In the aftermath of the second world war, the Western world had an opportunity to lay down their weapons. Instead, they chose a path of militarism over peace, argues Alan Storkey. On the 80th anniversary of VE day he says it is time to consider what was lost
Hitler died on 30 April, 1945 in his Berlin bunker. Germany had let him down and had lost the war. The other Nazi leaders were running and the European War finally ended on 8 of May, 1945, VE day, which we celebrate today, a lifetime later.
The evils of Fascism and the Nazi faith in the Führer had been defeated, uncrushing people everywhere (except in Japan), and people danced in the streets. It was the triumph of good over evil, and the horrific evidence of the evil came from the concentration camps and the battle-scarred lands.
The British war story
We all know the narrative – the Blitz, Churchill, Spitfires and the Battle of Britain, North Africa, Pearl Harbor, the US entering the war, D-Day and victory. We will remember them, and have for 80 years, for evil was defeated and the debt is vast. Yet, this truth of their sacrifice for us, made into a total British history, is really no longer adequate.
We have to ask more questions of that war as we face war after war during our lifetimes, up to today. Christians especially need to do it, because central truths of the Christian faith were deliberately buried around 1945.
Christianity teaches that peace — the peace of Christ — involves disarmament, for he will bring down the mighty from their thrones, but in 1945 a small group of people, mainly in the United States, decided that peace required armament and set that process in motion, continuing right to the present day. Now, perhaps, most Christians accept that peace on earth is reserved for Christmas cards while war is normal.
Consider three inconvienient truths. Firstly, fascism was widespread. Most states in the 1930s were partly Fascist, looking for armed groups to control and defeat socialism. It was not just Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Japan, but also France, Britain, South America, the US and most other countries around the world. In Britain, aside from Oswald Mosely, the BUF and Edward VIII, many members of the Tory Party had Fascist sympathies. We needed force to “defend” the British Empire. That was why the Munich Agreement took place. It was not just a mistake, but a shared ideology which gave in to Hitler and opened the door to war.
Secondly, the US armed Hitler. The US was the most powerful economy on the planet. Its big businessmen and bankers like Ford, J.P. Morgan and Du Pont funded and armed Hitler on a large scale in the 1930s. The US did not enter the war until Pearl Harbor mainly because of these German links, despite what Roosevelt wanted. So, the previously largely disarmed Nazis became a military power through these US supplies and the arms they got from Czechoslovakia after Chamberlain’s Munich Agreement. The “Allies” substantially armed Hitler.
Now, perhaps, most Christians accept that peace on earth is reserved for Christmas cards while war is normal.
Thirdly, the USSR mainly won the war. It fought and won the greatest battles – Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad in which over three quarters of German troops were killed. The USSR lost 25 million people, 50 times more than each of the UK and US. It took on the Nazis while Churchill and Britain held back from opening a western front (aside North Africa). How much gratitude will be expressed to the USSR on VE Day?
Post-war fallout
But it is worse than that. As the war drew to a close, the nations of Europe faced their dead, devastation, food shortages, freezing winters, weakness, destroyed economies, mass trauma and more. They rebuilt from the rubble and were introverted on domestic recovery. There was one exception. The US had no mainland damage. It had expanded, providing wartime needs and was now an astonishing half of the (measured) world economy. It ruled the world, for better and for worse, and there was a much worse.
President Roosevelt had fought his Fascist sympathising opponents during the 1930s, but when the war came he needed them for the war effort and gradually they crept into power even as he grew weaker. He died a month before VE day, job nearly done, and the inadequate Truman took over. Substantially, he was advised by anti-Soviet and ex pro-Fascist people like John Foster, Alan Dulles, and James Forrestal.
Nazis were recruited into the secret services. Churchill and the US military discussed possible nuclear attacks on the USSR, our ally even before the war was ended. Thus, the US had set the Cold War in place to continue the militarism in which it was now embedded. The Pentagon, the world’s biggest building, had a new job. The USSR was suffering mass trauma, destruction, winters and famine, but it became, with Truman and Churchill, the new enemy and disarmed peace was killed.
Except, it was not, because Jesus will bring down the mighty from their thrones and now peace makes more sense than ever.
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