Posted on 02/28/2025 12:54:35 PM PST by 2manydegrees
When German and Russian defense sensitivities led Russia to mobilize and Germany to respond; and then Poland became a target for division between the two, all of Europe and then the U.S. became participants in a trench war that killed millions of young men.
When the health system of the time was totally unable to cope with the influenza that followed the war, millions more died.
I don't want to see that for my family, my country or my world.
As much as I dislike the Russian history of paranoid aggression, and as much as I admire Ukraine's determined resistance to the Russian military, I do not want to see my admiration turned into a perverse willingness to oppose Russia right down to the last American dollar and the last Ukrainian soldier.
We must stop before our generation crosses the same line that led all Europe and some of America into World War I and its consequences.
My position is: Stop shooting, scare Russia with the right mix of threats and reassurance, make a deal with Ukraine and try to make the next decade better.
Trump may be trying to do that. I hope so.
It is just that according to Entente propaganda. The facts were more prosaic.
What if the Russians didn’t mobilize. It seems that the Russians always get off scot-free, when it comes to who caused WWI.
Still, there were cavalry attacks by Cossack squadrons on German border villages reported as early as 30th of July.
The Russian army had partially mobilized against Austria- Hungary, and Germany was the latter‘s ally. Emperor Wilhelm ll. pleaded on the same day with his cousin the Tsar to stop the mobilization, but the latter replied that there was nothing he could do any more, and that God bless him.
Witnesses to President Poincare’s state visit on the 20 th of July 1914 claim that there was a raucous celebration of Russian and French military officers, and cheers were raised to “Next year in Berlin! Hahahahaha!”
Doesn’t sound too peacelike, I should say.
The Russian army had partially mobilized against Austria- Hungary, and Germany was the latter‘s ally. Emperor Wilhelm ll. pleaded on the same day with his cousin the Tsar to stop the mobilization, but the latter replied that there was nothing he could do any more, and that God bless him.
And Wilhelm went off on vacation, confident there would be no war. His problem though was the Generals were convinced that if Germany didn’t fight Russia then, in a few years Russia would be too strong, so it was a case of “Now Or Never”.
Same reason Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was only going to get stronger as time went on. Britain by that point was more or less neutralized, and America still wasn’t in the war, so there was no better time to do it.
Yes! Read “The Sleepwalkers” - a book on the stumbling into the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century.
Yes, that was ti be expected, since Hastings is, contrary to MacMillan and Clark, not a professional historian.
He is a journalist, a storyteller. His profession serves to uphold narratives, not to change them.
Yes, indeed. Still, I wanted to point out that Wilhelm II realized how serious the situation was when he returned from his vacation. He had wanted to show everyone that he meant no harm, that is my interpretation. Hindsight is 20/20, but he should have returned to Berlin immediately to bring the generals to heel.
And the Russian side…maybe there was a need to win military glory after the debacle against Japan nine years before, furthermore, a victory could have offered a certain distraction from internal problems within Russia (no parliament, unrest of some nationalities within Russia, the Communist threat).
My late maternal Grandfather was wounded in France in 1918. He was an infantryman in the 42nd Division (Rainbow). He survived to come home, marry and operate a hardware store in a farming community in Wisconsin.
Right now, I look at what is happening and I see 1914.
It is time for the USA to divest itself of European ties. Out of NATO and the UN and UN out of the USA.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.