of a bluffing game. Like, hey, 682 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,839 Speaker 1: if these guys get together, like, we're not the best 683 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,560 Speaker 1: position right now. And so while they were buying time, 684 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:48,880 Speaker 1: it helped Germany increase their war chest. And yeah, that's 685 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:50,800 Speaker 1: the rest is history. 686 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,600 Speaker 2: Right, But speaking of alternate histories, there were other options 687 00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 2: that the UK had on the table, and now speaking 688 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:02,080 Speaker 2: about them, like in retrospect, it's mind boggling to even think. 689 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,880 Speaker 2: But the first one's a little more understandable or palatable. 690 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:09,520 Speaker 2: Had the UK simply just not declared war after Germany 691 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,120 Speaker 2: invaded Poland, that was an option to them on the table. 692 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:14,879 Speaker 2: They didn't have to do it. France had already set 693 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,960 Speaker 2: the precedent of not backing up Czechoslovakia when it was 694 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 2: taken over by Germany. The UK could have just not 695 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,440 Speaker 2: done that too. And one thing that could have backed 696 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:28,640 Speaker 2: this up, that could have supported actually that position in 697 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 2: the UK just sit back and let it play out 698 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,600 Speaker 2: on its own, because it was inevitable essentially for the 699 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:40,560 Speaker 2: USSR in Germany to clash because of that Lebenschrom policy. 700 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,719 Speaker 2: That policy of the East actually belongs to Germany and 701 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 2: we're going to go take it right. 702 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:50,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know that played out by eventually with 703 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: Operation Barbarossa with the invasion of the Soviet Union in 704 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:57,640 Speaker 1: June nineteen forty one. Some people say like, and you know, 705 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,839 Speaker 1: of course this sounds completely ridiculou to think up now 706 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,879 Speaker 1: with hindsight. But some people are like, you know, the 707 00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:08,960 Speaker 1: UK could have allied with Germany early on. They I mean, 708 00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:11,600 Speaker 1: I think one of the reasons they didn't. It's not 709 00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:13,759 Speaker 1: because they knew this Hitler guy was a madman. Again, 710 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,040 Speaker 1: that came later. It was because of the colonies that 711 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:17,880 Speaker 1: you were talking about that they had all over the world, right, 712 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,120 Speaker 1: Germany also had colonies all over the world, and they 713 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:27,719 Speaker 1: had a conflict. I think Britain wasn't gonna say here, 714 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: why don't you, why don't you take our African colonies? 715 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:34,520 Speaker 1: And Germany definitely didn't like the way Britain looked at race. 716 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:37,719 Speaker 1: They had a pretty different idea on that. And so 717 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:40,360 Speaker 1: if they had any kind of alliance, they would have 718 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 1: had surrendered their liberal imperialism and they really weakened their 719 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,120 Speaker 1: status as in international superpower. 720 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, they would have had to fall in line with 721 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,440 Speaker 2: basically the way Germany viewed the world. Yeah, just wrapping 722 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:55,880 Speaker 2: your mind around that is not easy to do. Like 723 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:59,640 Speaker 2: the UK doing that, and Kyle, who's our man on 724 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 2: the end in the. 725 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,600 Speaker 1: UK, right, Yeah, he's right in I six agent exactly. 726 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:06,240 Speaker 2: He pointed something out that I thought was pretty interesting 727 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:08,440 Speaker 2: too that he basically said, the fact that Crystal knocked 728 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 2: and the news of what the Germany had done to 729 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:14,960 Speaker 2: its own Jewish citizens, Yeah, how that turned British public 730 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,719 Speaker 2: opinion just basically showed like, even if Britain did try 731 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 2: to allie with Germany, it was never going to work out. Yeah, 732 00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:23,640 Speaker 2: it was probably the least likely of all of it. 733 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 2: And then also, Chuck, you can't help us being Americans 734 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:29,719 Speaker 2: to wonder could America have sat out World War two? 735 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:34,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we declared war after Pearl Harbor on 736 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:39,759 Speaker 1: Imperial Japan. That followed or following that, Germany declared war 737 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,560 Speaker 1: on US in December nineteen forty one, and you know, 738 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:48,319 Speaker 1: maybe we could have evaded getting involved in the European theater. 739 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: We definitely got mired in the Pacific theater with Japan. 740 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:55,640 Speaker 1: We weren't really It's not like the US wasn't on 741 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,200 Speaker 1: the Nazis radar, but we weren't really a big part 742 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:00,640 Speaker 1: of their foreign policy in the nineteen thirties. Yet right, 743 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,120 Speaker 1: because again, isolationism was kind of our bag at the time. 744 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:07,120 Speaker 1: Our army wasn't very big. We had in nineteen forty 745 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,560 Speaker 1: we had five divisions compared to Germany's one hundred and 746 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:14,319 Speaker 1: forty one. And Congress definitely was not going to like 747 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:18,439 Speaker 1: get behind Roosevelt entering the European theater at the time. 748 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,560 Speaker 1: So there were a lot of reasons why it looked 749 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,080 Speaker 1: like the US maybe could have avoided that mess. 750 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:29,799 Speaker 2: Yeah, but historians say probably we were going to get 751 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:32,000 Speaker 2: drawn in one way or another, because, like you said, 752 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:36,080 Speaker 2: Germany did declare war on the US essentially to show 753 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 2: Japan like, hey, we're in this together. You guys, just 754 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:40,759 Speaker 2: handle the US. So that was going to happen, whether 755 00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:43,120 Speaker 2: we tried to stay out of it or not. And 756 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,960 Speaker 2: then he also knew that we were a threat and 757 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:51,120 Speaker 2: that we would eventually be online armament wise to really 758 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,960 Speaker 2: make a significant contribution. He predicted by nineteen forty two. 759 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,560 Speaker 2: I think we started before then. And then even more 760 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 2: than that, Roosevelt was already giving permission for US battleships 761 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:06,160 Speaker 2: to shoot and destroy U boats that were operating in 762 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:09,719 Speaker 2: the Atlantic because they had started targeting American shipping and 763 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,439 Speaker 2: Hitler was not very happy about that, So the US 764 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:14,680 Speaker 2: was probably not going to be able to stay out 765 00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:15,479 Speaker 2: of World War two. 766 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:16,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. 767 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:21,600 Speaker 2: The alternate history, I guess that gets meatchuck is was 768 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 2: the earliest when Germany remilitarized the Rhineland and flagrant violation 769 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:31,680 Speaker 2: of the Treaty of Versailles. Had the UK and France intervened, 770 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:35,239 Speaker 2: this is nineteen thirty six. I mean, imagine if they 771 00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,840 Speaker 2: had just done something then and contained Hitler then, and 772 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,759 Speaker 2: remember there was this courtship period or whatever, where you know, 773 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:46,080 Speaker 2: Germany hadn't really wasn't really sure about Hitler at the time. 774 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,280 Speaker 2: Had he been undermined that thoroughly on the international stage, 775 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:52,320 Speaker 2: who knows would have happened to him as the leader 776 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,960 Speaker 2: of Germany, right, And they could have done something because 777 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,239 Speaker 2: at the time France had one hundred thousand troops near 778 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 2: the border with Ryanland. Germany only moved thirty five thousand 779 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:07,040 Speaker 2: troops into the area. Prints could easily repel that and 780 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:09,480 Speaker 2: been like, it's your move, Germany, what are you gonna do? 781 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:12,879 Speaker 2: And Germany might not have done anything. And even if 782 00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:17,480 Speaker 2: Hitler had done something, it probably would have been against 783 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,840 Speaker 2: the advice of his military advisors. So now he would 784 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,759 Speaker 2: have personally been taking Germany to war. That's a lot 785 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:28,719 Speaker 2: to seek your reputation on. And that one thing in 786 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,640 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty six could have completely avoided the death of 787 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:36,399 Speaker 2: tens of millions of people and it didn't do it 788 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:40,239 Speaker 2: because of internal left right politics. 789 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 1: Wow, oh man, that that was good stuff. Like this 790 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:46,239 Speaker 1: is my favorite kind of stuff. You should know when 791 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:50,240 Speaker 1: forty five minutes later, like I know, probably one hundred 792 00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:52,279 Speaker 1: percent more than I knew before about World War Two. 793 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:55,400 Speaker 2: Very nice, Chuck. Yeah, I didn't know almost any of 794 00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:58,359 Speaker 2: this either. I love that stuff too. And I know 795 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:00,479 Speaker 2: we just talked about the US and in the UK 796 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,560 Speaker 2: and France's alternate history. But if you want to come 797 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:05,680 Speaker 2: up with an alternate history of for World War Two 798 00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:09,160 Speaker 2: in your country, let us know, hit the history textbooks 799 00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:11,439 Speaker 2: and come back with what you got. And we'd love 800 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 2: to get that kind of thing. In the meantime, while 801 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:16,800 Speaker 2: we're waiting for your listener mail, we'll listen to Chuck 802 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:18,520 Speaker 2: with a new listener mail. 803 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, somebody just sends this man in the High Castle 804 00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:27,919 Speaker 1: no plagars and please, which I never saw or read. 805 00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:30,319 Speaker 2: I didn't either, but it's supposed to be pretty good. 806 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:32,239 Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe I'll check that out at some point. It 807 00:43:32,239 --> 00:43:33,520 Speaker 1: sounds like it'd be right up my own. 808 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:35,960 Speaker 2: It's too depressing for me, that kind of stuff. That Yeah, 809 00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:39,640 Speaker 2: and like things that normalize billionaires, I can't take it anymore. 810 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:45,880 Speaker 1: Like d Snyder, All right, what is this? This is 811 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:49,560 Speaker 1: from Chris? Oh yeah, this is just a nice thing. Hey, guys, 812 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:53,000 Speaker 1: wanted to write in for a while now. First of all, 813 00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:55,160 Speaker 1: I always appreciate the wide variety of topics you cover, 814 00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,160 Speaker 1: especially the ones born of your own natural curiosities. As 815 00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:00,560 Speaker 1: a former middle school science teacher, I saw my primary 816 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:03,400 Speaker 1: role as instilling curiosity in my students and modeling for 817 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:06,399 Speaker 1: them how to chase those curiosities, and your approach really 818 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: resonates with me. But the one thing I didn't pay 819 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:10,880 Speaker 1: enough attention to back when I was in the classroom 820 00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:13,239 Speaker 1: was the art of communication that you guys display in 821 00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,280 Speaker 1: every episode. If I still had a classroom full of students, 822 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,280 Speaker 1: I would use your show not only for the content, 823 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:22,120 Speaker 1: but also for lessons in respectful communication. So much discourse 824 00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:24,600 Speaker 1: we hear today is loud and angry and doesn't give 825 00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:27,239 Speaker 1: people space to express themselves without being interrupted, mocked, or 826 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:31,400 Speaker 1: refuted somehow, you guys seamlessly pass the baton of communication 827 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:34,799 Speaker 1: to one another without speaking over one another, contradicting each 828 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:39,520 Speaker 1: other's in complete thoughts or negotiating the communication flow through 829 00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:42,319 Speaker 1: general awkwardness. Even when one of you have a follow 830 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,080 Speaker 1: up comment that may provide a differing or correcting perspective, 831 00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:47,200 Speaker 1: you always give space for the other to finish their 832 00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:49,879 Speaker 1: thought before weighing in, and the follow up comments are 833 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:54,520 Speaker 1: thoughtfully delivered and received. Thanks so much for all you do. 834 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:58,000 Speaker 1: I appreciate your authentic, respectful delivery of interesting content. You 835 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:00,880 Speaker 1: guys keep my brain awake and smiling. And that is 836 00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:05,879 Speaker 1: from Chris Christine Sewell in Bloomington, Illinois And Chris. One 837 00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:09,880 Speaker 1: of the reasons is because we almost always agree with 838 00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:12,600 Speaker 1: each other on this stuff. I disagree, so it makes 839 00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:13,680 Speaker 1: it kind of easy. 840 00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:17,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure. And that's something that still kind 841 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:20,440 Speaker 2: of surprises me to this day, where like just our 842 00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:25,560 Speaker 2: common view is so in step with one another. Where 843 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,200 Speaker 2: I mean, like there's so many things that are different 844 00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 2: about It's like our personalities are pretty different. 845 00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:31,960 Speaker 1: Bladly different. 846 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:34,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say, will we sure, I'll go with that, Okay, 847 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,000 Speaker 2: But when you come down to like, what do you 848 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:38,360 Speaker 2: think about this? What do you think about this? What 849 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 2: do you think about that? It's generally in the same 850 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:43,640 Speaker 2: not even ballpark, in the same hot dog stand of 851 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:44,480 Speaker 2: the same ballpark. 852 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think the show would have worked for 853 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:48,520 Speaker 1: so long if you and I just were sort of 854 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:50,719 Speaker 1: at odds over every little thing. And I think that 855 00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,960 Speaker 1: stuff that Christine is talking about too is so much 856 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,360 Speaker 1: of media today is set up to do that because 857 00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:59,200 Speaker 1: that gets ratings, I guess. So they'll put people that 858 00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:01,320 Speaker 1: they know have different viewpoints and put them down in 859 00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:03,080 Speaker 1: chairs next to each other and that's just like. 860 00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:07,000 Speaker 2: The Yeah, but it's like the Simpsons taught us, if 861 00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:10,480 Speaker 2: you just don't look, it'll eventually go away. So you 862 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,120 Speaker 2: don't like that kind of media, just don't watch it. 863 00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:14,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed. 864 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:17,120 Speaker 2: Well, thank you Chris. That was really really nice. We'd 865 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,960 Speaker 2: love hearing that kind of stuff. That's just a really 866 00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:21,960 Speaker 2: kind email, and we thank you for it. If you 867 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:23,840 Speaker 2: want to be like Chris and send us a kind email, 868 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,440 Speaker 2: we are always open to receiving one of those. You 869 00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:32,520 Speaker 2: can send it off to Stuff Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. 870 00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:35,520 Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For 871 00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:39,799 Speaker 1: more podcasts, My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 872 00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:41,760 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.