Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: the scotsman

Well, I wouldn’t go that far. Britain’s two main contributing factors were:

1. Going along with the froggies in slapping Germany with an onorous reparations tab following the WWI armistice which completely devestated the nation and its people. There was no sense to this dastardly deed as the origins of the conflict were so damned convoluted as to escape reason.

2. Listening the United States. For decades Britain had a treaty with Japan that benefitted both sides and both enjoyed an amicable relationship. The US goaded Britain into arbitraily cancelling that treaty which miffed the Japanese big time. The Japanese knew that pressure was exerted by the US and it was from this point on that they knew they had two key enemies (besides the USSR, that is.).
Japan’s entry into WWII alongside Nazi German was a direct result of this treaty cancellation.


311 posted on 02/14/2013 5:34:35 AM PST by IbJensen (Liberals are like Slinkies, good for nothing, but you smile as you push them down the stairs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 284 | View Replies ]


To: IbJensen
the origins of the conflict were so damned convoluted as to escape reason.

Not remotely. The Kaiser and his allies wanted a quick victorious war. They seized upon the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as a pretext to launch it. And they nearly got one by following the Schlieffen plan.

However the Schlieffen plan involved invading neutral Belgium. This brought Britain directly into the war (due to the strategic importance of the Scheldt as an invasion platform).

Also the atrocities performed in Belgium moved American opinion sharply against Germany: a fact which made America's entry into the war much more likely.

Finally: the French proved a harder nut to crack than the German high command expected. The BEF forced Kluck to abandon the Schlieffen plan, exposing his armies flank to the garrison of Paris: this in turn made possible the victorious Battle of the Marne that left the warring sides locked in trench warfare.

Be in no doubt. The Germans started the war. They wanted the war. They didn't (of course) want the war that actually developed: four years of trench warfare and a capitulation forced by blockade.

They could in time have paid the reparations. They chose instead to print money, destroying their own middle class, their common morality and their respect for property. They became infected by moral hazard. With a denuded middle class they rapidly fell prey to left-wing demagogues such as Hitler.

315 posted on 02/14/2013 6:02:12 AM PST by agere_contra (I once saw a movie where only the police and military had guns. It was called 'Schindler's List'.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 311 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson