[dighton]

Oh man, the markets are gonna tank on Monday.

;-)

[weikel]

Czar Nicholas was responsible for WWI the Serbs then were like the Palestinians now. If Russia hadn't interfered Austria would have moved in and killed a bunch of terrorist then left. Woodrow Wilson was responsible for the horrible World Order that emerged after Versailles( as well as being the father of American socialism).

[wardaddy]

ping!

[nofriendofbills]

By cracky we'd better get that Kaiser and make him pay this time.

[Snickersnee]

Something bad could come from this -- let's call it the Twentieth Century....

[aristeides]

I just reread Frederic Morton's Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914, which is out in a new paperback edition. Recent events have made me more receptive to conspiracy theories, and I have long been aware of suspicious circumstances regarding Franz Ferdinand's fatal visit to Sarajevo: he went there on the most sacred day of Serb nationalists, Vidovdan, St. Vitus Day (the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo,) despite warnings from the Serbian ambassador; his route in Sarajevo was published in the press; the governor of Bosnia was kept in the dark about the trip, so that security was curiously deficient; Franz Ferdinand and his party, having escaped an attack in the morning, were urged on by the military governor of Bosnia to visit the wounded from the earlier attack; Princip's attack on the prince only succeeded because the prince's car came to a stop (the car ahead of it had taken a wrong turning, and had to back up.) A lot too much like Dallas 1963.

But what a rereading of Morton reminded me of is what reasons people in the Austrian government had for wanting to be rid of the heir apparent Franz Ferdinand. Kaiser Franz Josef had nearly died in the spring, and Franz Ferdinand had made clear his hostility both to the Army commander Conrad and to the Hungarian premier Count Tisza. I strongly suspect that those who felt threatened by his policies and by Serbian irredentism saw a way to be rid of both threats: let Serb hotheads kill him, and then he's gone, and Austria is free to attack Serbia.

I don't know if my suspicions are right, but, if World War One, which nearly resulted in the extinction of Western civilization, was caused by a government conspiracy in Vienna, I find that thought disturbing in the extreme.

[getoffmylawn]

Gavrilo Princip bump.

[Consort]

Servia

[MinorityRepublican]

If the Great War never happened, everything would probably be so much better. Let's say in an alternate Universe, things would be like this.

First of all, communism would never had happened in Russia. Thus, there would be no cold war.

Second, Germany would be the ultimate power broker in Europe just like Germany is the strongest economic power in the European Union today. Millions of Europeans died and for what? In the end Europe is united through the European Union with Germany subsizing other European nations.

Third, Israel would not have been created since millions of Jews would able to live in a prosperous Europe, and the relations between the West and the Arab World would be much better since the United States is not a superpower, or global cop that Americans are today.

Forth, since the United States never mobilized for World War I or World War II, then why would the United States ever become a military superpower? The relations throughout the world would be much improved, we would never had joined the United Nations, or any kind of International body. America would be prosperous since we would be more free to trade with the whole world. We would not have to pay for our military, and our welfare state since communism and socialism never took place since there was no World War I.

Finally, The Death of the West would not take place. The Western civilization would be more traditionalist with christian roots, and the cultural marxists would not had gained control of our institutions. So there would be no such problems with immigration that the West have today.

This would be what history would had been like in an alternate Universe. World War I is such a waste, and the West have not been able to fully recover. I know that we would be able to recover if the West somehow discover their desire to live and matter in this world. Until then, it may be the end of the West as we know it. Thanks to the Great War.