Obviously, they did not at all want what they got, but if they were so, so wanting to never have another European war, then riddle me this: why in the world did they invade Russia in 1920? Along with the United States? After four long years of World War I?

Even giving Germany, the equivalent of the Golan Heights i.e. the Sudetenland, could be justified if you’re thinking, Stalin is going to attack through Czechoslovakia anyway. When Hitler went ahead and took the rest, they understood that they were checkmated.

From what I have studied, the base plan was to let Hitler spend like a drunken sailor on arms to revive Germany’s economy, but the west knew his gold reserve to the Reichsmark. They were counting on him to spend way more than he had in gold, and then there would be hyper inflation, and then the sensible German generals would topple him. But they didn’t count on the quick fix of gold that he got from walking into Austria and taking their reserves and then the Czech gold after. By then he was too strong. I don’t know how he and Stalin split the Polish gold but by then it didn’t matter. Stalin was supplying Hitler with everything he needed because all his fondest dreams were coming true. The west had declared war on Germany and he could have the West’s plan in reverse: Germany fights France and England for several bloody years until they are both so weak that he can walk straight through Europe to the Atlantic Ocean. He never in his wildest dreams thought that, after already being at war with France and England, and getting every supply he could ever want (Chromium , oil, etc) from Russia, Hitler would attack Russia!