The more things change....

When I was in 9th grade I had a really good world history teacher. One lesson I still remember 20 years later is the story of a boy and his load of bread. The story goes something like this. A boy buys a load of bread at the store and walks home with it. A bully stops him and says either give me a piece of your bread of else I'll beat you up. Not wanting to fight, the boy gives the bully a piece of bread. A block later the bully is back and makes the same demand. The boy not wanting to fight gives another piece of bread. And this is repeated for the next 5 blocks. At the 6th block the bully is back, only the boy has only a small piece of bread left. The bully takes the last piece of bread and beats up the boy for good measure.

This was the same thing that happened in the 1930s. Hitler was the bully, Europe was the kid. Hitler wanted Austria, he got Austria, since it wasn't worth fighting for in France and England. Hitler wanted the Sudetenland, he got it since France and England didn't think it was worth fighting for. Hitler wanted to re-arm the Rhineland, he re-armed the Rhineland since France and England didn't think it was worth fighting for. Hitler got everything he wanted of course and still started a fight.

This story reminded me of Mr. Leed's lesson.