Why the Marshall Islands Should Start Thinking About World War III

Cpl. John Fabian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This article was published in the Marshall Islands Journal on November 11, 2022. Below is the full article, along with the original clipping of the article from the newspaper:

As the world history instructor at the College of the Marshall Islands, my students often laugh when I mention that world leaders tried to make peace with Adolf Hitler. In 1936, Hitler had marched his German troops into the Rhineland, which had then belonged to France, to take the land back after having lost it post-World War I. And the world did nothing to stop him.

Two years later in 1938, Hitler had marched his troops into Austria and annexed it as part of his Nazi empire. And again, the world did nothing to stop him.

Six months later, Hitler demanded the Sudetenland – a German populated area south of Germany in the country of Czechoslovakia. This worried world leaders, and they finally sat down with Hitler to make peace. They gave Hitler permission to take the Sudetenland, and in exchange Hitler promised peace.

But Hitler’s promises meant nothing, and the following year Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia. Six months later he took the western half of Poland. Just like that, Hitler had successfully swallowed up nearly half of the European map – and the world did nothing to stop him. What did this European affair mean for the Marshall Islands?

Japan’s alliance with Hitler emboldened them to bomb the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in hopes of destroying the American fleet in the Pacific. The USA declared war, and the Marshall Islands would now be involved in the battle for the Pacific.

Two atolls suffered the most during the years 1943–1944: Mile and Jaluit. Of the 185 days of recorded bombing activity in the Marshall Islands, Mile and Jaluit were bombed 51% of those days, with Jaluit being bombed every single day from March to May of 1944.

Maloelap was bombed 43% of those days and suffered the worst survival rate out of all the atolls with only 34% of the garrison surviving – counting both Japanese and Marshallese – while Wotje was bombed 35% of those days and had the second worst survival rate at 37%.

All of this war and suffering started with one man in Europe having the vision of conquering the world for his Nazi regime. So let’s learn from history and not make the mistake of thinking that what is happening in Europe cannot spill over into the Pacific.

Vladimir Putin has been swallowing up the European map: he took Chechnya in 2000, he annexed Crimea in 2014, and now he wants Ukraine. He also has a growing alliance with China and North Korea.

My honest belief is that Putin is invading Ukraine to test the West, and he is not bluffing when he threatens to use nuclear weapons. If the West doesn’t respond with strength, then this may embolden Russia even further and embolden China to invade Taiwan, sowing the seeds for World War III.

RiṂajeḷ should start planning now what they would do in the case of a new global war taking place in the Pacific. As for me, I would probably enlist in the military to join the fight, as I don’t think I would be able to teach with a sound mind while the world is at war. I believe the world faces the most dangerous decade since the 1940s, and only time will tell if the world can remain at peace for much longer.