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The end of that stupid, useless war is certainly worth commemorating. If for nothing else, then perhaps to make us stop and think the next time some politico promises us that the boys will be home by Christmas.
Some hold the theory that WWI was going to happen sooner or later and was necessary to accelerate the process of the "old order", a Europe dominated by monarchies and nobility to an end.
Germany had been making expansionist plans and war like noises for years running up to the War. The Kaiser was also keen on meddling and egged the Czar on which ended in something those that knew about such things did not count upon; Russia mobilizing her military. Everyone still believed the system of royal intermarriages and such would act as Victoria and Albert had designed, which of course was rubbish.
Okay, so of the POW camps in the US that held German prisoners, where are those mass graves and how many German prisoners that went into them were never seen again?
Both the Germans and the Russians dispatched maybe millions of mutual enemy prisoners.
The eastern war was brutal beyond belief.
I think one aspect that is often overlooked and that I realized on my own is that maybe, maybe the Germans fought so brutally and savagely on the eastern front because they were dealing with savage bolsheviks.
Let's not forget that the bolshevik regime had the blood of maybe 15 million (?) people on its hands when WWII started.
Some hold the theory that WWI was going to happen sooner or later and was necessary to accelerate the process of the "old order", a Europe dominated by monarchies and nobility to an end.
Nobody predicted the meatgrinder warfare that was the outcome. Certainly nobody expected a stupid squabble over Serbia would have turned into the conflagration it ended up being.
Nobody predicted the meatgrinder warfare that was the outcome. Certainly nobody expected a stupid squabble over Serbia would have turned into the conflagration it ended up being.
Well yes there is that, but remember much of that "meat grinder" warfare was because many of the generals and officers on all sides were quite simply idiots. Most held their posts more out of other things besides merit and competence thus couldn't plan much less execute anything approaching modern war fare. No, all they could think of was hurling large numbers of men to retake a line or bit of territory that would be lost soon enough. When things didn't "work" the answer was to call for yet more men to be sent to this or that front from home. Then the whole mess would start again.
Again WWI helped expose many European men to what they knew for some time, their "betters" were often a bunch of stuffed shirts that didn't have a clue.
Some hold the theory that WWI was going to happen sooner or later and was necessary to accelerate the process of the "old order", a Europe dominated by monarchies and nobility to an end.
You know that 'old order' did go but whatever replaced it arguably affected the outbreak of WWII. I'd say the 'problems' of 1918 are still around within Europe and Asia today. Euorpe no doubt still feels the ills of those wars. Those previous wars accounted for the most serious disruptions of peoples and cultures in Europe and Asia. Countries and empires were broken up and the new borders made completely changed the countries that towns and cities once belonged to. One morning you're 'here' the next you're 'there'. The uprooting must have been tremendous and had implications as to how countries would develop after all that.
One morning you're 'here' the next you're 'there'. The uprooting must have been tremendous and had implications as to how countries would develop after all that.
Heh. Many years ago, I vacationed in Alsace - also known as Elsass, depending on whether it's German or French at the time. (Loveely, lovely place, highly recommended.)
The locals seemed very philosophical about it: We stayed on the winery of one Jean Hugel - as he said, it worked just as well as "Hans Hugel" when the Germans were in charge, but he felt things were settling down: He'd only swapped sides twice. His grandfather had gone through four changes and his son through none at all, so all in all...
You know that 'old order' did go but whatever replaced it arguably affected the outbreak of WWII.
The old order was dying at the time - in most of the West, anyway. France was a republic, England was extending the vote considerably through the reform acts, a lot of the smaller countries were making or had made the move to constitutional monarchy. Wilhelm II and Nicolai II were the notable exceptions - Wilhelm by wanting to grab power back from parliament in a reversal from the prevailing currents of the time, Nicolai II by just keeping business running as usual.
The old order was dying at the time - in most of the West, anyway. France was a republic, England was extending the vote considerably through the reform acts, a lot of the smaller countries were making or had made the move to constitutional monarchy. Wilhelm II and Nicolai II were the notable exceptions - Wilhelm by wanting to grab power back from parliament in a reversal from the prevailing currents of the time, Nicolai II by just keeping business running as usual.
Sad thing is Nicholas II likely went to his grave not knowing how much interference from Wilhelm II up to and including returning Lenin to Russia was responsible for his fate. Sadder still for Russia it's one chance to move towards a normal democratic government were squashed.
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