Today, Sept. 1, marks the 75th anniversary of one of the most momentous events in history — the start of World War II.

It was on Sept. 1, 1939 that German bombers, tanks and troops crossed into Poland. The free Polish nation was conquered within about 30 days, and subjugated to the horrors of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.

The war divided the world between the Allies, mainly the U.S., Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union, versus the Axis powers, mainly Germany, Italy and Japan. The war raged on for six years over vast land areas in Europe and Asia, but also in Africa, the Middle East and the oceans of the world, including a German submarine campaign in the Gulf of Mexico right off the coast of Louisiana.

The war was the deadliest in human history, with estimates of the total dead ranging from 60 to 85 million human beings.

In many ways World War II was an outgrowth of World War I. That war and the worldwide economic depression left Germany destitute, politically chaotic and under a punishing peace treaty and gave rise to national socialism and Hitler. In Asia, Japan became increasingly militaristic and expansionist.

Great Britain and France attempted throughout the mid and late 1930s to appease Hitler, but appeasement only made him more and more aggressive and contemptuous of the Western democracies.

The German Army entered the Rhineland on March 7, 1936, which violated the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. Germany had also re-militarized in violation of treaties. The movement ended the security provided to France by the Treaty of Versailles.

Other acts of aggression by Hitler leading up to the war included the annexation of Austria; invasion of Czechoslovakia, which was conceded by Britain and France in the infamous Munich Agreement; Germany forcing concessions by the Free City of Danzig and Lithuania. Italy, under Benito Mussolini, in the 1930s, conquered Ethiopia and Albania.

Finally, Britain and France drew a line in the sand by guaranteeing the independence of Poland, which was also being threatened by Germany. Hitler also made a secret non-aggression pact with Stalin in the Soviet Union, which also divided up Poland between Germany in the west and the Soviets in the east. Both Great Britain and France declared war on September 3.The U.S. was completely unprepared for a major war in 1939. The U.S. Army was the smallest among the major powers with a total of just 189,839 personnel. By contrast, in 1939, Germany had some 2,000,000 personnel and even Poland had 950,000. The U.S. Army at the time was ranked 17th in the world behind Romania and just ahead of Argentina.

The 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers revealed those pathetic U.S. military weaknesses. But those maneuvers also helped turn the military around and highlighted men who would become famous in World War II, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell, George S. Patton, Jonathan Wainwright, Omar Bradley and many others.

There was also a strong isolationist movement in the U.S. determined to keep the country out of the war. It took the military disaster of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 to bring America into the war and help defeat the Axis powers.

Has the world learned anything from this history? For some 50 years after World War II the U.S. and the Western powers contained and eventually defeated the Soviet Union, through a “Peace through Strength” policy. But today, appeasement of aggressors seems to have made a comeback as U.S. military strength is being dramatically weakened. Now, we are seeing increasing chaos, instability and war in the Middle East and Europe.

Let us hope, and pray, this new policy of appeasement and weakness doesn’t lead to the same disastrous results it did in 1939.(MGNonline)