Stand with the heroes of Ukraine

Feb 26

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About ganglerisgrove

Galina Krasskova has been a Heathen priest since 1995. She holds a Masters in Religious Studies (2009), a Masters in Medieval Studies (2019), has done extensive graduate work in Classics including teaching Latin, Roman History, and Greek and Roman Literature for the better part of a decade, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Theology. She is the managing editor of Walking the Worlds journal and has written over thirty books on Heathenry and Polytheism including "A Modern Guide to Heathenry" and "He is Frenzy: Collected Writings about Odin." In addition to her religious work, she is an accomplished artist who has shown all over the world and she currently runs a prayer card project available at wyrdcuriosities.etsy.com.

Posted on February 26, 2022, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.

  1. Emma | February 26, 2022 at 3:56 PM

    As a professional historian, I am always leery of remarking on parallels between current and historical events. Still, sometimes the comparisons are obviousl

    Arthur Chamberlain was Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1938. He is best (or infamously) known for his policy of appeasement as evidenced by the Munich Agreement of 1938. This was a treaty signed by the major European powers with Germany whereby they agreed to accept Hitler’s seizure of the Sudetenland, the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia. in return, Hitler promised that he had no further territorial aims in Europe.

    Hitler’s aggression in Czechoslovakia was preceded by a number of other events that historians now recognize as the prelude to WWII. After Hitler came to power in 1935, he repudiated the Versailles treaty and then re-occupied and militarized the Rhineland’s Ruhr Valley, the industrial center of Germany prior to the Versailles Treaty. Prior to invading the Sudetenland, Hitler had annexed Austria, an event known as the Anschluss Osterreich. He justified these incursions by saying that these were all ethnically German regions that were reasonably part of a unified Germany. He also claimed that the German people needed ‘lebensraum’ i.e. territory necessary for Germany’s natural development. Hitler’s rhetoric convinced the major powers (Italy, France, Great Britain) that his demands were reasonable and that he was unlikely to make further territorial demands. Also, WWI was still very recent in memory and no one (except perhaps Hitler) wanted another war like that one. Chamberlain returned to GB triumphantly announcing that he had secured “peace in our time.”
    We know how that turned out. A year later, Hitler invaded Poland and WWII began.

    IMO, it’s always dangerous to analyze current events by what we think we have learned from the past. Still, there are obvious similarities between the situation in 1938 and the one we find ourselves in today. We will never know if WWII could have been avoided had the European powers acted more forcefully against Hitler’s aggressions. Even knowing what I know about WWI, WWII, the Cold War etc. etc., it’s not clear to me what could and should be done to avoid further escalation of the situation in the Ukraine. I think it’s imperative to avoid further escalation. I also think the European powers should do everything possible to get Russian out of the Ukraine and following that, to prevent further Russian aggression.

    Putin has made it clear that he wishes to restore the Russian empire as it was under the USSR. That and many of his actions in the last few years convince me that it’s extremely unlikely that his territorial ambitions are limited to just the Ukraine. After he is successful in seizing the Ukraine, what next? Finland? Sweden? Poland? There were many policy decisions made after WWII based on a desire to avoid appeasement as was done with the Munich Agreement, not least of which was the US involvement in the Vietnam War. I think it’s important at this point in time to avoid taking lessons from 1938, no matter how tempting. Instead, NATO and others need to make decisions, not based on the past, but on what is happening right now.

    Everyone in their right minds wants to avoid WWIII. Nevertheless, acquiescing to Putin’s territorial ambitions is not the way to accomplish that.

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