For many, the evolving situation in Ukraine harkens back to European history of the 1930s. Whether it is the German-Austrian Anschluss or the German claim to Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, many across the world (and within Russia itself) have made the comparison between Russia's recent aggressive stance in the Crimea and the actions of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Such comparisons can be useful as they place the situation in Ukraine in a comprehensible (if perhaps simplified) framework. Most informed observers of contemporary affairs are broadly familiar with the events leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, and can easily understand a conception of Russia's action within such a comparison. Given the number of sources that have made the comparison in the last week, we thought it would be fruitful to remind our readers of those events in more detail.