The Lessons Of History Seem Forgotten In Trump’s Recent Meeting With Putin

Is Vladimir Putin Adolf Hitler reincarnated? No. Is Donald Trump Neville Chamberlain reincarnated? Again, no. But it is hard to distinguish the differences after Trump and Putin met in Alaska to decide what to do with Ukraine in the same way Chamberlain and Hitler met in Munich in 1938 to determine the future of Czechoslovakia.

One of the reasons Putin told the world in his rationale for the invasion of Ukraine was the mistreatment of Russian speakers and culture in Ukraine. Hitler argued that Czechoslovakia contained German speakers who were formerly part of Austria-Hungary, and were now subject to discrimination by the Czech government.

Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 using irregular Russian troops after the Orange Revolution in Kiev caused the Russian-loyalist Ukrainian leader to resign. Russia was subsequently instrumental in inciting an insurrection backed by some of its irregular soldiers in Eastern Ukraine in defence of the Russian-speaking population in the region.

Hitler attempted to overthrow the Austrian government shortly after gaining power in Germany in 1933. This happened in July 1934, with an attempt to replace Austria’s government with a Nazi regime. Austria’s Chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, was assassinated by Nazi operatives. Then, in March 1938, the Anschluss occurred after German threats and a lack of international resistance allowed Austria’s neighbour to take over unopposed. Six months later, it was Czechoslovakia’s turn.

Without a Chamberlain, whose appeasement policies countered any prior assurances Great Britain had made to the Czech government to defend it, and without a war of resistance backed by allies, Nazi Germany would not have annexed the border provinces of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland.

The meeting in Munich that sacrificed Czech territory and eventually its democracy to Nazi Germany was unprecedented. Chamberlain, along with a complicit French government, was left with a piece of paper signed by Hitler that promised no more land claims by Germany in Europe. Following Hitler’s assurances and what appears in hindsight to have been a six-month demand agenda, Germany occupied the rest of the rump Czech nation in March 1939. Six months later, in September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, leading to World War II.

The Trump-Putin meeting was to focus on the future of Ukraine and ending the war started by Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Playing the role of Chamberlain, “appeaser in chief,” the American president came away with not even a piece of paper signed by Putin that assured he was open to negotiating a peace treaty, and to accepting security guarantees to protect Ukraine if it didn’t join the NATO alliance.

Remember, Putin’s Russia had already invaded Ukraine twice before. The February 2022 invasion involved troops marching towards Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in a blatant attempt to overthrow and replace the country’s legitimately elected government with Russian sympathizers. What Russia never expected was that Ukraine would fight back.

Maybe Putin was reading about how the Austrians and Czechs folded under German threats in 1938. Russia justified its invasion by stating that Ukraine was being Nazified, that it was always Russian and had no legitimacy in history, and that its desire to join NATO posed a future threat to the Motherland. In the end, the invasion that was supposed to be a dress parade and a walk in the park has produced a war that is now in its fourth year.

Trump came to Alaska without an agenda but firmly believing he could make a deal with Putin. He rolled out the red carpet for him. Putin came seeking legitimacy in the same way Hitler did by reluctantly agreeing to the Munich conference suggested by Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy and Germany’s ally.

Trump talked about getting Ukraine and Russia to meet under U.S. sponsorship to end the war. At the same time, Trump made it known that Russia’s claim to Crimea was in his mind, uncontested. At the same time, Trump assured Putin that Ukraine joining NATO would not be “in the cards.” Trump, in a previous meeting with Ukraine’s President and had told him he didn’t “have the cards.”

Before the conference, Trump had warned Putin of “severe consequences” if a ceasefire wasn’t reached, followed by a peace agreement. In reality, the severe consequences threatened by Trump turned into a public declaration that no U.S. troops would be on the ground to defend Ukraine, regardless of any future security guarantees to the country.

The parallels between Munich 1938 and Alaska 2025 cannot be ignored. In 1938 and 2025, two powerful democracies decided to take the word of two authoritarian leaders at the expense of a smaller nation, with a willingness to sacrifice the latter’s territorial integrity. Chamberlain was doing it to avoid a repeat of World War I.

Why has Trump done it? Nobody knows. Maybe it is because Trump is seeking a Nobel Peace Prize, something Barack Obama had received while he was President. Maybe it is because Trump has been compromised by Russia in the past. Maybe it is because Trump likes to be perceived as the prime deal maker, whether the deals he does hurt those relying on him. Or maybe it is because Trump is an isolationist and has no legitimate interest in European security and the future of Ukraine.

The words of Chamberlain may reflect Trump’s thinking when the former referred to the German-Czech crisis as “a quarrel in a faraway country, between people of whom we know nothing.” 

Is Ukraine a faraway country? Are NATO’s 30 member states not a reflection of America’s beliefs in support of peace, democracy and freedom?

Is a country that the United States has given or loaned hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons and assistance, one of which Americans know nothing?

Is history about to repeat?