Between The
Wars
Still on the theme that to understand where you
are today, we must understand how we got here... Often it is the actions of the
generations past that give us our attitudes, prejudices & culture... So I
will concentrate on that time between the wars (WW1 & WW2) and look at the
events in America, Russia, Germany and the UK, for these events set the
stage for WW2
First money...We believe it to be valuable.. But
it is man made and has no value.. only confidence... For example..If I sell you
something for $10.. I will only accept that green piece of paper if I am
confident that I can also spend it.. If I am not confident I would only see it
as a useless piece of paper and refuse to accept it in payment... The wall
Street Crash was caused by a lack of confidence which spiralled downwards very
quickly..Everyone wanted to sell and few were prepared to buy... But by now the
world financial affairs were global. The wall street crash...Created the domino
effect as the London, Tokyo and Hong Kong financial markets also crashed.
The entire civilised world hit a major depression.
Banks suddenly became bankrupt and many common
folk lost their life savings....Industry could not be financed and started to
close down...Consumers had no money... Therefore the sale of goods stopped,
forcing more industries to close.. A major spiral all the way
down
About this time America was hit by a drought
unprecedented in memory... This created what became know as the "Dustbowl"...
Farmers were driven off the land because it could not even feed their
family...America was now struggling to feed themselves & even today older
Americans with not waste food..
The UK was better off with food
production as droughts in this country were unheard of then.. But were also hit
by the depression in a big way with many unemployed and in those days there was
no welfare payments.. An austere time for the working families in the UK..In an
attempt to save money our government effectively stopped all defence spending
and our Armed forces were reduced below a safe minimum... But at the time it was
the right thing to do after all no one could forecast what was to come
next.
Russia had its revolution in 1917 as the people
took power... Communism was borne compliments of Karl Marks and Lenin... They
soon lost their dream as a dictator called Stalin took over... In fact Karl
Marks was thrown out of Russia...And his grave is in
London.
Germanys initial answer to the depression was to
print money.. This resulted in an inflation spiral that is beyond
comprehension...A man going to work in the morning would want his days pay in
advance...For then he could go to the shop & buy basic food for
his family...He would then go to work...If he left the shopping until his days
work was done...The price in the shop would at the very least double in a
day..Wheelbarrows were used to take the pay-cheque home.. The German economy had
totally collapsed..Germany was ripe for a take-over by the Nazi
party.
The German aristocracy disgraced for losing the
1st world war,, The establishment was no match for the new politics of Hitler...
He very quickly had the population in his power and to put Germany back to work
he opened massive armament factories... Building Tanks...Ships....U Boats and
aircraft... The treaty with Germany specifically forbid the re-arming of this
country... It would be silly to say we did not know...I am sure we did.... But
we had problems at home to address & with the usual British arrogance
I can just hear my establishment laughing as they said "
That little Corporal...He would not dare" as they carried on disregarding
the facts..The UK disarmed as Germany re-armed and that is a
fact.
Hitler was a good politician... A showman...A
socialite as he attracted the rich & famous... He would be photographed with
so many well known names that always gave him huge credibility back home... Here
the UK had a major problem.
Our King at that time (Edward) was a
peacock...Loved to show his feathers... Was a vain socialite who had received
the best education in the world but learnt nothing. Now do not get me
wrong... I am a Royalist as they serve this country very well and our Royal
Family is here to stay.. And if the King or Queen was a "Little Dotty" we did
not mind.. But this time it was different.
Our King was socialising with Hitler... He was
becoming a Nazi sympathiser... He attended parties where Hitler always would
have his picture taken with our King...This Brainless royal who was more
interested in getting his tie straight...was a disgrace.
It is my view that my establishment was looking
for ways to get rid of this embarrassment... But along came that American
Divorcee Wallace ..She was a gift from heaven... Our constitution does not allow
the King to marry a divorcee...So this embarrassment abdicated... The
assassination plans (If they were in place?) were never needed....So our ex-King
was exiled to a villa in France... Where he lived with Wallace until he died
some 7 or so years ago... He was never allowed back into the
UK.
His brother...became King George... He had his
head screwed on the right way and later became an asset to the common folk in
the dark days of the war.
Meanwhile mass emigration from Europe was taking
place to America as the downtrodden masses searched for a better life...At that
time America & Australia were actively seeking immigrants to populate their
countries... Many eastern Europeans enter the States without papers and without
English...So when asked what is your name...The official had no idea how it
should be spelt...So he wrote it down in the best way he could often spelling it
very wrongly.. This is why America today has surnames that are not in the rest
of the world.
Hitler consolidated his power base. Re-Armed
Germany on a massive scale. Appealed to the nationalistic views of his nation,
and then felt confident to start to impose his white supremacy Beliefs. He
encouraged the population to hunt down the Jews. It became patriotic to
chase the Jew from Germany. There is one famous night called "Crystal nacht"...
The night of broken glass..
I have seen newsreel pictures of this...Hooligans
with the Nazi Parties encouragement smashed every shop and home window of every
Jewish family in Berlin.. The Jewish persecution had began
But now there is something else to
consider... Communications....Wireless as it was first called
(Radio)...Lightweight 35 mm movie cameras brought the news to the Cinema
screens..
The common man was now becoming informed like
never before.. and he did not like what was happening in Germany. In fact about
this time many UK men became mercenaries and fought with the resistance to try
to stop that Nazi "Franco" from taking over Spain. They did not
succeed.
The Nazi became fashionable and Mussolini already
in power in Italy had "invented" the word.
Hitler has surrounded himself with the
professional Army commander. Most were not Nazis but professional soldiers.
Rommel being a typical example. I will speak of this man when I get to
WW2.
These professionals invented "The Blitzkrieg"... a
rapid form of attack that the world had never seen before... It was this tactic
that enabled him to over run minor European countries in a matter of days...
Gone were the days of trench warfare...
Here was the Blitz which simply went around the
opposing armies cutting them off from their supply lines...Modern Warfare was
here to stay... I honestly cannot remember the exact sequence... but Hitler
simply took over one small country after another at alarming speed... He needed
the oil and fossil fuels to power his ever increasing armaments build up... The
German people were ecstatic as their pride was being restored following the
humiliating defeat in 1918.
At what point should the UK act. After all
he was not bothering us.. But the common man here was getting annoyed at what he
saw on the newsreels. Our Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had a meeting with
Hitler and stated that if he invaded Poland we could no longer stay neutral...
Chamberlain arrived back in the UK with a piece of paper and shouted..."Peace in Our Time"
How wrong can you be...For Hitler promptly invaded
Poland... September 1939 saw the UK declaring war with Germany..At this announcement many thousands of
common people collected in Trafalgar square London and cheered... If the had known what the future held they would not have done so.
I hope this one mans view is of some value. I must emphasis I am no historian... But these events is how I see
them... others would see things maybe a little different...But all I can give
you is my views.
