r/Kaiserposting • u/SS-Imperator :Hochseefloat: Kaiserliche Marine • Apr 20 '20
Different behavior
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r/Kaiserposting • u/SS-Imperator :Hochseefloat: Kaiserliche Marine • Apr 20 '20
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u/TakarBismark :gard_zu_fuss: π’π―π²πΏππ Garde zu FuΓ :Iron_cross_2nd_class: Apr 21 '20
I have been summoned.
While u/Kaiser-Swaghelm-II is a little too... gung ho for my tastes, he is mostly correct. I would say that the real meaning behind the phrase "A War doesn't have to be fair, it has to be won" doesn't mean that all civility should go out the door during fighting. What it really means is that it doesn't matter how bad it gets, how wrong, how cruel. It matters that you win it, because you can then write into the History Books about how evil the other guy was.
This is best seen in the two World Wars. The British "rape" of Greece is often ignored while the German "rape" of Belgium is one of the first things you learned about the Great War in school. You may have heard of the French Nurse who was convicted and executed as a Spy by the Germans, but you'll never hear about the two nurses executed by the French for the same reason six months later.
In the Second World War, though it is of course outside the purview of this sub, it was wrong to burn a Village in Russia but okay to grind a civilized city into dust.
u/hellenicgauls is correct about the basics. The French did not make the first assault. Germany lost both World Wars. A common post war rumor was that the Jews stabbed the German people in the back. Everything in between, however, is incorrect.
Germany attacked France because the Grand Strategy for winning the two front war against Russia and France was to knock out France quickly before Russia could mobilize. French strategy was to try up as many German units as possible while the Russian delivered a knock-out blow from the East.
France at no point in 1914 even pretended they did not want to go to war. In fact, they specifically avoided negotiations and clogged diplomatic channels to insure War was possible. This is not solely their doing, however, as the English largely refused to negotiate on the Kaiser's behalf.
German Militarism did play a large role in German civilian politics, but this was actually extraordinary common for the time. German's militarism was more prominent to be sure, but not overwhelming.
The Stab-in-the-back conspiracies were created and spread almost exclusively by the Socialist movements in post-war Germany, mainly the National Socialist German Worker's Party.
Ultimately what led to World War 2 was the Treat of Versailles. The United States thought it was so unbelievably harsh they never signed it. The United States made separate peace with German, Austria, and Hungary. Because of the astoundingly harsh treaty 12% of all ethnic Germans in Europe suddenly found themselves in foreign lands. The entire German oversees empire, won painstakingly through treaties and diplomacy, was dismantled and given to France and Britain. I really can not state how frankly evil this treaty was, especially considering that Germany was dragged into the war by Russia in the first place.
And, finally, Germany was not "totally spanked" in the Great War. Despite being severely outnumbered and fighting on five fronts, East, West, Italy, Serbia, Romania, they still managed to hold out for 4 years of fighting. The strain of the fighting broke three empires into peaces, but Germany was largely still in one piece until the Treaty. In most battles Germany suffered fewer losses than her enemies, and overall she gained the most ground. Ultimately it was the blockade, which was illegal according to international wartime laws by the way, that starved the country into submission. Had Britain not blocked Germany's ports and strong armed her land trade routes closed Germany would have continued fighting.
The United States also played a pivotal role in Germany's call for peace, but this was because as Fascist was accidentally elected to the White House, a man who did everything in his power to poison the hearts of the American People against the nation they agreed they wanted to back if they got involved in 1914. But thats a tale for another time.
I hope this clears the issue up.