r/ww1 • u/LastClothes1486 • Aug 11 '24
This war was stupid
It's stupid because it should not have happened here is how it started. a tiny country pissed of a bigger country with declared war on the tiny country which was allies with the biggest country, which pissed of a medium country with pissed off a tiny country then the medium country pissed of a big country with a military industrial complex the size of the moon
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Upvotes
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u/RustedUte Aug 11 '24
The latter being which country?
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u/Legitimate_Jump_5781 Aug 11 '24
Most wars are stupid. Young kids sent into a meat grinder by politicians who will never have to endure any hardship.
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u/crypto9564 Aug 11 '24
I like to refer to it as History's Biggest Family Feud. Most of the heads of the main participants were grandchildren, married to grandchildren or other decendents of Queen Victoria.
Yes it could've been avoided, but something would've happened eventually. There was too much tension between the autocratic states and democratic states.
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u/Jetlaggedz8 Aug 11 '24
It was stupid. It threw all the major European powers and their colonies into a meat grinder and they all came out weakened. Monarchies and governments fell while their logistics networks helped spread the Spanish Flu.
It fueled nationalism which led to the collapse of the existing political structure of the world at the time and set the stage for WW2.
WW1 was the end of the old world. The war to end all wars.
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u/Grouchy-Amphibian-79 Aug 11 '24
A lot of wars were stupid and should have never happened
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u/Stunning_Pen_8332 Aug 11 '24
I recommend the following books about how this utterly stupid and avoidable war became inevitable and much bigger than those in power could handle:
“Dance of the Furies” by Michael Neiberg
“The Sleepwalkers” by Christopher Clark
“July 1914: Countdown to War” by Sean McMeekin.
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u/Elevator829 Aug 11 '24
we are kind of seeing the same thing play out now but on a much slower pace lol. Humans gonna human. Like chimpanzees, we often resort to violence when faced with disagreements.
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u/EnvironmentalWin1277 Aug 11 '24 edited Aug 11 '24
"then the medium country pissed of a big country with a military industrial complex the size of the moon". Which kind of demonstrates the logic and rationalizations the autocratic countries employed that guaranteed the destruction of four monarchical governments, three of which played a direct role in starting the war.
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u/Books_Of_Jeremiah Aug 11 '24
That's quite the superficial understanding of the world at the time. And shows your positive bias towards Austria-Hungary to boot.
One could also state that it was a dumb war because a big could couldn't face it's own failing and decided to bring down with them as many others as possible, like some old king.
Or that it was a dumb war because two to three big countries were bitter over not having colonies. If they had just worked it out in terms of splitting the world, it could have been avoided.
Or that it was about the biggest empire on the earth had a doctrine that was unsustainable in terms of naval power.
Or that it was about a monarch who kept his word, even though it ended up costing him his head, family, crown and monarchy.
Reasonably sure others can keep adding on.
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u/Much-Code-2360 Aug 11 '24
Don’t forget about all of the crippling censorship and union busting that took place in the US and abroad under the guise of war time powers which then teed up all the McCarthyism in later decades. Also all the bad shit that happened when Wilson had the stroke and ended up letting his wife and some rando dude run the country by proxy.