[Gen.Blather]

“One hundred years ago today set things in motion that we’re still struggling with.”

I watched easily a dozen historical programs on WW1 recently. I was astonished at how popular the idea of going to war was with the various citizens. Amazing. Everybody had some sort of romantic notion of how noble war was. One documentary said that of every 9 men who went to war for the allies 5 became casualties. Yet, the treaty of Versailles set up circumstances that almost guaranteed a future war. (Although, I understand why the allies dictated terms their constituents wanted.)

[AnAmericanAbroad]

It’s certainly been argued that WWI was inevitable, as the European powers were spoiling for a fight and everyone had an itchy trigger finger. That tends to be the view I agree with; if Archduke Franz Ferdinand hadn’t been assassinated, another incident (most likely in the Balkans) would have served as a sufficient excuse to launch an all-out European war.

And yep....we’re still dealing with the hangover from WWI. Truly a war that changed the world.

[MuttTheHoople]

WW I also castrated the European man. The strong, bold, courageous Europeans all went off to war and most of them never came back. The ones who did come back were either smart enough to keep their heads down and never volunteer for anything, were so shattered by the war that they never wanted to see another one, or vowed vengeance to what was done to their country.

Winston Churchill was considered a crackpot by the Brits because he retained the Old English Victorian Values, while the rest of Britain was pacifistic and appeasing during the 1920's and 1930's. Thankfully (and probably because he was half-American) he was there to lead their country in the face of the National Socialists.