Germany started the Great War, but the Left can’t bear to say so

UK Daily Telegraph ^ | January 6, 2014 | Boris Johnson

[C19fan]

One of the reasons I am a Conservative is that, in the end, I just can’t stand the intellectual dishonesty of the Left. In my late teens I found I had come to hate the way Lefties always seemed to be trying to cover up embarrassing facts about human nature, or to refuse to express simple truths – and I disliked the pious way in which they took offence, and tried to shoosh you into silence, if you blurted such a truth. Let me give you a current example of this type of proposition. It is a sad but undeniable fact that the First World War – in all its murderous horror – was overwhelmingly the result of German expansionism and aggression. That is a truism that has recently been restated by Max Hastings, in an excellent book, and that has been echoed by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary. I believe that analysis to be basically correct, and that it is all the more important, in this centenary year, that we remember it.

[BudgieRamone]

“I did it once but I think I got away with it.”

[prof.h.mandingo]

True as far as you go. But you left out some details like “mobilization” and the problems associated with it. The Tsar and Kaiser Bill wanted to back out but were told they couldn't stop what was started. Actually they could have but they didn't have the balls to make the generals stop.
As far as grudges and wanting pay back lets not forget the French were itching to avenge an earlier defeat (Franco-Prussian War).
Of course the Germans thought they were going to win. You don’t go into war thinking you will lose.
You are correct about the Serbs giving them most of what they wanted but it was the Austrians who pushed for war.
Russia wouldn't mind getting a chunk of Turkey.
The truth is that many countries were itching for war for many years. The Germans happened to pull the trigger of a loaded gun that many countries were itching to pull.

[subterfuge]

Much like this thread, the posters at that publication are not commenting on the premis of the article, which is the left are a wimpy, lying, truth avoiding bunch of idiots.

[dfwgator]

Basil: Is there something wrong?
Elder Herr: Will you stop talking about the war?
Basil: Me! You started it!
Elder Herr: We did not start it!
Basil: Yes you did — you invaded Poland.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

And your point is? If you go back in history, ALL the belligerants, and you and me, had ancestor parents named Adam and Eve.

[subterfuge]

So the Left DOESN’T shy away from truth and put their personal spin on things? That is the point of the article in case you missed it.

[Timber Rattler]

I think that this guy needs to go back and read The Guns of August.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Right you are, other than the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Bulgarians and Ottomans formed the ‘Quadruple Alliance’ (German: Verbund) commonly known as the ‘Central Powers’. The ‘Axis’ was the term used for the alliance of Germany, Italy and Japa in WWII.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Over Macho Grande?

[agere_contra]

The Germans happened to pull pulled the trigger of a loaded gun that many countries were itching to pull.

Please note my correction. The Germans didn't 'happen' to pull the trigger. The gun didn't go off in their hand.

World War One began because the Germans invaded Belgium and the Austro-Hungarian Empire invaded Serbia.

The Germans fired the guns of August. They chose to begin what became World War One. Only they - and Austro-Hungary - are to blame.

[Ditter]

I was born in 1940 and some of my first memories are of hearing my parents talk about and cry about WW2. I remember when the pictures of the Jews who were rescued appeared in the newspaper. Even though the Germans are different now I know that I have not forgiven them completely for WW2.

[Fiji Hill]

It’s interesting that - even as their Uhlans were raping and burning their way across Belgium - the German propaganda machine relied on much the same rhetoric that you’ve chosen to use..

Go back and read my post. How, on earth, can it be interpreted to justify raping and burning? Talk about spin!

[agere_contra]

Yes, you’re quite right. Central Powers, my bad.

[Standing Wolf]

We are often told that WW1 began because of a comparatively trivial assassination - but this is not true. World War One was a horribly sincere war of oppression.
Hope this is helpful.

It's helpful. It's a good start. I'm inclined to call World War I a war of opportunism rather than oppression, but your point is entirely valid: imperialist powers went on a rampage of greed and slaughter without a moment's thought for possible consequences. All of Europe's imperialist powers leapt to join the festivities of destruction and death, and all suffered grievously.

Several curious facts:

1.) America ended the European slaughter.
2.) Post-imperial ideological Europe leapt into renewed mass slaughter in short order, and Japan went on an imperial rampage of theft and mass murder throughout half of Asia.
3.) Again, America ended the European and Asian slaughter.

Oh, by the way, whatever became of that America?

[VanDeKoik]

Germany were just the first movers in a war that had all but started.

Russia was in E. Prussia within 2 weeks of Germany entering Belgium. A simple rain delay in the west would have made them the “agressors” if you think about it.

I personally see neither side as innocent. they all worked for war and postured to let the other guy take the fall so their flimsy aims didn’t become the reason it all went to heck.

[sickoflibs]

I am sure glad that I wasn't born around the turn of century where I could have been drafted by Woodrow Wilson to join the French in those trenches.

WWI mess was a reason why Americans were so isolationist when Hitler and Japan were on the march prior to Dec 1941.

[dfwgator]

England too in the mid-1930s, they almost ran Churchill out of Parliament for daring to suggest that Hitler was a bad guy.

[agere_contra]

The Germans used exactly your rhetoric as their lancers were criss-crossing Belgium, committing rape, murder and arson.

They blamed the Allies for their evil expansionist Empires - even while they - the Germans - were committing horrible barbarities and expanding their Empire.

This species of rhetoric - blaming the enemy for what you yourself are doing - is called "projection".

Note that I didn't say that your post justified raping and burning. I said that your post mirrored what the Germans were saying as they were raping and burning.

The Germans loudly declared the moral turpitude of their enemies even as they - the Germans - committed bloody massacres in Western Europe.

It is undeniably true that even today - on this very thread! - people are still excusing the real sins of Germany, on account of the theoretical sins of their enemies.

[nathanbedford]

It was Germany that pushed Austria to make war on Serbia. It was Germany that declared war on Russia, on August 1 1914. It was Germany that decided it was necessary to invade Luxembourg, and it was Germany that deployed the Schlieffen plan (devised in 1905, incidentally) and sent her troops smashing through neutral Belgium and into France.

The statement, which I think is the extent of the particulars supporting the claim of Germany's war guilt, is full of historical inaccuracies. Germany did not push Austria to make war on Serbia. Germany only declared war on Russia after Russia mobilized and declined to demobilize, mobilization in those days being terribly threatening because of the state of technology closely associated with railroad timetables etc.. The invasion of Luxembourg hardly caused World War I, it was an event in the war after it commenced. The von Schlieffen plan was a war plan, just like the war plans maintained today in our Pentagon and in the staff offices of virtually every army in the world. So what?

This argument about responsibility for the start of World War I has now been going on for century and will continue no doubt with more bad historical analysis.

[onedoug]

Gavrilo Princip. ‘Just thought the name should be mentioned.