Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

On 09/11/2024 21:12, rbowman wrote:

On Sat, 9 Nov 2024 14:10:13 +0100, D wrote:
 

On Sat, 9 Nov 2024, rbowman wrote:
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On Sat, 9 Nov 2024 05:55:54 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
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God Bless America!

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Gott strafe England. It took a while but considering the current state
he finally got around to it.
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England? I think god has expanded his punishment a bit to include all of
europe. ;)

 It does seem so. I realize that the causes of WWI were complicated but I
put the major part on England's desire to put down a recently unified
Germany that was starting to threaten their hold on the world.
 The blockade of Germany for 6 months after the armistice that caused many
deaths from starvation and the draconian terms of Versailles inevitably
led to WWII. If it wasn't Hitler it would have been someone else.
 Allying with the Soviets led to the enslavement of half of Europe. The
Brits could have extended the Phoney War and let the Axis powers drive the
Communists to the east of the Urals if not into the sea but Churchill had
to open a second front to help Stalin.
 I suppose it could go back to France's attempt to save its dying empire in
1870. Bismarck used that very effectively.
 And here we are now.

Oh dear.  The amateur view of history.
Colonialism was already on the wane and could not last much longer. Germany and Austro Hungary teamed up to make trouble.
They didn't have an empire like the seafaring nations did.
"Millenarianism is a belief held by a religious, political or social group or movement that a coming major transformation will occur, after which all things will be changed. For Germany, leading into World War I, historians report that the Spirit of 1914 was high, with support from the German population for participation in the war. The German government believed that the onset of war and its support of Austria-Hungary was a way to secure its place as a leading power, which was supported by public nationalism and further united it behind the monarchy. The success Germans saw in the opening battles of WWI provided a platform for the German government to position itself as able to accomplish more when unified and nationalistic. However, this millenarianism was short-lived, as Germany was unprepared to fight the long war, which took a dramatic and demoralizing toll on its people and later set the stage for the rise of the Third Reich, less than two decades later."
So it was a populist movement, not one of colonialists. Germany wanted to be *respected* in Europe.
It wasn't a colonial war, it was a European war, just like WWII started as.
Again started by Germany's innate sense of superiority.
And the EU itself is based in practice on German and French domination of Europe, just not with tanks.
And Russia which kinda got a bit left out  now wants some of the action as well.
All 19th century shit. Putin is living in some alternate reality.
--
     “I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.”
     ― Leo Tolstoy