After assuming power in 1933, Hitler threatened to spark a new war in Europe by demanding that the Sudetenland be ceded to Germany — largely on the basis of the fact it was populated by ethnic Germans. European powers eventually gave in to Hitler's demands via the Munich Agreement in 1938, in what would ultimately be a failed bid to prevent another conflict from consuming the continent. The European leaders involved in the Munich discussions — particularly British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain — were accused of appeasement, and of being fooled by Hitler.
Nazi Germany would go on to invade the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, just months before the onset of World War II.
As he moved to recognize two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine as independent on Monday, Putin made references to the historical and ethnic connections between Ukraine and Russia. He rewrote history in the process, and effectively suggested that Ukraine is not a country. "Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia," Putin said.
In remarks at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alluded to the 1938 Munich crisis and the Sudetenland.
Zelensky suggested that Western leaders had engaged in "appeasement" in the face of Russian aggression toward Ukraine. "Has the world forgotten its mistakes of the 20th century?" Zelensky asked. "Where does appeasement policy usually lead to?"
As President Biden vows more sanctions on Russia to deter its attacks on Ukraine, there are lessons to be learned from the past. Edward Fishman, a former State Department staff member and adjunct fellow at The Center for a New American Security, joined CBS News' Tanya Rivero and Omar VIllafranca to discuss.
1) Do you think sanctions against Putin will work?
3) Why doesn't the United States and our allies respond with equal force?
