The enemy is the same as many times before – Moscow
Europe is quickly forgetting, and the Germans are following the old paths again. The militarism in Germany is on the rise again. This is the shortest way to describe the news of the formation of a European rapid reaction unit. The unit with five thousand members, whose core will be German soldiers. That unit will replace the existing battle group with three thousand soldiers, which failed to grow into a European army. There were not enough soldiers for it!? However, the war in Ukraine set new priorities, among which Russia was marked as the main security threat. Nobody seems to be interested in the reasons for this situation. What is (or who is) the core of the current crisis?
People may not remember but history always records all events. Similar projects have existed before. Of course, in a different historical context, but the essence is the same. Defending Europe from plagues from the east, read Russia. Then and now. Who was the attacker and who was defending is another question. We could observe it since the split of the Roman Empire. Destruction and pillage came from the west. Apparently defending against the east. You chose how to understand it. Apparently the German militarism is similar. It is there to DEFEND from the barbaric east.
Let us remind you, Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, wanting to get hold of Lebensraum – a living space that will be inhabited by purebred Germans. Before that, it was necessary to displace and kill Slavs in the area of today’s Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Promising start for German militarism in 1941
In the beginning of WWII, the Germans did well to march to the east. They reached Moscow suburbs. That was it. They blame defeat in the Moscow battle on Russian winter. Does it sound familiar? Like Germans had to fight in winter and Russians had to fight in some different (better) condition. This is very common “explanation” used when determining reasons for German defeat. Why is that so? Well, it is hard to admit that Russians simply overpowered the Germans. To admit that Slavs might be better than Germans.
However, after Stalingrad, it became clear that Hitler would not defeat the USSR. Not even with the help of European allies who settled on the story of the superiority of races and the superiority of German weapons.
Along with Hungarians, Romanians, Italians and Croats who joined the attack on the USSR, the Germans are calling on other European nations to help defend the civilization of the old continent. Interestingly, many believed in Goebbels’ propaganda, even the citizens of the countries that Germany had militarily defeated and occupied.
Thus, many Frenchmen, Spaniards, Dutch, Norwegians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians and Danes joined the Wehrmacht and the SS. There are also Ukrainians, Russians who are left to choose between certain death in the camps or to change sides. Then there were Albanians and Muslims in the SS “Handzar” division, who wore a chessboard on the sleeves of their uniforms.
British would happily join Germans against USSR but Americans rejected it
When it became clear that Germany had lost the war, the Nazi leaders tried to sell the Allies the story of the inevitable conflict between East and West. Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS, foresaw the establishment of the SS Corps “Europe”, which will reject the Red Army with American and British support.
The Americans did not want to fight against the former ally, especially not side by side with their former enemies. But it is interesting that the English in the Netherlands neatly collected the seized equipment, serviced it and stored it in case of a conflict with Stalin.
From the above, Germany really has the most experience in organizing the European army. But does she have a moral right to deal with it. What about France, which has a respectable army, or Poland, whose soldiers have proven to be great fighters throughout history.
Unfortunately, history seems to be repeating itself and Europe has learned nothing from it. And may I make some predictions here. Europe (EU today) will do as well this time just as many times before.
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