“Forces, ideas, prejudices, institutions, conflicts, all are surely important. Yet that still leaves the individuals, not in the end that many of them, who had to say yes, go ahead and unleash war, or no, stop.” The men on top are the men who matter most, and the most important thing about them is their inadequacy: “It was Europe’s and the world’s tragedy in retrospect that none of the key players in 1914 were great and imaginative leaders who had the courage to stand out against the pressures building up for war.”
Algis Valiunas on The First World War and its lessons. (originally published in 2014)
*link fixed, sorry
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As Europe descends once again into kaos my only hope is that Canada and the USA are not drawn into another conflict there. Any research of WW I clearly presents the argument that this war was fought to exclude Germany from gaining in world trade. Colonial powers like Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands were all threatened by a technologically superior German industry. Layer the more than sad proclivities of in-breed monarchies, across Europe to boot.
What has changed? Today Europe is dominated by progressive movements that have layered costs onto their societies that cannot be paid for. Their banking systems are collapsing, their EU solidarity is collapsing and now their countries are being over ran by immigrants that they cannot assimilate. They cannot defend themselves and at long last the USA under Trump is calling them out for what they are. Free loaders.
Euros caused WW I and then kicked the can down the road with a punitive treaty against Germany which brought on WW II. If not Hitler it would have been another German leader. When the inevitable conflict starts in Europe I will do everything in my power to ensure my boys do not participate.
The punitive treaty that ended WWI and saddled Germany with huge reparations, which realistically they had no way of repaying, was revenge for the treaty that ended the Franco-Prussian war:
“The terms of the treaty included a war indemnity of five billion francs to be paid by France to Germany. The German army would continue to occupy parts of France until the payment was complete… Preliminary discussion began on the cession of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine, to Germany.”
That’s how it works most of the time. The victor puts the screws to the vanquished, almost always resulting in bitterness and a desire for revenge by the vanquished. Not assessing reparations to Germany after WWII was an anomaly. In theory, the formation of the EU to remove trade barriers and reduce the likelihood of future war between Germany and the rest of Europe was a good idea. Unfortunately, the Eurocrats have thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
I would posit the upcoming conflagration in Europe will not be between countries, but between cultures. North Americans will be too busy addressing our own similar issues to help Europe, as if that would even be possible in these times.
I agree. Except I don’t think that there will be a general war in Europe, but rather a series of last ditch rear guard attempts to save regions or smaller countries from the inevitable submerging of a dying culture with a resurgent 7th century culture.
IMO some well written articles here about the war:
https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I
The lesson I draw from WWI is don’t fight for people who don’t care if you live or die.
The other thing I’ve notice about war is that in the run up, population opinion often holds that it’s not going to take long, cost much, or result in much death of their soldiers. Hah!
Correction: Should be “popular opinion.”
“The men on top are the men who matter most, and the most important thing about them is their inadequacy….none of the key players in 1914 were great and imaginative leaders who had the courage to stand out against the pressures building up for war.”
And less than twenty years later the cowards stood united in resolute inaction as Germany blatantly forged ploughshares into swords.
If Russia invades Canada will Europeans fight for us?
More importantly, will Canadians?
How would Russia invade Canada? Militarily they could not do it, nor could they hold it. The Russians were able to invade but could not hold Afghanistan. Now imagine trying to invade population centers of Canada which are at least 10 hours away from Russia by air. The geographic size of Canada would make it impossible.
Then the Russians would have to deal with Quebec. If they came, then after 6 months, they’d give up in disgust and go home
before Quebec sucked them dry.
Lol!
And it is precisely this attitude that you display again and again that is the reason why those like you should never be allowed to come to Canada. You’re not even traitors like the left, you’re simply enemies of civilization.
They did nothing to stop the war because they and the limp-wristed pansies they called their sons were not the ones who were going to be slaughtered in it. That job fell to working-class men who loved their wives and children, who went to Belgium and came back crippled, insane or both, if they came back at all.
For the elites, there is no such thing as right or wrong. There is fun and boring. To our masters, war is fun.
Immensely profitable too, if you win. With the help of the Bolsheviks, the Kaiser came within a hair’s breadth of conquering Russia—the closest the Germans had ever come to doing so. They’re still bitter about losing their prize.
Pure 100% bull$hit, this one of the most commonly repeated myths about WWI. In fact the opposite is true the death rates for the aristocracy and upper class which were the front line officers leading their men by example were higher, (in UK almost twice as high) as the death rates among the rank and file.
The men among the aristocracy who took all that nonsense about God and country seriously went to Flanders to die.
The nancies stayed home, and got their daddies’ money and safe seats in Parliament.
As ways of culling Britain’s elite of most of the last of its patriots, they could have done worse. A communist revolution would have killed off the nancies too.
God and country weren’t nonsense. Not then not now. When they become nonsense we may as well give country to UnMes. The rest of what you said does not address the preceding inaccurate statement you made.
I like this from the link:
“The supreme tragedy of the Great War is that it neutered the multitudes of decent men who ought to have prevented the rise of the foulest regime ever, and the eruption of another war so devastating that the evils of the erstwhile Great War came to seem acceptable by comparison. Never such innocence again, but with a violent turn of the screw: not the innocence of 1914 but that of 1918 and some years following, the innocence of believing that a war of attrition conducted by incompetents is the worst that men can do.”
ah yes, ye olde dubya dubya eye.
I think when I learned about that fight was when I first started to have doubts about ‘authorities’ and ‘officials’ and ‘gubbamint’.
and resented the clucking crowd who scoffed and ostracized anyone who refused to sign up ‘out of patriotic duty’.
fcukin sheep goddamn fcukin sheep all over the WORLD.
sheep to slaughter as long as sumbuddy wavin’ dat flag !!!
dubya dubya eye eye however was a completely different matter.