First published in May 2025
(Press Reader: WWII lessons critical as repeat of history risked)
On 8 May 1945, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, announced the end of the War in Europe with a speech broadcast from Downing Street. He declared a public holiday and Britain and her allies celebrated with great jubilation. Just days before, on 30 April, Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker. It was his chosen way out of a war he’d started but could never win.
Of course, Victory in Europe didn’t mean the end of the world war. This came months later, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki when Victory in Japan was declared. The formal surrender ceremony took place on September 2, 1945, six years after the outbreak of World War II.
Countless fiction and non-fiction books, movies and TV series have retold the stories of the Second World War. Too often, the focus has been on heroism but the reality we must never lose sight of is the horrific degradation of humanity, the senseless annihilation of the built and natural environment, and the long-lasting tragic and costly consequences of war.
For six years, the ambition of a crazed dictator and his followers dominated the world. What enabled him to come to power? Why did it take so long for the allies to restore peace in Europe? Why did it take two atomic bombs for the Japanese to surrender? This is the content of academic studies, but the real question is, what can we do to make sure it never happens again?
Well before the outbreak, Hitler’s sabre-rattling and the nature of his brutal regime had raised alarm at the prospect of war. In 1938, his threat to invade Czechoslovakia brought British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, to Nazi Germany. After Chamberlain’s third visit, he returned to Downing Street with an agreement that he claimed promised “peace for our time” in return for Germany annexing Sudetenland – a province in Czechoslovakia.
The following year the agreement was broken. In March, German troops occupied Prague and on 1 September, 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland, causing Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Britain brought with it the whole of the British Empire, thus Britain’s war became our war.
In May 1940, Churchill, who’d been forceful in his criticism of appeasing Hitler, replaced Chamberlain. The lesson was simple: You can’t negotiate lasting peace by attempting to appease a ruthless, power-driven dictator.
It’s an adage, but none-the-less true: If we fail to learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them. It could be argued that Phil Goff’s role as a diplomat denied him the liberty of asking whether Donald Trump understands this in his attempts to appease Putin with Ukraine territory. Equally, it could be argued that people in positions of authority with the ability to see and understand the lessons of history have a moral obligation to speak out – even if it costs them their job.
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