A good book on WWI

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
Neither the German people nor the emperor ever wanted that war!

Or the other one that you started

[Ecthy]

neither did anyone want that one. Poland would have been the last territorial request"""22!11!

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
neither did anyone want that one. Poland would have been the last territorial request"""22!11!

Right

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
Neither the German people nor the emperor ever wanted that war!

I know you're not being completely serious, but I've always felt that Germany gets unfairly stuck with the responsibility for WW1, especially here in the states. Germany of WW1 was no morally worse than the other empires that they were fighting, nor was it worse than the US.

[Ecthy]

Yeah, but if someone really was to pull the effort and get me into serious mode now, even I would probably see a slight idea of the responsible-meter tending toward the German side...

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
Yeah, but if someone really was to pull the effort and get me into serious mode now, even I would probably see a slight idea of the responsible-meter tending toward the German side...

I wouldn't. I hold Russia, Austria, and France more responsible than Germany, which is tied with Britain.

The US had no business being in that war, but we went ahead and joined in anyway.

[Ecthy]

Austria was so weak and so angry about its own weakness and so trusting in german strength that Germany actually had a responsibility for Austria's actions, like parents have for their kids. carte blanche my arse!

[Ecthy]

it's like if you watch your little brother who's looking up to you carve a knife and then become aggressive to other kids. he looks at you to see yoru reaction and all you say is "yeah dude, whatever you do I'm with you" so he begins to stab. they just failed to see the responsibility that lay in their strength.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
it's like if you watch your little brother who's looking up to you carve a knife and then become aggressive to other kids. he looks at you to see yoru reaction and all you say is "yeah dude, whatever you do I'm with you" so he begins to stab. they just failed to see the responsibility that lay in their strength.

I once saw the real reason for the tragedy of WW 1 in a book I inherited from my mother. It was a coloring book she in turn inherited from her mother, who had given it to my grandmother's brother at the turn of the 20th century. It was a coloring book for boys filled with soldiers of most of the nations of the earth at the time. Each page had one or more soldiers in dress uniform to be colored in. The soldiers were striking heoic poses, or chasing natives and savages. Each page also bore a caption praising the martial virtues of the soldiers. The captions were along the lines of: "Here is the stalwart British sergeant ready to die for King and Country." "Here is the brave German soldier defending his beloved Fatherland." It was obvious. These guys were asking for it.

[Garth Vader]

Originally posted by Wycoff


I wouldn't. I hold Russia, Austria, and France more responsible than Germany, which is tied with Britain.

The US had no business being in that war, but we went ahead and joined in anyway.

What did France do?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
You could always try Keegan's The First World War.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Garth Vader
What did France do?

They're French, isn't that enough?

That and they backed Russia, which backed Serbia, which gave the Serbians the confidence to reject some of Austria's ultimatums. Before the Russian backing, they were about to agree to all of them (even the infamous allowing Austrians to look around in Serbia).