Why Britain wouldn’t just let Hitler go East

Some people (including people like David Hoggan) can’t understand why Britain would declare war on Germany in 1939. They argue that it was a secret plot to bully Germany, and that Britain was the instigator of the war, and that they should have just let Germany go East. Well, this argument quickly falls apart when we look at the map of Europe and think critically, which this video will show.

Correction: As many people have pointed out, I said 1938 instead of 1939 at 9:20 in the video. It was 1939, not 1938. Sorry about that.

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ABOUT TIK 📝

History isn’t as boring as some people think, and my goal is to get people talking about it. I also want to dispel the myths and distortions that ruin our perception of the past by asking a simple question - “But is this really the case?”. I have a 2:1 Degree in History and a passion for early 20th Century conflicts (mainly WW2). I’m therefore approaching this like I would an academic essay. Lots of sources, quotes, references and so on. Only the truth will do.

This video is discussing events or concepts that are academic, educational and historical in nature. This video is for informational purposes and was created so we may better understand the past and learn from the mistakes others have made.

[TheImperatorKnight]

Thank you for all your messages of support last week. I was very tempted to take a week off after many of you suggested that I should, but I decided to plod on and do this video anyway. It felt ‘wrong’ for me to make a short video for a Monday like this, but as I explained last week I needed to do it. Also, there wasn’t enough room to put the Patron list into the video, so I apologize to my Patreons and SubscribeStars for that. The list of names will, of course, return in the future

EDIT: As many people have pointed out, I said 1938 instead of 1939 at 9:20 in the video. It was 1939, not 1938. Sorry about that.

[amerigo]

“England has no eternal friends, England has no perpetual enemies, England has only eternal and perpetual interests”. -Lord Palmerston

[trinxty]

"A United European is a threat to British Sovereignty"
_Shows EU flag_
Peak trolling TIK

[jimtaylor]

"Is it a conspiracy?. No. It's just Britain being Britain."
*Everybody agreed with that* (especially the British :D )

[goebbledup]

"I was a business man, doing Business"

[chriswatkin]

When Britain declared war on Germany Hitler said " l have always had a love affair with England, unfortunately that love was never reciprocated".

[nunodasilva]

The alliance with Portugal made sense for centuries. They always kept an ally in continental Europe and one that had one of the largest coast in the Atlantic. A coast where British ships passed from and to their colonies. For Portugal it made sense too, being allied with a nation that had a strong navy and that navigated the same waters. I know that the alliance was made pre age of discovery (and colonization), but had it's ripe fruits in that era.

[michaelwier]

"Nations don't have friends, nations have interests"
- Winston Churchill

[thefrenchareharlequins]

You know a YouTuber is good when he can get you to watch 10 minutes of him pointing at maps

[zendengade]

Essentially, Britain's foreign policy (throughout history) is to use its indominable position as an island nation (large navy) to prevent any hegemon in Europe to maintain the classic balance of power without ever being threaten by invasion itself.

[lolypopNL]

Britain's foreign policy has always been to keep European nations/states fighting eachother. That was the whole point, keep the continentals divided so they can't gang up. This has been the policy with variations for a thousand years give or take. This was also the policy for a lot of European countries but they didn't have the luxury of being on an Island.

[sakkra]

Many British people in the 1930s would have been happy to just let him. Many were sympathetic to Germany's plight and were impressed at how he had built a strong and nationalist Germany out of the ashes of the chaos of the 1920s, and viewed him as a bulwark against the Bolshevists.

[marksheen]

Churchill and the other hawks wanted a war

[dragosstanciu]

It would have been suicide for Britain to fight Germany and the USSR at the same time after they invaded Poland in September 1939.

[themodernwarfarehistorian]

(Insert "Yes Prime Minister" quote on why England is in the EU)

[strtsak]

Britain: Trying for centuries to maintain a disunited Europe
European Union: Threatening to create a disunited Britain
Reverse Uno card

[douglasturner]

Thanks for a coherent explanation of British policy that many people get confused about. Also explains British policy against Spain and Louis XIV. Churchill wrote a book about his ancestor Marlborough that clearly shows this pattern.

Napoleon also got frustrated with Britain not accepting him and constantly working to thwart him and entangle him in weakening conflicts with others. Hitler got a mirror image treatment in WWII. More than one frustrated European has railed about "Perfidious Albion"! But it was "just business" as you say.

[archangel]

Buchanan makes a solid case for exactly what you claim to discredit in his book Churchill hitler and the unnecessary war. Hitler had, until 1939, adhered to an agreement with britain, to limit their own navy to 1/3 of the british. As well as relinquishing all claim to overseas colonies. Nazis and fascists fighting communism to a stalemate is clearly a boon for Britain. Instead they courted disaster and would not have made it without the USA and hitlers error to turn east. The truth is germany was never a real threat to the british empire, but making them one ruined all of Europe, placing half of it in stalins hands and toppling the british empire in the process.

[nameless]

According to Hitler he respected the British empire and wanted it to prosper, he had no plans to dismantle it

[grandadmiralzaarin]

“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."-Prime Minister Henry Palmerstone