Figure 1.-- This family snapshot shows American boys in a rural area dressed up in costumes meant to look like Japanese kimonos. The boys could play at being Japanese. The snapshot is undated, but was probably taken about 1940. One thing is certain, it was taken after December 7, 1941. The Japanese before Pearl Harbor were seen by most Americans as a quaint, polite, and industrious people with sedate tea parties and elegant dress. They made made beautiful porcelain, luxurious silk fabric, and cheap tin toys. Although their invasion of China and brutal actions were beginning to change that image. Unlike Germany, however, they were not seen as a potential threat--except by U.S. Navy planners.

It is important to understand the contemporary world view in the countries that fought World War II in the inter-war era (1920s-30s). The overwhelming view in the Western democracies is that World War I had been a grotesque mistake. --a pointless loss of life decimating a whole generation. The mindset prevalent in the Western democracies and even in Germany until the NAZIs seized power was that another War had to be avoided at all cost. This idea was powerfully expressed in Erich Maria Remarque's powerful anti-war novel, All Quiet in the Western Front. Unlike World War II when popular culture lauded the achievements of Allies soldiers, authors, poets, and artists after World War I attacked the the World War I effort as a huge mistake that resulted in a sea of blood for no reason. While there are countless films, novels, and paintings attacking the war effort, I can not think of a single author who asked the question, of what would have occurred had the Germans won the War. This is the environment in which the policy of appeasement occurred. Public opinion increasingly even after Hitler and the NAZIs seized power coalesced with the idea that Germany was misunderstood and mistreated after World War I. Thus major changes were needed in the World War I settlement and that appeasement was justified. At the same time, there was widespread resistance in the face of the Depression crisis to military spending. The great enemy of mankind was seen as war, not growing totalitarian military power. Hitler was distasteful, but many thought his demands were mostly legitimate. Mussolini in Italy was seen in an even more positive light. Often mentioned at the time was that the trains were now running on time. And his idea of a Corporate State had considerable currency among New Dealers in America. Japan was seen as the most progressive state in Asia. The Japanese were known as a quaint, polite, and industrious people with sedate tea parties and elegant gardens. They made made beautiful porcelain, luxurious silk fabric, and cheap tin toys. Unlike Germany, they were not seen as a potential threat. There was concern about the atrocities in China, but China like Czechoslovakia was far away. Soviet military power was also not understood. The NKVD was effective in sealing off the country. Stalin's genocide in the Ukraine was not widely reported. Many thought that the Soviets had dome a more effective job of dealing with the Depression than their own government and that the Soviet Union was a workers paradise--a land of happy, dancing peasants and factory workers. The idea that these totalitarian powers were on the verge of destroying Western Civilization, simply did not exist.

Western Democracies

The overwhelming view in the Western democracies is that World War I had been a grotesque mistake. --a pointless loss of life decimating a whole generation. The mindset prevalent in the Western democracies and even in Germany until the NAZIs seized power was that another War had to be avoided at all cost. This idea was powerfully expressed in Erich Maria Remarque's powerful anti-war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. Unlike World War II when popular culture lauded the achievements of Allied soldiers, authors, poets, and artists after World War I attacked the the World War I effort as a huge mistake that resulted in a sea of blood for no reason. While there are countless films, novels, and paintings attacking the war effort, we can not think of a single author who asked the question, of what would have occurred had the Germans won the War. This is the environment in which the policy of appeasement occurred. Many adopted pacifist ideas. Public opinion increasingly even after Hitler and the NAZIs seized power coalesced with the idea that Germany was misunderstood and mistreated after World War I. Thus major changes were needed in the World War I settlement and that appeasement was justified. At the same time, there was widespread resistance in the face of the Depression crisis to military spending. The great enemy of mankind was seen as war, not growing totalitarian military power. Hitler was distasteful, but many thought his demands were mostly legitimate. Mussolini in Italy was seen in an even more positive light. Often mentioned at the time was that the trains were now running on time. And his idea of a Corporate State had considerable currency among New Dealers in America. Japan was recognized as the most progressive state in Asia. The Japanese were seen as a quaint, polite people with sedate tea parties and elegant gardens. They made beautiful porcelain, luxurious silk fabric, and cheap tin toys. Unlike Germany, they were not seen as a potential threat. There was concern about the atrocities in China, but China like Czechoslovakia was far away. Soviet military power was also not understood. The NKVD was effective in sealing off the country. Stalin's genocide in the Ukraine was not widely reported. Many thought that the Soviets had dome a more effective job of dealing with the Depression than their own government and that the Soviet Union was a workers paradise--a land of happy, dancing peasants and factory workers. The idea that these totalitarian powers were on the verge of destroying Western Civilization, simply was not part of the consciousness of the voting public in the Western democracies.

Totalitarian Powers

There were five great totalitarian powers of the 20th century: the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy, NAZI Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Communist China. Except for Imperial Germany these were all various flavors of Socialism. There were a range of other totalitarian countries with minor military and economic power. Four of the great totalitarian powers arose to varying degrees as a consequence of World War I. The fifth, Communist China, arose as a consequence of World War II. The Bolsheviks (Communists) seized power in the aftermath of World War I (1917). The Tsarists Army suffered terrible losses and serious food shortages developed in Russian cities. The Bolsheviks overthrew the weak provisional government and after winning a brutal civil war, launched a totalitarian revolution based on Marxist ideology. The next totalitarian power was Fascist Italy. Mussolini's Black Shirts staged a march on Rome seizing power from a liberal parliamentary government (1922). The Black Shirts were made up of nationalist intellectuals, World War I veterans, and landowners concerned with the rising power of left-wing groups, especially the Communists. Fascism as it developed was a form of socialism involving state control of the economy, Mussolini who had been an important Socialist leader called it the Corporate State. Italy was not a major military power, but the the NAZIs who adopted Fascist policies certainly were. Hitler and the NAZIs seized power (1933). The SA modeled in the Black Shirts were much more left-wing. They wanted a thorough going social revolution sounding almost Marxist. Hitler has to suppress them as he wanted a very different social revolution, but again one controlled by the NAZI state which virtually mirrored the Soviet state in most respects. World War I gave rise to nationalists groups like the NAZIs, but it was the Great Depression that resulted in the NAZI seizure of power. Imperial Japan was somewhat different. The Meiji Restoration (1860s brought to power a regime with two basic policies: industrialization and militarization. This was seen as necessary to prevent the Western powers from carving up the country as they were doing in China. World War I was not a major cause of the radicalization of Japan, but it did set in motion a series of events that brought the Japanese in conflict with the Western powers and led to xenophobic, racist military seizing control of the Japanese imperial state. All of these four countries put a great emphasis on military power and by 1939 they had amassed military power beyond that of the democracies. All four of these countries were spending enormous sums to build powerful militaries. They were able to surpass the militaries of the Western democracies because the democracies were sharply restricting military spending. What Winston Churchill called a new Dark Age was narrowly averted, in large measure because the NAZI alliance with the Soviet Union lasted less than 2 years leading to the apocalyptic war in the East--the Ostkrieg (1941-45). It is doubtful if the Western Allies could have won a war against all four totalitarian powers. But Hitler's desire for Lebensraum and resources eventually led him to launch the greatest invasion in all of world history--Operation Barbarossa (1941).

Developing World

The developing world at the time of World War II was to a large extent in European colonial control. Latin America was independent, but Asia and Africa was largely colonized by European powers. Britain had =the largest empire, but Belgium, France, the Netherlands. Portugal, and Spain all had empires. America had a minor empire, primarily the Philippines. America had begun a democratic process of independence for it one important colonial possession. Britain was in the the process of moving toward independence, but only for the Dominions. And it had moved toward Home Rule in India. Often not included on this list is the Soviet Union which ran large areas of Central Asia as a colony as well as the Ukraine. And the Soviets as part of their alliance with NAZI Germany were about to seize all or parts of Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, ans Romania (1939-41).

Modern World

Many today reading the history of World War II and the lead up to it ask the same question. How could those people been so stupid. It is so obvious. How could the Western Allies not seen what was coming? Or the totalitarian powers not seen their eventual defeat. But of course the same is true of any historical period you look at. The answers are easy to us with the benefit of history. They were obliviously not as clear to the people at the time. The fact is there are issues and threats in our modern world that many who ask how could the previous generation been so stupid, simply refuse to recognize.

Created: 9:48 PM 8/5/2020
Spell checked: 5:13 PM 11/4/2022
Last updated: 5:19 PM 11/4/2022