The uncomfortable truth behind our peace, and the price others paid for it
23,000 young Americans died here—in Italy—for a war that wasn’t theirs.
40,000 Italian partisans (plus 30.000 civilians) were executed by Nazi-fascists.
They weren’t all communists. Many were liberals, republicans, socialists.
Alongside them, thousands of soldiers from the Commonwealth fell fighting for freedom on European soil.
This is a truth we seem to have forgotten:
We are free today only because others fought.
The hypocrisy of modern pacifism
There’s a new breed of “pacifists” in Europe—both on the right and the left.
On the right:
- Some eagerly absorb Kremlin propaganda, pretending Putin is just “protecting his borders.”
- Others claim the Baltics are outside Europe’s moral responsibility, despite international treaties we signed (see NATO and EU Strategic Compass).
On the left:
- Some march each April 25th to honor Italian partisans, yet ignore the modern partisans in Ukraine who are resisting fascist invasion today.
- Others still believe that renouncing war will magically surround us with nations that share our values and respect human life.
This isn’t just wishful thinking. It’s dangerous naiveté.
Without resistance, there would be no democracy
If the Italian partisans hadn’t taken to the forests and marshes with weapons,
if they hadn’t shown courage while others bowed or fled,
we would still be under Nazi-fascist rule.
And if they hadn’t resisted, Americans and Brits would not have bet on Italy’s redemption.
We would not have been treated as part of the victors.
We would not have received the economic and diplomatic support that rebuilt our country.
They could’ve stayed home.
But they didn’t.
And that’s why we have Erasmus, open borders, the single market, and the prosperity we now take for granted.
“Si vis pacem, para bellum”: Why Europe must grow up
I say this not as a hawk, but as a former anti-militarist.
I wish it weren’t so. But it is.
We must invest in defense—not to wage war, but to avoid one.
Because hope is not a strategy.
Because the next war might not give us a second chance.
As institutions crumble in the U.S., Europe is now the last global bastion of civil and social rights.
We are the only continent not handing power to “strongmen for life.”
We are the only place where the rule of law still protects the weak.
Dictatorships like Russia and China thrive when Europe is fragmented.
It worked for the Pope and the invaders a few centuries ago, when they split among themselves the Italian peninsula.
And it’s working again today.
Following a Russian attempt to seize the Baltics in the 2070s, the US refuses to support their allies, and the Federalized and much more integrated European Union turns their (now federal) army to face Russia alone. Europe successfully destroys the Russian army. Source: Reddit
If we want peace, we must be strong
Our ancestors were right:
“Si vis pacem, para bellum“—if you want peace, prepare for war.
Boosting Europe’s technological and military capacity does not violate our constitutions.
It reinforces deterrence.
It protects our freedom, our economies, our way of life.
If we want to keep traveling, thinking, voting, and loving freely across this continent,
we must protect what past generations earned in blood.
Let’s stop with fairy tales.
Let’s act like adults.
Let’s defend freedom—or risk losing it entirely.
EYES TO SEE 