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They weren't really wrong Cannoli Send a noteboard - 14/03/2017 01:30:07 PM

You are right that the German leadership was too myopic. They didn't think they would lose and so wouldn't have accepted peace. Which is sad given the state of their allies at the time. The Ottomans and Habsburgs were both essentially useless.


Most of the lesser Allies were useless. Italy and Romania were supposed to tie up large numbers of German troops and give the greater Powers some slack, and it turned out they turned out to need British troops to prop up the cause on the southern front. Greece needed so many Brits stationed there that the king of Greece said he felt like the king of (enemy-occupied)Belgium.

As for Germany, it was a case of failure of political will. They agreed to a cease-fire on the expectation of status quo ante, which was not unreasonable, without a single Allied soldier in arms on their soil, and the disproportionate casualties inflicted. Once the Allies changed their tune, the king had already abdicated and the army demobilized and there was no way to fight for better terms. Any notion of Germany's defeat on the battlefield was the result of British propaganda and American acceptance of the same. France's role and the effectiveness of the French soldiers were similarly denigrated. A generation later, the propagandists would do the same thing, exaggerating the military prowess of Nazi Germany & the UUSR.

Cannoli
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless

“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
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The February Revolution and Kerensky’s Missed Opportunity - 13/03/2017 09:37:00 PM 805 Views
Fascinating stuff - 13/03/2017 10:52:58 PM 428 Views
Who knows? It could have been worse off. - 13/03/2017 11:37:54 PM 518 Views
What's your opinion on Lenin? - 14/03/2017 02:06:59 AM 465 Views
Lenin. A monster. - 14/03/2017 12:55:18 PM 497 Views
Thanks. I'll ask him too. *NM* - 14/03/2017 03:01:36 PM 237 Views
Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky were all bloodthirsty mass murderers. - 14/03/2017 08:59:06 PM 522 Views
That's fascinating. But give me a book recommendation! - 14/03/2017 09:15:57 PM 430 Views
Start with a general history of Russia - 14/03/2017 10:17:22 PM 550 Views
Excellent. Thank you. It's next on the list. - 15/03/2017 02:11:14 AM 494 Views
Russian history is as depressing as they come. - 15/03/2017 12:08:15 PM 491 Views
Read Figes first, I suppose. - 14/03/2017 10:55:23 PM 455 Views
Thanks, Tom. I've been putting off reading good literature because of my unfamiliarity with Russia. *NM* - 15/03/2017 02:12:10 AM 221 Views
Which books have you put off reading? *NM* - 15/03/2017 12:05:32 PM 207 Views
DEMONS and THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV are the big two. - 15/03/2017 02:58:13 PM 445 Views
You don't necessarily need to know the history. - 15/03/2017 03:15:38 PM 484 Views
I'm always afraid I'm missing something critical, though! - 15/03/2017 03:50:59 PM 430 Views
Annotations are amazing. My eBook version of War and Peace was the same. - 15/03/2017 04:03:59 PM 451 Views
My High School English teacher neglected Russian literature. - 16/03/2017 01:46:29 AM 411 Views
Hmmmm. - 16/03/2017 01:18:14 PM 452 Views
Tolstoy was a reprehensible human being - 15/03/2017 04:02:52 PM 428 Views
I had no idea. I was under the impression he was deeply devout. - 16/03/2017 01:47:43 AM 443 Views
Here's one example: - 16/03/2017 02:06:45 AM 448 Views
Good lord. The man sounds deranged. But that's fascinating! Is there a good biography on him? *NM* - 16/03/2017 07:50:10 AM 218 Views
Pavel Basinsky's bio is best - 16/03/2017 02:46:47 PM 619 Views
Getting it now. Thanks. *NM* - 16/03/2017 11:06:25 PM 212 Views
For what it's worth, I read Lenin & Trotsky as genuine idealists, while Stalin as just a thug - 15/03/2017 11:16:36 AM 502 Views
I think that's entirely incorrect. - 15/03/2017 04:00:54 PM 512 Views
I didn't mean stupid or brutish, I meant more like a mafia don than a statesman - 16/03/2017 12:18:34 PM 400 Views
Well if you want to completely redefine the phrase "just a thug", perhaps you're right - 16/03/2017 02:43:38 PM 427 Views
Good point - 16/03/2017 09:52:29 PM 559 Views
I hear what you're saying, but... - 16/03/2017 11:53:19 PM 453 Views
Attempt at clarification - 17/03/2017 12:55:03 AM 527 Views
Hehehe..."Fuck off" - 19/03/2017 05:23:49 PM 467 Views
Seems kind of nonsensical - 14/03/2017 01:33:49 AM 529 Views
Good reply. - 14/03/2017 12:57:47 PM 508 Views
They weren't really wrong - 14/03/2017 01:30:07 PM 545 Views
I do enjoy historical "what if" situations. - 14/03/2017 01:47:27 AM 442 Views
Hi there. - 14/03/2017 01:02:44 PM 412 Views
I still think democracy among those insidiously intrusive Western values Russia resists so fiercely - 14/03/2017 02:37:39 PM 526 Views
Is it your persistant anti-Russia bias that makes you so dogmatic? - 14/03/2017 02:51:23 PM 449 Views
I have no problem with Russia, only its government - 14/03/2017 03:07:14 PM 554 Views
Really? - 14/03/2017 03:15:10 PM 473 Views
What a terrible article - 14/03/2017 08:04:50 PM 419 Views
I thought you would think this way. - 15/03/2017 12:04:57 PM 501 Views
I can't decide what I think about Evans - 15/03/2017 04:10:05 PM 413 Views

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