Chris_Sleeps Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 The Germans would have had no interest in invading Britain in 1914 - they didn't even want to fight the French, let alone the British. They knew what would happen. Europe from 1900 onwards was a minefield of treaties. Russia was our ally if they faced problems with Austro-Hungary, and France was our ally should they face a second push from Germany. I'd go as far as saying a big European war was inevitable, when we take the Balklans into account. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and slavic nationalism made it too important and too dangerous to leave to diplomacy alone. Ultimately it was the problems of the Balklans that caused WW1. Everyone thought the war would be quick and easy, sorted in 6 months and then business as usual. Minimal loss, another Crimea maybe. Not awful enough to really rattle society. The mess we got bogged down in was never expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Sleeps Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 We're discussing two wars here. This is going to get messy very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFKvsNixon Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I've always suspected that both wars was partly due to the overly militaristic Prussian society that the Colonial Kaiser and the Nazi Fuhrer managed to tap into. It was this that we failed to defeat during the First World War that led to the Second, where as a result Germany was stripped of a lot of it's Prussian territory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shogun Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 We're discussing two wars here. This is going to get messy very quickly. I think they were both intertwined the first never really solved anything and the second was fought over what happened or did not happen in the first from what I can make out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 WW1 seems completely senseless now but after the harsh conditions imposed on Germany at the treaty of Versailles in 1918 followed by the great depression in the early 30s it was inevitable that someone like Hitler would have come to power in Germany which was in a catastrophic state. I wouldnt blame the Germans whatsoever for supporting someone like Hitler up to the start of WW2. He performed miracles for the country but the warning signs of what he was to become were already in evidence yet in those heady years the Germans had become completely seduced by the man. The party came to and end on Sept 3/1939 and although most Germans, even in the top military hierarchy would not have dared say it they knew their country had entered on a deadly course into uncharted waters. It was only the top Nazis who were so arrogantly certain that victory would be a pushover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Sleeps Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I think they were both intertwined Of course, fundamentally so. One bullet shot at 1 man in Sarajevo caused a chain of events that ended in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. As history goes, WW1 was gigantic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackstorm48 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 The last two world wars were fought for a just course many of our brave men sacrificed there life's for our country and freedom, there is no doubt that with out there sacrifice our life's now would be very diffident,I come from an army family my father fought and was wounded in the war my grandfather was a decorated war hero from the first world war,I have read many books on the wars but I just keep coming back to the same conclusion that in both of the wars we basically did not need to get involved as no one directly threatened or even set foot on our soil it just seems that we just got in broiled in a fight that was nothing to do with us at all, what kind of world would it have been if Hitler had won the second world war or if we did not get involved in the first place,or if the Germans had won the first world war that would have been a different world. Did not need to get involved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Did not need to get involved? So you say. Lords, ladies and commoners waving flags and cheering themselves hoarse as the lads marched gallantly and proudly off to war to kick the Kaiser's ass. Be over in six months and the bluddy Hun will have been taught a severe lesson by the British Lion they say and oh by the way give that young man over there a white feather. He should be off to war with the rest of our lads You obviously have no idea of the mentality of those times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shogun Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 I often think what kind of mentality them men had in the first war to just walk onto machine guns and certain death like they did were they brave or were the times and attitude just so different to now,I don't think I could have done what them men did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane39 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I often think what kind of mentality them men had in the first war to just walk onto machine guns and certain death like they did were they brave or were the times and attitude just so different to now,I don't think I could have done what them men did. I don't think they had much choice.They would have been court martialed,and shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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