Would the world be a better place if Germany had won WWI?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Is this what they teach in French schools, or is this just another example of Spiff's favourite hobby of gratuitous Rosbif-bashing?

http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/mons.htm

sorry, I guess I mistook Britain with Italy.

[Lancer]

It's the weather.

[SlowwHand]

If they'd won, German would be stuffed down our throats, rather than Spanish.

[Dauphin]

As it is, English is stuffed down our throats.

[SlowwHand]

English is the language of the world. Spanish..is not. Nor is German. Blame it on Rio.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Lancer
Bismark supported the efforts of what's his name, the idiot that suggested competeing with GB on the seas while the enemies of Germany were on the land.

You forget that armaments programs are excellent ways of building your national industry, as well as generating quite a bit of wealth. The purpose of building a navy wasn't merely to challenge Great Britain for dominence, but to make a number of German industrialists very, very wealthy and build a ship building industry. That also puts a lot of people to work and helps your country from going from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. War spurred most of the inudstrialized nations industrialism.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Patroklos
So why hasn't our country been taken over by the Nation of Islam?

Cuz maybe, unlike the Klan, the NoI has never been a significant political force in the United States, has never controled any local governments, the leaders of whom have never been seriously considered for the Presidency, have never had more than one percent of the population, etc.

And Farakan's march on Washington wasn't an NoI event. The NoI was one of many sponsors of the Million Man March, and most of the people there weren't NoI.

And finally, the NoI wouldn't be able to take advantage of an American defeat to promote their organization. If anything, they'd be the victims of someone else trying to blame critics of the government for it's failures.

Why don't you learn your own history?

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

Originally posted by Lancer
Bismark supported the efforts of what's his name, the idiot that suggested competeing with GB on the seas while the enemies of Germany were on the land.

You forget that armaments programs are excellent ways of building your national industry, as well as generating quite a bit of wealth. The purpose of building a navy wasn't merely to challenge Great Britain for dominence, but to make a number of German industrialists very, very wealthy and build a ship building industry. That also puts a lot of people to work and helps your country from going from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. War spurred most of the inudstrialized nations industrialism.

Nonsense. Germany's heavy industries were well established before the naval race began. It was the accumulation of wealth that allowed such programmes to be financed rather than the other way around. Although it's probably true that certain industrialists benefited greatly from the military build-up (which surely is why they were eager to lobby for it), it was at the cost of the gov't and ultimately the taxpayer.

[Kuciwalker]

Building stuff that'll just be blown up is obviously bad for the economy. Unless other countries are paying you for it

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Lancer
It was the alliance system.

It was a treaty signed in the 1830s, in which GB guarenteed the sovreignity of Belgium. Remember that at the end of the Napoleonic Wars Belgium had been given to the Netherlands to create a strong state on the northern border of France. The union didn't work out, but when Belgium sued for independence the old allies were concerned about leaving a weak state on the northern border of France. Britain's guarentee assuaged those fears and Belgium was allowed its independence.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
I believe the casus belli was the sinking of the Louisiana. A vessel hiding armaments amongst civilians.

The casus belli was the Zimmerman Telegram, a telegram sent by a German diplomat to the government of Mexico aiming to tempt the government of Mexico into waging war against the US by offering German assistance. It was sent by a telegraph wire owned by a British company, and was decoded by some intelligence branch. The decoded message was delivered to Wilson who made it public then asked Congress to declare war.

[Patroklos]

Cuz maybe, unlike the Klan, the NoI has never been a significant political force in the United States,

"Significant" relative to what, because according to most peoples understanding of the word the Klan was no where near that level of power and influence.

You being a believer in a backwards fringe political association, I understand you need to magnify the "significance" of other backwards fringe political associations so you yourself don't seem so backwards and fringe when rightfully associated to similar groups but lets try and keep some frame or referance.

Now go ahead and admit your Klan prediction thing was a poor alternate reality and we can both be on our way.

[Patroklos]

Nonsense. Germany's heavy industries were well established before the naval race began. It was the accumulation of wealth that allowed such programmes to be financed rather than the other way around. Although it's probably true that certain industrialists benefited greatly from the military build-up (which surely is why they were eager to lobby for it), it was at the cost of the gov't and ultimately the taxpayer.

Navies are also a big prestige thing for nations. Then as now the technology and resources required to field a world class navy means only the most powerful countries can do it, and hence if you have one then you are in the big boys club.

And pre-WWI was before airforces, the Dreadnaught was the premier peice of miltary technology, you were like the kid with out a Nintendo if you didn't have one.

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Cuz maybe, unlike the Klan, the NoI has never been a significant political force in the United States, has never controled any local governments, the leaders of whom have never been seriously considered for the Presidency, have never had more than one percent of the population, etc.
\

Like the Klan, however, they are able to kill troublemakers and get away with it.

[chequita guevara]

True, to a certain extent. The NoI hasn't killed as many people as the Klan, even in the last thirty years. A close firend of mine used to party with Farakan's daughter. She asked me if I wanted to hang out, and I was like, as tempting as that may be, I have no desire to have the Fruit of Isalm show up at my apartment at 3am and for my ass to never be seen again.