parsifal
Colonel
Good points. And i largely agree. I was trying to apply a very narrow definition...."who fired the first shots = the aggressor". Not a great definiation to apply I admit
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
And the others were the clowns who because of thrir actions allowed a political climate to lead to war.
2 sides to the coin...
Good points. And i largely agree. I was trying to apply a very narrow definition...."who fired the first shots = the aggressor". Not a great definiation to apply I admit
I like this simple round-up: World War I - RationalWiki
The Russians were rushin' the Prussians;
The Prussians were crushin' the Russians.
The Balkans were balkin' and Turkey was squawkin'
Rasputin disputin' and Italy hootin'.
The Boches all bulled Bolshevikis;
The British were watching the sea.
But the good Lord I'm thankin'
The Yanks started yankin',
And yanked Kaiser Bill up a tree.And people still wanted to fight again 20 years later. I guess that shows that people just don't learn.
I think that might be a little strong. The way I understand it is:
In 1914 most citizens of the belligerents were excited about going off to war and figured they'd give the foe a good pummeling and would be home by Christmas. Bells were ringing and parades marching and all that sort of crap. Then the horror set in.
In 1939, huge portions of the populations of the belligerents (including AFAIK Nazi Germany) still had vivid memories of the carnage of the "Great" War. There were no bells ringing, no ticker-tape parades, just an international collection of normal people who held their breath as the great plunge down began. If war had truly been wanted, I don't think there would have been a Munich nor an Anschluss and France would have marched into the Rhineland in '36.
"On, on, on cried the leaders at the back."
The Germans slept walked into Nazi ideology, the frightening thing is that not every German was that keen on Hitler. The French hid behind the Maginot line and the British watched and hoped it would all just go away....
As for wanting to fight, well... we had no choice.
I cannot speak for France and the Netherlands. Its different being invaded.
The biggest irony is that securing European liberty bankrupted Britain (again).
I would say that Britain did in fact have a choice: it well could have abandoned Poland just like Czechoslovakia. Perhaps Britain and France could have moved against Germany immediately and broken Germany had they have had the political will in '39. Perhaps Britain (and France) should have declared war on the USSR when they invaded Poland to get their share of the spoils, or maybe when the USSR moved on Finland (though they may have laughing too hard at the ass-kicking little Finland dealt to the Russian bear to do anything). Britain had a number of alternate choices she could have (I'm sure some say should have) made.
But regardless of the "what-ifs" and "should haves", Britain made the hard, self-sacrificing moral choice with the result that she sacrificed her empire in pursuit and attainment of a higher cause.
There are always choices. Every country made its own choice and had to live with the consequences.
The ripples of those choices are still felt today in Europe.
Technically, with the lessons learned from other's mistakes over the past 2,000 years (at the very least), you'd think that humanity would have fugured out how to avert armed conflict long before now.
But sadly, this is not the case.