3 ms·
I've often thought the same thing. There wasn't anything about the Central Powers that made them uniquely bad at the time of the Great War, no great principle
by sevensor 10y ago
I've often thought the same thing. There wasn't anything about the Central Powers that made them uniquely bad at the time of the Great War, no great principle was at stake --- this was much more an imperial shoving match than a contest between freedom and authoritarianism. We basically dared the Germans to sink our civilian maritime traffic by sending arms to the U.K., and we had picked sides long before the Zimmermann telegram -- it's no wonder the Germans wanted Mexico to start a war with us.
Who's to say what might have happened if we'd stayed out of it. The Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires almost certainly would have collapsed anyway. I suspect an exhausted Germany, with the Eastern front pacified and a stalemate on the Western front, would eventually have sued for peace with an equally exhausted France and Britain.
- sweetishfish 10y agoWorth noting that we were shipping supplies and arms to both sides up until the UK blockaded Germany with their first-rate Navy. After that, the only side left to ship to was the Allies. edit: changed 'embargoed' to 'blockaded'
- valuearb 10y agoI don't think the germans sue for peace without the US involved. The Russian army had been destroyed. They could devote nearly all their resources to the Western front. They probably can't win, but they also can't lose, so you either get years of stalemate or both sides grudgingly agree to peace.
- sevensor 10y agoAgreed. One could envision an iron curtain falling across Europe decades earlier, dividing Europe along the Western Front. I'm not sure it would have been a better outcome; I'm not sure it's possible for the Great War to have had a good outcome. But it certainly would have been different without US involvement.