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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 19, 2023

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As far as I can see, nobody else has made this point so far, so I'll argue that if any (future) Allied government deserves real blame for not averting another world war, it is the French, for not opposing the German remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, which would have been easily justifiable legally and carried no risk.

Yes that was really the main treaty violation that should have triggered a response because it was the only real strategic threat to France and Britain. Germany taking Czechoslovakia or Austria or Danzig doesn't really do anything to change the balance of power. Sure, the Skoda Works are nice to have but they aren't going to affect the outcome of a war if Germany can't defend the Rhineland. So the one actually critical treaty provision is the one that gets ignored but then France and the UK decide to kamikaze into Germany over annexations that primarily threaten the Soviet Union. It makes absolutely no sense and I don't think they could have handled things in a less competent way.

It makes absolutely no sense

It makes sense if you think of it as them developing an evolving model of Hitler's behaviour, rather than looking at each annexation in isolation.