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That seems ridiculous and wildly over the top. Hitler took a peacetime situation and started a war because he wanted to rule the world and abolish democracy eve

That seems ridiculous and wildly over the top. Hitler took a peacetime situation and started a war because he wanted to rule the world and abolish democracy everywhere. Churchill was one of the key men who stopped him, was forced into the situation of defence and had to make many hard decisions along the way. If there had been no Hitler then Churchill would never have been in the position of having to decide what to do about the famine and it might never have happened at all. Moreover the British Empire dissolved itself in India and converted it into a democracy for the first time ever - the exact opposite of what Hitler wanted.

BlackJack 8y ago
My point was not that Churchill wanted fascism or communism. The point was that Hitler was a genocidal leader and that the British/Victorian government during the 20th century also perpetuated genocide, directly or through inaction. Hitler didn't take a "peacetime situation." There was hyperinflation in Germany post WWI, and a massive arms and military-industrial build up all the way through the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, Hitler didn't want to "abolish democracy everywhere" - his objectives were to make Germany self-sufficient and in control of Europe. He was certainly anti-democracy in terms of slowness, and believed in stronger centralized power, but I don't think he cared if South American states for example were democratic or not. The British Empire didn't "dissolve" itself in India - there were decades of non-violent protest, including strong political pressure after WWI (Britain promised to give India independence after WWI, but didn't). Millions of lives were lost in this process both due to colonial brutality as well as 1MM+ dead due to the partition of India and Pakistan and it's aftermath. Look up books like Late Victorian Holocausts [1], which make the exact argument of how British and other colonial governments created or at least prolonged famine situations across the world. Happy to discuss further if you want to. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Victorian_Holocausts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Victorian_Holocausts

BlackJack 8y ago

My point was not that Churchill wanted fascism or communism. The point was that Hitler was a genocidal leader and that the British/Victorian government during the 20th century also perpetuated genocide, directly or through inaction. Hitler didn't take a "peacetime situation." There was hyperinflation in Germany post WWI, and a massive arms and military-industrial build up all the way through the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, Hitler didn't want to "abolish democracy everywhere" - his objectives were to make Germany self-sufficient and in control of Europe. He was certainly anti-democracy in terms of slowness, and believed in stronger centralized power, but I don't think he cared if South American states for example were democratic or not. The British Empire didn't "dissolve" itself in India - there were decades of non-violent protest, including strong political pressure after WWI (Britain promised to give India independence after WWI, but didn't). Millions of lives were lost in this process both due to colonial brutality as well as 1MM+ dead due to the partition of India and Pakistan and it's aftermath. Look up books like Late Victorian Holocausts [1], which make the exact argument of how British and other colonial governments created or at least prolonged famine situations across the world. Happy to discuss further if you want to. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Victorian_Holocausts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Victorian_Holocausts