World War 1: If Only ..

[Phanerothyme]

You've obviously drank the wrong stuff. Or not eaten the right stuff with it.

 

Try a Gewurtzraminer

 

 

Does it taste as good as it sounds?

[L00b]

Does it taste as good as it sounds?

It's a speciality, 'late harvest' wine, sweet-ish/spicy-ish...hell, yes! Best I've found to go with a curry.

[Harleyman]

If Britain would've stayed out of World War 1, we could've avoided the huge problems that passed in Europe. We wouldn't've weakened ourselves and our empire, and we'd've come nowhere near the crippling effects of WW2.

 

France would've been defeated within a year or so. They'd've lost Alsace-Lorraine again and been grumpy about it.

 

Germany would never've been crippled, and Hitler would never've come to power.

 

Russia would've lost some of the Baltic regions to Austria, but their revolution would never've come to pass. Lenin would be forgotten by history as 'a loon'.

 

America would never have taken their first steps into European action, and maybe their society would be different today. Certainly without WW2 they could've never gained as much strength.

 

So, as an historical "if"; if we would never of had that war then we would all be happier today.

 

 

That's a lot of assumptions. What makes you think the Russian revolution would never have happened? Social conditions among the Russian working and peasant class were pretty appalling at that time. The revolution may have taken a different course but it would have happened sooner or later nevertheless. The Czar and the Russian aristocracy had outlived their time and had to go.

The Austro-Hungarian empire was also seething with widespread discontent and hatreds particularly among the ethnic groups that later joined together under the newly created state of Yugoslavia after WW1.

Then there's the mentality of the times to consider. The idea that a recently united Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm with it's increasing naval power could rival Britain in global power was a possibility that British leaders of that time were not prepared to easily accept by any means.

Finally, there was a rising feeling of nationalism in India even as far back as that time and the idea of independence and self rule was beginning to become implanted among many of the populace. The Empire was beginning to feel the very first little cracks in it's foundations so to speak.

[donkey]

If Britain would've stayed out of World War 1, we could've avoided the huge problems that passed in Europe. We wouldn't've weakened ourselves and our empire, and we'd've come nowhere near the crippling effects of WW2.

 

France would've been defeated within a year or so. They'd've lost Alsace-Lorraine again and been grumpy about it.

 

Germany would never've been crippled, and Hitler would never've come to power.

 

Russia would've lost some of the Baltic regions to Austria, but their revolution would never've come to pass. Lenin would be forgotten by history as 'a loon'.

 

America would never have taken their first steps into European action, and maybe their society would be different today. Certainly without WW2 they could've never gained as much strength.

 

So, as an historical "if"; if we would never of had that war then we would all be happier today.

 

The only thing certain is that non of us would be here. Our existence is a result of the exact circumstances in which we were conceived. Change even the minutest detail and....It's all in Back to the Future!

[HeadingNorth]

Even if the course of events had not involved Britain and the occupants had been left alone on their green and pleasant land..................How many occupants would there be on the island today and could they be fed and housed ?

 

I.E the millions of war dead would now be in to third forth or fifth generation offspring.

 

There are two factors you omit; one is that the "baby boom" caused at the end of a war doesn't happen, and the other is that we exported huge numbers of people in the 50s and 60s to former colonies, notably Canada and Australia. If we had more people, than more people would have been exported.

 

Were it not for the effects of migration, Britain's population would already be between 100 million and 150 million.

[Phanerothyme]

 

Were it not for the effects of migration, Britain's population would already be between 100 million and 150 million. …

 

… something else would have happened, but it's literally impossible to say what it would have been

[HeadingNorth]

… something else would have happened, but it's literally impossible to say what it would have been

 

Well, no. If you posit that migration cannot take place and everyone descended from the UK must remain within it, it's pretty easy to do the numbers.

[Chris_Sleeps]

The revolution may have taken a different course but it would have happened sooner or later nevertheless. The Czar and the Russian aristocracy had outlived their time and had to go.

The Russian Revolution was a direct effect of WW1, you can't deny that? With a quick victory, or even possibly a quick loss, it wouldn't have had the same effects as 3 years of protacted war. Maybe they'd've had a simple liberal revolution, a constitutional Tsar maybe, but it took the war and a series of seriously lucky breaks to put the Bolsheviks in power.

[Fine line]

Recruiting for the Great War at the Wednesday and United football match at Bramall Lane

 

https://www.hpacde.org.uk/picturesheffield/jpgh/s00136.jpg

 

https://www.hpacde.org.uk/picturesheffield/jpgh/s00137.jpg

[JFKvsNixon]

I remember reading somewhere that there was more communists in the USA than there was in Russia. The Bolsheviks just happened to be in the right place in the right time, the right time certainly was the collapse of Tsarist Russia post WW1.

 

I also agree with Harleyman, the Tsars time had come to an end, but I doubt very much that without the turmoil of the defeat whether Russia would have turned communist.