People become desperate and do ill-conceived things when they are at their wits end, in order to survive. Take Nazi Germany, for example. Because of France’s desire to make Germany pay, the former made Germany take all the blame in the Treaty of Versailles (Article 231 “War Guilt Clause”) and the entirety of the German people suffered. Instead of thinking what is just and fair to sustain a better world, they used their power as the winner to decide how the loser would suffer. Even though they know it’d tremendously hurt the German economy. France didn’t understand the moral lesson from Mytilean Debate which was, power may be the only thing important in international relations but those who have them have to act with prudence. They justified and rationalized this by saying that Germany was at fault for attacking France first. As a result, desperate and suffering Germans who have nothing to lose were willing to do anything. Adolf Hitler comes and the rest is
People become desperate and do ill-conceived things when they are at their wits end, in order to survive. Take Nazi Germany, for example. Because of France’s desire to make Germany pay, the former made Germany take all the blame in the Treaty of Versailles (Article 231 “War Guilt Clause”) and the entirety of the German people suffered. Instead of thinking what is just and fair to sustain a better world, they used their power as the winner to decide how the loser would suffer. Even though they know it’d tremendously hurt the German economy. France didn’t understand the moral lesson from Mytilean Debate which was, power may be the only thing important in international relations but those who have them have to act with prudence. They justified and rationalized this by saying that Germany was at fault for attacking France first. As a result, desperate and suffering Germans who have nothing to lose were willing to do anything. Adolf Hitler comes and the rest is