Did Europe expect the second world war? Did they expect that Germany would attack?

Did Europe expect the second world war? Did they expect that Germany would attack?

Yes

Most were in denial up to the last moment.

>the aforementioned quote
>Munich agreement
>The Phony war

I suppose they knew where it was all going, but refused to believe it or tried their best to avoid it.

but why? it was right in their faces

They were afraid of Russians and they believed Hitler can be reasoned with.

France believed it would be France who'd grow into a new haegemon and threat the peace in Europe. That's why they were fine with Germany breaking Versailles agreements.

French predicted that peace in Europe won't last for long, but they thought that the next conflict will have similar shape, a position trench war. That's why they invested do much into Maginot Line.

>France believed

Sorry lmao, Great Britain

plenty did.
pic related

Germany definitely wanted round 2.

As to the rest, everyone was shit scared that water is possible, but wanted to avoid it by any means.

>water

War.
Fuck autocorect

>Occupy their land
>High ass debt
>Disbanded the monarchy
>Dismantle their entire empire
>Literally take every colony they had
>Told them they couldn't have a real military force
Woodrow Wilson saw fucking WWII a mile away. If France and Britain allowed Germany to keep its pre-war borders, replaced the monarch with his non-dumb ass son, and not occupy them; Germany probably wouldn't have wanted a round 2.

>water

War.
Fuck autocorect

>If Germany was given more resources, they wouldn't start the war

I think history had already proven that this approach does not work.

Or Germany could have been made so weak they couldn't have even thought of a round 2

More like

>Didn't occupy their land (bare for a tiny region for 10 years)
>Allowed them not to pay their debt
>Allowed Germany to remain one country
>Allow them to rearm

And that why they were able to chimp out again 20 years later
Meanwhile after WW2, the right thing was done

>Entirety of Germany militarily occupied, and probably forever (still occupued to this day over 70 years later)
>Country divided in two parts (later reunified when Germans had become too pussy to chimp out again)
>Not allowed to have a strong military

And here we are, with peace in Europe

Keep in mind that Germany was a buffer between western europe and Russia. Stripping them of all their power would tip the balance of powers in Russian side

Keep in mind that Russia was a weak ass commie shithole before their all out war against Nazi Germany turned them into a superpower

Germany would go for round 2 even if they got away with a pat on the back. Germans were mad not because of defeat. They were mad because they were robbed out of certain victory. German population was sure that they were winning until they suddenly lost. Ww1-era German propaganda showed the population the profits of future, assured victory- territorial gains, colonies, reparations. It was deliberate policy to make the population earn the hardships of war more easily. The message was simple - we suffer now, but the Frenchies and Brits will pay for this. And Germans believed it.

The only way to avoid WW2 was to either give Germans all that they wanted or cripple Germany so that she's unable to wage a war.

Not from contemponary perspective.

peace in europe for once yes, but the russian threat is still there.

Germany wanted it and was preparing for it. France and the UK did not want it but knew it was coming and prepared for it.

Some believed another conflict would arise which is why for a bit Britain and France were so intent on appeasing Germany less it turned into another war

>If France and Britain allowed Germany to keep its pre-war borders

No. What they should have done is divided Northern Germany among the Netherlands, Denmark, and Poland in order to land-lock Germany.

>Occupy their land
A small part of it which they left ahead of schedule
>High ass debt
It wasn't high, it didn't come close to covering the damages they wrought in Belgium and France, the indemnity France had to pay in 1871 was higher
>Disbanded the monarchy
They did that themselves
>Dismantle their entire empire
>Literally take every colony they had
They weren't entitled to colonies
>Told them they couldn't have a real military force
They proved they were too irresponsible to have one
>Woodrow Wilson saw fucking WWII a mile away
No he did not. He was the most naive one there
>If France and Britain allowed Germany to keep its pre-war borders, replaced the monarch with his non-dumb ass son, and not occupy them; Germany probably wouldn't have wanted a round 2
They were ass-blasted that they lost and didn't accept it, and would have started shit no matter what. The only way was to punish them so harshly they couldn't chimp out again.

>but the russian threat is still there.

I'd rather deal with Russians than to be ruled by Krauts.

Chamberlain didn't.

The most horrific war in history had happened only a few years previously and noone thought anyone would want to go through it all again.

WW2 is the fault of one person - Wilson the Chucklefuck. The Chucklefuck and his meddling ruined Europe.

Damn, that's sad.

Good point. If the allies had been truly strict after the first time around, German rearmament would have been impossible. Appeasement was the policy pin the inter-war period.

>the russian threat is still there
We have NATO for that.