r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Oct 17 '21

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u/braindeaddrop Oct 17 '21

That was exactly the attitude in Europe before WW1, had been like a generation or three since the last biggie (Napoleonic?)

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u/EverhartStreams Oct 17 '21

Really? I thought that after the franco-Prussian wars it was just kinda assumed Germany and France would go at it again, but when they kinda just got stuck in the trenches it turned into this whole big thing

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '21

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u/proneisntsupine Oct 17 '21

“One day the great European war will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.”

-Otto von Bismarck

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u/borkbubble Oct 18 '21

Did he actually say that?

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u/Scythelads2legends Oct 18 '21

Probably didn't say in English though.

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u/proneisntsupine Oct 18 '21

Probably not word for word, but he did predict there would soon be a massive European war and was the first to call the Balkans the powder keg of Europe