World War II's troubling legacy in Europe
A destroyed tank lies in the rubble in central Mariupol, Ukraine, as Ukrainian forces battle Russian and pro-Russian forces in April 2022. Credit: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/SOPA Images
By Cathy YoungThis May 8 marked the 80th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe in World War II — a day to celebrate, but also to ponder the war’s legacy in our time.
For generations, World War II defined our world. It was seen as a clear-cut victory over ultimate evil: the defeat of the monstrous regime that was Nazi Germany. It birthed a new order in which the United States, which led the anti-Nazi coalition, was the leader of the free world (particularly in the Cold War with the Soviet Union which soon followed) and the guarantor of peace and security in Europe. It made war on the European continent unthinkable. Or so people thought.
Today, we mark this anniversary in the midst of a bloody war in Europe between two countries — Ukraine and Russia — that were part of the same country during World War II. Russia, which regards itself as the official successor to the Soviet Union, a key member of the anti-Hitler alliance, is the aggressor in this war. While victory over Nazi Germany is central to modern Russia’s heroic national mythology, many say that Russia’s war in Ukraine, with its naked imperialism, brutal war crimes and militaristic propaganda, makes it a modern-day heir to the Nazi regime itself. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has openly made this charge in a Victory Day video filmed in Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Europe faces other troubling developments. President Donald Trump, who has bragged about America’s leading contribution to the victory in World War II, has also made it clear that he wants to drastically scale down the U.S. role in ensuring European security today. At times, the Trump administration has sounded downright hostile to our European allies; it has also waffled on U.S. support for Ukraine, and Trump has sometimes sounded positively sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin while seeming to blame the victim for the war itself.
All of this has been read by the European democracies as a signal that America is no longer a reliable ally and that Europe must take the lead in its own defense — among other things, in a possible future confrontation with Russia. One may say that Europe pulling more of its own military weight is good. But this shift also means a more militarized Europe and, in particular, the possible reemergence of Germany as a military powerhouse. That’s a development our leaders at the end of World War II could not have fathomed. Will more heavily armed European states lower or increase the possibility of future conflicts?
Eighty years after the end of World War II, many people are comparing our current situation — military conflicts in Europe, threats to resolve international disputes by force of arms, the rise of xenophobic and authoritarian populist movements in many countries including the U. S. — to the dark time that preceded the war’s beginning. Too pessimistic? Probably. But there is no question that taboos on military aggression have been weakened, as have taboos on the bigotry and the strongman worship associated with Nazism and fascism. The world is going through another dangerous moment for liberal democracy. We can only hope that freedom will prevail again as it did 80 years ago — and without cataclysms that exact such a horrific price.
Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.
Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.
