Before World War II, Hitler told England and France that he wanted only a strip of land from Czechoslovakia that bordered Germany. England and France said okay, but nothing more. Of course, only Czechoslovakia was paying the price, and they did not agree.
Neville Chamberlain, England’s leader, while in Germany, made a treaty that gave Germany the whole of Czechoslovakia, but nothing more for world peace. Hitler agreed. Chamberlain rushed back to England, waved a piece of paper over his head, and kept yelling, “Peace in our time.” Meaning, of course, he knew he was just pushing it back onto his children’s era. Everyone hailed him as a hero. Again, Czechoslovakia refused, but Germany walked in and took it without a shot. When asked about that paper, Hitler stated that it meant nothing. Chamberlin was disgraced.
Because that was so easy, Hitler decided to take Poland. This time, France and England warned they would go to war if he invaded. Hitler did, and they did nothing. During the war, Hitler said that if France had marched on Germany, he would have retreated; he knew Germany did not have enough war materials to fight a war. The Allies didn’t move against Hitler with the aid of Russia, which invaded Poland from the east, and had Poland in hand in two months. War was declared, but to prove Germany was not ready for war, everyone did nothing for several months but build up war supplies and look at each other.
During the war, Hitler said that if France had put up any resistance, he would have backed down. He knew he was not ready for war. But war was declared, and as if to prove a point, no one moved for months. No one was wasn’t ready for war, as we later found out.
Can we say Ukraine? The very weak response by President Biden was an invitation to Russia and a signal that there would be no objections from the free world.
And what happened after Czechoslovakia? WWII. And what will happen after Ukraine? Russia has already threatened Finland and Sweden. The same threat was given to Ukraine before being invaded.