[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The German people were nowhere near as bellicose as Hitler and the Nazis. For Hitler, the Great War was the highlight of his life, his minor success reverse his previous life long failures.

In his book, Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer says that after the fall of France, the mood of the German people was subdued, much to the disappointment of the Nazi Party. Most Germans did not welcome the War. After World War 2.0, the Germans did experience war like few other people ever had and had no taste for it.

When people like Farrakhan call for a War on white people (and he means an actual shooting war) I think the only people who would welcome such are war are people who have absolutely no idea what war is.

[Hardraade]

Actually, Speer’s book should be mandatory reading, even if it is a brick.

[Cronos]

"Most Germans did not welcome the War" -- I should read Speer's book, because from what i've read (historical notes and primarily William L Shirer, the Germans were joyful and celebrating the fall of France).

you are correct that after WWII they are completely anti-war, but that's because war was taken to their doorsteps.

I dispute the Germans did experience war like few other people ever had -- I live now in Poland (moved here 2 years ago) and everywhere I go I see how WWII affected the Poles -- they lost the most numbers of people (20% of the population) and were in the process of being eliminated by the GErmans.

on every street corner in warsaw -- sometimes in 2/3 places on the street you will see a memorial saying "on xx date in 194__ yy numbers of poles were killed by Germans"

You can see pictures of how the Germans levelled Warsaw.

In fact, if you go hiking in the mountains in the south you'll find places where Germans killed Poles.

imho the Poles had it the worst in WWII -- more than the Germans or Russians.

They had it pretty bad in WWI as well -- 5 different armies fought on their lands and the lands were exchanged nearly 14 times through the war, millions of soldiers and civilians killed.

No, I had sympathy for the Germans before I moved here, but they got what was coming to them (I mean the Germans in 1945 got what was coming to them).

Even today I see Polish kids with graffitti that says "Pamiętamy" -- or "We will remember". Not that they keep the hate, but they rather remember the sacrifices their ancestors paid for their independance.

[Cronos]

I also do think that the Germanic people between the wars were pretty bellicose. Not as much as the Nutzis of course, but in comparison to their neighbors, YES.

[Verginius Rufus]

There is a Latin expression that runs something like dulce bellum inexperto: "war is sweet to the one who has no experience of it" (Latin is pithier than English). Before WWI there were a lot of people who believed that a war would be a good thing for building character--since most of Europe had experienced no wars or just brief ones since 1815.