Military history is full of examples of leaders, both political and military, who wanted to fight the next war with the outdated strategies used to fight the last one.
The fight against communism did not start with the Cold War however. To understand why communism eventually fell would require an examination of the bigger historical picture. Just after the Bolsheviks took power in Russia, they made their first act of aggression against a Western nation. Once the expansionist ideology of communism found a nation to take root in, the struggle to keep this weed from spreading began.
In 1920, Russia attempted to forcefully convert Poland into a communist state. The importance of Russia's failure in that attempt was best summarized at the time by Lord D'Abernon, British Ambassador to Berlin: “If Charles Martel had not checked the Saracen conquest at the Battle of Tours, the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught at the schools of Oxford, and her pupils might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet. Had Pilsudski and Weygand failed to arrest the triumphant advance of the Soviet Army at the Battle of Warsaw, not only would Christianity have experienced a dangerous reverse, but the very existence of Western civilization would have been imperiled. The Battle of Tours saved our ancestors from the Yoke of the Koran; it is probable that the Battle of Warsaw saved Central, and parts of Western Europe from a more subversive danger-the fanatical tyranny of the Soviet.”
The struggle against communism then moved to Germany. Marx and Engels were German Jews that migrated to England. Their intent was for Germany to put their economic theories into practice. They would have never guessed that Russia would be applying their ideology first. After World War I, Germany was economically devastated. Under these circumstances, the Communists grew into a real threat. Who would lead the fight to save Germany from becoming a communist state?
Adolf Hitler's rise in politics was due to his being a staunch anti-communist. Much of his book Mein Kampf is about his views towards Communists and Jews, which he viewed as part of the same evil. Since German business owners didn't want to end up losing their assets under a communist system, where everything would be nationalized, they supported Hitler. This is a perfect example of how fear can override reason in a democratic state.
After rising to power, Hitler's agenda was to consolidate power to a degree sufficient to inevitably take on Russia. One of his first steps was the Anti-Comintern Pact, signed by Germany, Italy and Japan. After the creation of this coalition to fight communism, Mussolini stated, “We are the axis around which the world will spin.” This is where the term “Axis” powers came into being. The subsequent invasion of most of Germany's neighboring countries was done as part of a bigger strategy to consolidate European power to take on the Communists in Russia. The Fascists viewed every evil they did as justified, based on the concept that it was all necessary to fight the greater evil of communism.
On the 22nd of June, 1941, Operation Barbarossa began. The Nazis made their bid to destroy communism once and for all. No fighting in world history can compare to the slaughter in the struggle between these two demons. Take all the Americans that have ever died in war, multiply by about twenty, and that's how many men, women and children perished on the Eastern front.
When America entered the war, they were in no hurry to enter the battle of mainland Europe. Russia became the West's beast of burden, through which most of the work of defeating the Nazi's would be done. Eighty-five percent of German casualties came from fighting against Russia. Germany was also serving the West by weakening Russia for after the war. This infuriated Stalin, who repeatedly begged Roosevelt and Churchill to start a second front in Western Europe. However, in the beginning of W.W.II, Hitler offered Stalin the opportunity of sharing in the robbery of Poland. Having been a bank robber in his youth, Stalin could not resist. The West had not forgotten this treachery, and Russia paid dearly.
Finally, on June 6, 1944, almost five years after WWII started, Normandy was invaded. It was time for the allies to step in and keep the Western half of Europe from eventually falling into the hands of the Communists. Eisenhower allowed the Russians to have the “honor” of taking Berlin. The Battle of Berlin cost the Russians another 100,000 casualties. Two-thirds of German women also paid the price of being raped after the victory in Berlin.
