Why Nazi Germany was successful
My Dear Friend of Democracy,
What can we learn from the past?
I visited the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, Poland, at the weekend.
You must go there when you are in town. It provides a thousand lessons.
One lesson I learnt is the following.
There are two simple reasons why Nazi Germany was so successful in the beginning of World War II.
One reason is because the Nazis invested heavily in their military from the moment they came to power in 1933.
The other reason is that Germany attacked countries in Europe one after the other. Every single country was militarily inferior to Germany, even though the total number of countries attacked was militarily superior to Germany.
What can we learn from this for today?
First, to fight a belligerent dictatorship successfully, you have to be united. One for all, all for one. Second, democracies must spend more on defence than the dictator's country.
Do you think today's democracies in Europe follow these simple conclusions?
See you in Europe,
Johannes