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The most surprising thing about WWI is that after the war ended, the respective armies didn't string up every single politician responsible for the conflict. A

by vkou 2y ago

The most surprising thing about WWI is that after the war ended, the respective armies didn't string up every single politician responsible for the conflict. A complete butchery of Europe's youth for nothing. Instead, somehow, all the blame fell on the generals (most of whom were doing the best they could given the political goals they were given), while the architects and propagandists of the war got off clean.

sandworm101 2y ago
>> didn't string up every single politician responsible for the conflict. But more than a few dynasties ended as a result of the war. Certainly the Romanovs were not allowed to continue. And there were no more kaisers after the war either.
mncharity 2y ago
> The Revolutions of 1917–1923 were a revolutionary wave that included political unrest and armed revolts around the world inspired by the success of the Russian Revolution and the disorder created by the aftermath of World War I.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1917%E2%80%931923 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1917%E2%80%9319...
ekianjo 2y ago
the generals were assholes too. they sent people to fight and die in trenches over and over again for nothing.
- BurningFrog 2y ago
  What should they have done?
  - ekianjo 2y ago
    something called negotiations.
    - vkou 2y ago
      That was for the politicians, not the generals.
- shiroiushi 2y ago
  If they hadn't, they would have been replaced by the political leaders. Generals don't get to dictate policy. Also, the generals at the time were dealing with a very new form of warfare they really weren't used to. Basically, I'd say they were mostly incompetent, but it seems like the invention of the machine gun and how it'd radically change infantry warfare was something that took everyone a while to come to grips with. I do wonder why it seemed to take so long for them to adjust their tactics though.
  - ekianjo 2y ago
    you can be forgiven if you do the same thing once or twice and fail. When you keep doing it and learn nothing you are not just incompetent but purely evil.
    - vkou 2y ago
      The problem is that the generals down the line from them are also doing what seems to be the same thing and succeeding.
chiefalchemist 2y ago
But isn't that every war, or at least wars since WW I? Even WW II didn't just happen. There were multiple things that could have averted it. If you have Netflix, watch the docu-series on Hitler and the Nazis.
a4000 2y ago
In Britain at least, a lot of the young men who fought didn't actually have a vote at that time, "Only 58% of the adult male population was eligible to vote before 1918. An influential consideration, in addition to the suffrage movement and the growth of the Labour Party, was the fact that only men who had been resident in the country for 12 months prior to a general election were entitled to vote. This effectively disenfranchised a large number of troops who had been serving overseas in the war. With a general election imminent, politicians were persuaded to extend the vote to all men and some women at long last." and this lead to the Fourth Reform/Representation of the People Act in 1918. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_A... https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/thevote/ https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transforming...

by vkou 2y ago

sandworm101 2y ago

>> didn't string up every single politician responsible for the conflict. But more than a few dynasties ended as a result of the war. Certainly the Romanovs were not allowed to continue. And there were no more kaisers after the war either.

mncharity 2y ago

> The Revolutions of 1917–1923 were a revolutionary wave that included political unrest and armed revolts around the world inspired by the success of the Russian Revolution and the disorder created by the aftermath of World War I.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1917%E2%80%931923 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1917%E2%80%9319...

ekianjo 2y ago

the generals were assholes too. they sent people to fight and die in trenches over and over again for nothing.

BurningFrog 2y ago
What should they have done?
- ekianjo 2y ago
  something called negotiations.
  - vkou 2y ago
    That was for the politicians, not the generals.
shiroiushi 2y ago
If they hadn't, they would have been replaced by the political leaders. Generals don't get to dictate policy. Also, the generals at the time were dealing with a very new form of warfare they really weren't used to. Basically, I'd say they were mostly incompetent, but it seems like the invention of the machine gun and how it'd radically change infantry warfare was something that took everyone a while to come to grips with. I do wonder why it seemed to take so long for them to adjust their tactics though.
- ekianjo 2y ago
  you can be forgiven if you do the same thing once or twice and fail. When you keep doing it and learn nothing you are not just incompetent but purely evil.
  - vkou 2y ago
    The problem is that the generals down the line from them are also doing what seems to be the same thing and succeeding.

chiefalchemist 2y ago

But isn't that every war, or at least wars since WW I? Even WW II didn't just happen. There were multiple things that could have averted it. If you have Netflix, watch the docu-series on Hitler and the Nazis.

a4000 2y ago

In Britain at least, a lot of the young men who fought didn't actually have a vote at that time, "Only 58% of the adult male population was eligible to vote before 1918. An influential consideration, in addition to the suffrage movement and the growth of the Labour Party, was the fact that only men who had been resident in the country for 12 months prior to a general election were entitled to vote. This effectively disenfranchised a large number of troops who had been serving overseas in the war. With a general election imminent, politicians were persuaded to extend the vote to all men and some women at long last." and this lead to the Fourth Reform/Representation of the People Act in 1918. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_A... https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/thevote/ https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transforming...