Seventy-six years ago this month, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain delivered a grim, sobering message. In a broadcast to the nation, he declared that the many attempts he and other European leaders had made to restore peace had failed; Britain was now at war with Germany.

On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. After three days of trying to stop Adolf Hitler diplomatically, the British government was forced to declare war on Germany to defend the rights of a state’s sovereignty. Poland was quickly subdued and split between Nazi and Soviet occupation. Soon the war turned westward.

After nearly five years of promising peace, resolution and diplomatic triumph, the entire British Empire was plunged into world war. The very man who made a deal with Adolf Hitler at Munich and declared “peace in our time” was forced to declare war on Germany. Chamberlain expressed his disappointment during that radio broadcast on Sept. 3, 1939:

You can imagine what a bitter blow it is to me that all my long struggle to win peace has failed. Yet I cannot believe that there is anything more or anything different that I could have done and that would have been more successful.

You can listen to the full radio broadcast here:

Was there really nothing different that could have been done?

Britain and the Allies nearly lost the war. Their cities were bombed and suffered severe destruction. The entire British Army was almost lost in the first battles of the war. More women and children died in the first months of the war than soldiers. Britain was left financially crippled. Much of the world was plunged into despair and suffering. Over 50 million people died. The Jews faced industrialized genocide: 6 million perished in five years. Was there nothing Neville Chamberlain and the British government could have done differently to prevent such a catastrophe?

From our perspective, the decisions they made seemed to make the war inevitable. Indeed, hindsight is 20/20, and this article does not seek to condemn Mr. Chamberlain or the leaders of that day for what they did or didn’t do. However, understanding and analyzing history provides the opportunity to learn from past mistakes and apply those lessons to the present. This history seems especially prescient, because our civilization has again reached the crossroads between peace and war.

One man who learned the lessons of history was nearly denied the chance to save his nation. Sir Winston Churchill was the only voice warning the British government of where its weakness, folly and appeasement were taking it. In October of 1938, Churchill said, during the debate in Parliament over the Munich agreement:

When I think of the fair hopes of a long peace which still lay before Europe at the beginning of 1933 when Herr Hitler first obtained power, and of all the opportunities of arresting the growth of the Nazi power which have been thrown away, when I think of the immense combinations and resources which have been neglected or squandered, I cannot believe that a parallel exists in the whole course of history. …I do not grudge our loyal, brave people, who were ready to do their duty no matter what the cost, who never flinched under the strain of last week—I do not grudge them the natural, spontaneous outburst of joy and relief when they learned that the hard ordeal would no longer be required of them at the moment; but they should know the truth. They should know that there has been gross neglect and deficiency in our defenses; they should know that we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road; they should know that we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies:Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.

The British government, media and all the Western world continued to ignore Churchill’s warning until they were forced to stare death in the face. It is far too easy to intellectualize this period of history, and not realize how close we were to losing the Second World War. The Nazi darkness nearly overcame us. The promises of peace nearly cost us our lives, the future of our children, and the light of freedom in the world. However, there was one lion left among the lambs who refused to be led to the slaughter.

Does this history not sound familiar to the events of our day?

The United States of America struck a nuclear agreement with Iran. This deal is supposed to prevent Iran from producing its own nuclear weapon. Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Its people often chant, “Death to America!” It cites its most constant foreign policy as the destruction of Israel. And it has four American citizens as hostages. Not to mention causing the deaths of American soldiers, whose government believes Iran can be diplomatically soothed to a more peaceful state. For more analysis, read editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article in the September issue of the Trumpet, “Negotiating Human Survival.”

In Europe, the sovereignty of Ukraine is in a prolonged state of violation, with the annexation of Crimea 18 months ago. Russia continues to be aggressive in the struggle for power in Crimea, while Europe and the United States do almost nothing to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin. The paper edifice of nato has been completely ineffective at stopping the escalating conflict, where over 6,400 people have died.

If the Western nations continue on the path of appeasement, diplomacy and self-delusion, what will be the end result? The answer should be only too clear. The United States is following in the same footsteps as the British leadership of the 1930s. They claim to be working toward peace, but they are only stoking the embers of war. We know from history the same behavior we see today led to the worst war the world has ever seen.

However, just as there was one voice warning the world in the 1930s, there is one voice today doing the same. Gerald Flurry wrote in his booklet Winston S. Churchill: The Watchman:

Winston Churchill didn’t get a leadership role until after the war began. He was kept out of office by politicians, educational institutions and the press. Today, nations have nuclear weapons and the power to deliver them in minutes. If we make the same mistake Britain and America made in World War ii, our nations will not survive!That is why I keep saying we must learn from the horrendous mistakes we made before and during World War ii—or we will wake up too late. And just as Churchill warned Britain before World War ii, we are experiencing the same lack of will against strong dictators today. History warns about this disastrous kind of retreat. Churchill said, “Parliament is dead as mutton.” The leaders and the people had no real sense of the approaching danger of World War ii. They didn’t see the danger, so they didn’t prepare for it. And they drifted into this precarious condition. They were moving “towards some hideous catastrophe.” Today Britain and America are drifting toward a far more hideous catastrophe! That is why the World War ii lesson is so vital.If we drifted so recently (World War ii), is it alarmist to think we could do it again? “I feel our country’s safety is fatally imperilled both by its lack of arms and by the government’s attitude towards the Nazi gangsters,” Churchill said. “It is fostering in them the dangerous belief that they need not fear interference by us whatever they do. That can only encourage those savages to acts of aggression and violence of every kind. I have, therefore, chosen to go my own way and to act independently in order to further the safety of our country and of the civilization without which we cannot survive as a nation” (ibid).Churchill knew that if Britain fell, Europe would also fall and perhaps the whole of Western civilization, including America. Some people may have forgotten how close we came to destruction in World War ii. It will be to our own deadly peril if we fail to remember.

Seventy-six years ago, Britain declared war on Germany. The Allies were victorious in the war, but the victory came only after many years of suffering and sacrifice. Many of the mistakes leading up to World War ii are being repeated today. The leaders working so hard for peace are actually causing war. We are again stumbling forward to our own peril. But there is one voice that is speaking the truth, issuing a warning of what is to come, and illuminating how the world will finally find peace. Request our free booklet Winston S. Churchill: The Watchman to learn more of these vital lessons from history.