Posted on 07/21/2023 10:40:19 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Under the Treaty of Versailles, the German emperor was supposed to be tried as a war criminal. Why wasn't he?
The accusations were explosive: a head of state had not only begun an illegal war but egged his troops on to a series of horrific atrocities that left thousands dead and an entire continent in ruins. By then, the accused was one of history’s most hated and debated figures, a monarch known for making erratic decisions and doubling down on his sometimes inexplicable actions.
There was just one problem: The accused, Wilhelm II of Germany, couldn’t testify. The accused had been dead for 75 years
It could have been the trial of the century—if it had been conducted a century before. The trial of Wilhelm II, Germany’s emperor between 1888 and 1918, was a moot one, conducted by historians and legal experts grappling with one of the great mysteries of 20th-century history. Was Wilhelm II guilty of war crimes?
It’s a question that was never answered during Wilhelm’s lifetime. Though the Allies accused him of starting one of history’s bloodiest wars and violating international law, and his troops of committing barbaric acts, he never stood trial. Today, these accusations are remembered as the first stirrings of a modern conception of war crimes. But at the end of World War I, Wilhelm’s responsibility for the bloodshed was a hotly contested—and ultimately unresolved—issue.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
Britain should have stayed out of it.
They blockaded Germany, which then put our ships in peril.
But the fact is, we relied on the Royal Navy to defend the Atlantic, so we could be freed up to defend the Pacific.
It was understood, even when we were “allies”, that either Japan or the US would rule the Pacific.
Not sure exactly why Germany gets all the blame - when all of Europe set up alliances and armed themselves, such that WWI was basically inevitable.
The Austro-Hungarians lit the fuse.
The colors in the US were red for Arty, yellow for Cav, blue for Infantry, green for Medical, red/white for Engineers.
The whole color thing was to quickly ID units on a battlefield. It still lingers on the colors for unit patches.
During WW2, when the US was trying to convince the Germans that there was a whole army, across the Channel from Calais, they invented a whole series of phony division patches for German spies to see.
There is a heraldry unit in the Pentagon, charged with such matters.
I agree. Germany always gets the blame for what the Austrians do.
It’s like the joke, that Austria is still trying to convince the world that Beethoven was Austrian, and Hitler was German.
One could say that the overall cause of WWi was western European colonialism as well as the existence of the Austro-Hungairan and Russian empires togther with the military or defensive alliances the European powers and states made between themselves. It was evident no war in Europe at the time was going to be a mere one-on-one contest between two countries, and wars events were going to drag nearly everyone into it.
Trade and the use of resources had been built up prior to WWI not by “free trade” but by imperial controls of emperial held lands and colonies and restrictions on access and trade that empires and states imposed for what they thought was their own protection and betterment. Japan would see the same thing tying up resouces and trade all around Asia, and mostly not by Asian powers.
I always wonder if just ONE leader of the time, I am thinking most effective would have been Nicholas II or Herbert Asquith - had just stood up and said: “we are NOT mobilizing. Europe is going to destroy itself for the next century, and everyone needs to stand-down.”
Would everyone have come to their senses??
They used Patton brilliantly as a decoy. I suspect that was why Ike decided to put him in the "doghouse". The Germans were convinced that Patton would be the "tip of the spear".
Also the fact that England and France could never accept that there was a new kid on the block.
All Quiet on the Western Front
And our conflict with Japan in WWII, came from our continued support of French and British colonialism in Asia.
And that support of French colonialism also led to that thing called “Vietnam”.
The recent version is ok, but no substitute for the original.
It’s always the Hungarians Boo Boo. Nowadays it’s Soros destroying the US. We honkies be bad. :)
No reasonable prosecuting attorney could be found?
—Annie shot a cigarette out of the Kaiser’s mouth in a demonstration while in Buffalo Bill’s western show——
>> Just one problem with your conspiracy <<
>> Brits did not enter war until after Germans had invaded Belgium, in defiance of 1839 treaty which declared it to be neutral <<
Britain FORMALLY entered the war after German invaded Belgium but Germany only invaded France because France was mobilizing to invade Germany despite finding that they were not treaty-bound to protect Serbia. That does NOT justify German’s violation of Belgium’s sovereignty, but it does mean that there is hardly a historian alive who believes Britain’s actual intent was to defend Belgium.
Germany was bound by the Treaty of London to respect Belgium’s independence, but no more so than France and Great Britain were also bound by treaties not to attack Germany. In fact, the entire point of the independence of Belgium was to guarantee that, after the aggressions of Napoleon, France could not attack Germany. Naturally, such an assurance had to be reciprocated by Germany, but really... the party wronged by the invasion through Belgium was Belgium, not France nor the U.K.
She later said if she'd been a worse shot, she could have prevented WWI.
In 1885, Buffalo Bill hired Annie and her husband for his Wild West Show and toured with the show for sixteen years. They performed throughout the United States and eventually, across Europe. Annie was the star of the show, and Frank was working as her manager and assistant.
In 1890, Annie was performing in Berlin where among the audience was Friedrich Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia. He was a great admirer of Oakley’s performances who previously had been to several runs of the show.
During the show, Annie asked a for a volunteer to accept risking his life by holding a cigarette in his mouth from which she would attempt to shoot the ashes. She did this regularly while performing, but until that day no one was brave enough to accept the challenge except for her husband who always stepped forward as her assistant.
However, there was a volunteer that time, and it was the Kaiser himself. He was the last person which Annie expected to volunteer for this dangerous shooting act, but she had no choice and invited him onto the stage. She knew that he was one of the most powerful men in Europe and that his life was in her hands. She raised her Colt .45 while Kaiser placed a cigar in his mouth and she pulled the trigger.
She blew away the ashes right off the Kaiser’s cigarette. Had the bullet hit him instead of the cigarette placed in his mouth, the event would have changed the course of the history. Later, the young Kaiser played a major role in launching World War I.
Thank you, now I get it.
If you have to assign blame. The countries itching for war, in order of wanting to scratch their itch. Note it is not a linear relationship.
1. Serbia - Itching to fight over territory they considered historic Serbia. Serbia often settled political fights in their country by assassination. Why not solve this problem that way. After the Archduke assassination they thought better of it and caved into almost all of A-H’s demands.
2. Austro-Hungary - Itching to fight, well they had a good reason. Serbian terrorists killed the heir to the throne. If it had stopped here as everyone expected it to. It would have been as Bismark said - ‘one more damn fool thing in the Balkans.’. The head of their general staff wanted war with Serbia.
3. France - Wanted revenge for losing Franco-Prussian War and Alsace-Lorraine back.
Distant 4!
4. Russia - Need to reassert and prove they are still a great power and support their brother Slavs - the Serbs.
Distant 5!
5. Germany - Felt hemmed in by France and Russia. Felt they had to support in some way the other Germanic power Austro-Hungary. Didn’t feel they were properly respected (Mostly the Kaiser felt that way!) The Imperial General Staff wanted war due to fear of Russia.
Distant 6!
6. UK - Felt bound by the Belgium sovereignty agreement. Historically always concerned about who controlled the Channel ports. Annoyed by the German fleet build up. If the Germans hadn’t gone through Belgium, the British wouldn’t have intervened. Interestingly I read that the UK Imperial Staff wanted a war because a war because factions in the UK military were threatening a coup because of unhappiness over the passage of the Irish Home Rule Bill in Parliament.
The bottom line: The UK never should have gotten involved!
Way way down!
7. USA - Why get involved? Other than Wilson and other American grandees being an extreme Anglophiles. Also, the Kaiser’s personality was very unlikable!
Milner’s Circus was never held to account. And not merely for WWI.
But the French had a Treaty with Russia, and the Russians wanted the French to attack Germany.
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