CCALS: The Gathering Storm

Learning Lessons from History

Tim Bouverie gave a fascinating lecture about the disastrous policy of appeasement in the mid 1930’s that emboldened Hitler to start his territorial gains that led to the Second World War.

He outlined how the Baldwin government in particular failed to act and re-arm rapidly enough, and that constantly giving into Hitler led to the disastrous Molotov- Ribbentrop pact.

He then looked at how the lack of action in the 1930’s against the Nazi’s inspired subsequent leaders to wage unnecessary wars as they mis-diagnosed the threat of not acting, due to being haunted by the spectre of being perceived as a 1930’s appeaser. 

He looked at US President Truman and the Korean War, Eden and the Suez crisis, Kennedy and the Bay of pigs, Johnson and Vietnam and Bush in Iraq. He ended with Putin and Ukraine, saying that we ironically have appeased Russia up to 2022, and that was a moment when we should have done the opposite.

He left the audience with thoughts from Churchill in 1950: Appeasement, in itself, may be good or bad according to the circumstances.  Appeasement from weakness and fear is futile and fatal.  Appeasement from strength is magnanimous and noble and might be the surest and perhaps the only path to world peace.