Who caused this war, and what to do about it?

One of the main causes of the WWII was the Versailles Treaty which closed WWI. It treated Germany poorly and Germans felt aggrieved. However, as the Wehrmacht rolled across Europe, the memory of the Versailles Treaty was lost in the ensuing carnage. Hitler’s military rampage destroyed any sympathetic alliances that he may have had.

Eventually the original causes of that war got smothered by the atrocities committed during the war and the accompanying genocidal actions. In the case of WWII that meant the Nazi holocaust.

A Short Tale of Two Wars

WWII

The Versailles peace treaty after WWI treated Germany badly.

Hitler appealed to this sense of grievance and rose to power.

One could have been sympathetic with him at the beginning, but after he began

his military rampage (in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland...) sympathy for him dropped.

For more details see How Hitler Invaded Half of Europe (7 mins.)

Ukraine

The creation of NATO and its expansion eastward treated Russia badly.

Putin has risen to power and has appealed to Russia’s concerns about NATO.

One could have been sympathetic with him at the beginning, but after his military rampages (in Syria and Ukraine) sympathy for him has dropped.

For more details see Why Russia Wants Ukraine ( 8 mins.)

Lessons from history

Destructive foreign wars do not achieve their objectives:

Hitler in Germany
Putin in Ukraine
And USA in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.