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August 18, 2008

Exclusive: Putin’s Hitler Strategy

Ben Shapiro

In 1939, Adolf Hitler wanted Czechoslovakia. He wanted it badly. There was only one problem: the Munich Agreements, signed by Hitler, Britain’s Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier of France, and Benito Mussolini of Italy, guaranteed the survival of Czechoslovakia.

But Hitler had a strategy. He proceeded to foment separatist insurrections by two of Czechoslovakia’s provinces: Slovakia and Ruthenia. This put the Czechoslovakian government in a no-win situation. If the government squelched the rebellions, Hitler could march in and declare that it was the German mission to free Slovakia and Ruthenia. If the government allowed Slovakia and Ruthenia to secede, Hitler could claim that the Czechoslovakia guaranteed by Britain and France no longer existed – the rump state was, in fact, a different state than the Czechoslovakia discussed under the Munich Agreements.

The plan worked to perfection. The Czechoslovakian government responded to the threat of secession by dumping the Ruthenian and Slovakian governments on March 9-10, 1939. On March 14, 1939, Slovakia, threatened with invasion by Hitler, declared its independence. So did Ruthenia. Hitler staged anti-German “atrocities” in Czechoslovakia, then invaded it. “Czechoslovakia showed its inherent inability to survive and has therefore now fallen a victim to actual dissolution,” Hitler stated. “The German Reich cannot tolerate continuous disturbances in these areas …. Therefore the German Reich, in keeping with the law of self-preservation, is now resolved to intervene decisively to rebuild the foundations of a reasonable order in Central Europe.”

The West, as Hitler had predicted, did nothing. Chamberlain cited Slovakia’s independence as a reason for reneging on the Munich Agreements. “The effect of this declaration,” said Chamberlain, “put an end by internal disruption to the State whose frontier we had proposed to guarantee. His Majesty’s Government cannot accordingly hold themselves any longer bound by this obligation.”

And so Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. And so Hitler was emboldened to invade Poland. And so began World War II.

Vladimir Putin of Russia is clearly a student of history. His Georgian gambit bears all the hallmarks of a Hitlerian coup. He fomented secessionist unrest in South Ossetia, a northern province of Georgia. When the Georgian government intervened to put down the unrest, Putin sent in Russian troops to “protect” the Ossetians. He then used the opportunity to invade all of Georgia, taking control of swaths of territory.

The West, meanwhile, stood by helplessly. For nearly a week, the West did nothing. Worse than that, the West blocked Georgia’s accession to NATO, a step that would have forced NATO members to intervene to protect Georgia’s territorial integrity.

Then, finally, the United States forced Georgia to the negotiating table. On Friday, Georgia signed a cease-fire. nder the cease-fire, Russian troops are obligated to leave Georgia, but are allowed to remain in South Ossetia and to conduct certain operations within Georgia itself. The territorial integrity of Georgia is not guaranteed.

Georgia has now been forced down the Czechoslovakian path. Russian troops will consolidate South Ossetia while fomenting unrest in Abkhazia, another breakaway region. Putin will then stage attacks on Russian troops by Georgian troops. Putin will then claim Georgian violation of the cease-fire, and occupy Georgia wholesale.

In 1939, the world stood by while Hitler consolidated Czechoslovakia. Only too late did the world recognize German’s grand ambitions – and that delayed realization cost millions of lives.

Russia is today’s Germany. Putin is Hitlerian in his territorial ambitions. That ambition, combined with Russia’s enormous oil resources – and Russia’s invasion of oil-rich territories – spells disaster. The sacrifice of Georgia will cost far more than a small republic. It means the reawakening of Russian ambition, sans the crippling communism of Lenin and Stalin. That fiery ambition will be costly to quench.

Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Ben Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. He is also the author of the recently published "Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House." Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.

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