[Billthedrill]

But after the carnage of what might be called the long European war from 1914 to 1989, some Europeans—particularly older ones, in my experience—just cannot accept the idea that any war can be a good one.

Surely those same memories have room for the notion that not confronting an aggressive tyrant with a track record of invading two of his neighbors is what got them into such trouble in 1939 in the first place?

[pragmatic_asian]

It may be that the Europeans actually prefered living under the yoke of totalitarianism especially when that tyrant was fulfilling their dreams of eradicating the Jews.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Surely those same memories have room for the notion that not confronting an aggressive tyrant with a track record of invading two of his neighbors is what got them into such trouble in 1939 in the first place?

In the years leading up to the war, Churchill was largely hated -- he was viewed as a rabble-rouser and a warmonger. Churchill correctly understood Hitler, and reached the conclusion that Britain would have to eventually confront the Nazis. Many leftists then rhapsodized over the planned economy and the regimentation the Nazis were bringing to Germany -- it all seemed so "progressive." Some leftists were anti-fascist, to be sure (often preferring Stalin's utopia), but there were those who were taken-in by such things as the Autobahn, which, presumably, can only be built by a socialist dictatorship. The "sophisticated" people of the day tried to convince themselves that all would be well with the world if only old Winston would shut-up and not provoke Hitler.