4 ms·
If the UK wants to pretend that WW2 (or, indeed, WW1) happened like a shock storm, unforseen and unforseeable, with no involvement from them they are welcome to
by roenxi 2y ago
If the UK wants to pretend that WW2 (or, indeed, WW1) happened like a shock storm, unforseen and unforseeable, with no involvement from them they are welcome to do that. The result of that attitude was that the UK parliament was only allowed to govern a small and increasingly irrelevant island with lousy weather and steadily worsening economic prospects instead of a global empire.
There is a lesson for people governing global empires here - don't allow major wars to blow up on your borders. Or, ideally, anywhere. Maybe spend some time promoting peace and prosperity. Train the diplomats in diplomacy.
You'll notice that the US solution at the end of WWII was completely different to the European settlement at the end of WWI. And the US approach to warring was a lot more staid than the UK's. These are basic matters of competence.
- throwaway48476 2y agoIndeed. Choose peace if possible instead of rushing into war. Nothing that happened in the Balkans was important to the UK.
- WillPostForFood 2y agoNothing important Sudetenland, nothing important in Austria, nothing important in Poland. They tried your strategy in the 30s and it was not a success.
- throwaway48476 2y agoAre the Sudetenland, Austria, and Poland in the Balkans?
- nine_k 2y agoPossibly Balkans themselves were not important. The trade routes in Mediterranean likely were. Also, there was a complex web of international treaties and alliances that eventually pulled the UK into the war.
- insane_dreamer 2y agoThis was back in the day when alliances, particularly European ones, meant something.
- nine_k 2y agoAlso, family ties. European monarchs were a really tight bunch. For instance, the tzar of Russia and the king of the British Empire at the time of WWI were brothers.
- sofixa 2y ago> For instance, the tzar of Russia and the king of the British Empire at the time of WWI were brothers. They were first cousins, along with the German Kaiser they went to war with.
- switch007 2y agoHow do you get the land for your empire to begin with, with peace and diplomacy? I guess war is a hard habit to break
- insane_dreamer 2y agoSome fair points, but remember that the US had the benefit of knowing that post-WW1 settlement was a failure. Of course, Wilson did object to the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, so it's fair to say the US had a better perspective from the start -- though one can argue that the US' own failure to ratify the League of Nations was a contributing factor to WW2. Another key factor is that the US had no empire to hold together, and, to its credit, wisely did not seek to expand its territory after WW2 in order to create one (which it could have easily done, and which the UK had done many times before).
- bluGill 2y agoThe us wants at the end of wwi were similar to what we got with wwii.
- timthorn 2y agoBritish weather is great. Enough rain to keep the land green and pleasant, temperatures that don't get too hot nor too cold - the very definition of temperate.
- switch007 2y agoWe aren't without our annoying and extreme weather though. Eg in the north of England last week it was -10c for a few nights and a week of 0/1c daytime temperatures with a biting wind chill. Before that was heavy snow and ice. Heat waves up to 35-38c aren't unheard of. Our houses aren't built for this so a heatwave is quite uncomfortable as houses stay 20-25c overnight Plenty of flooding in various parts This autumn and winter has seen a lot of storms The south fares much better of course and without as much flooding
- CapeTheory 2y agoI have a solid sheet of grey clouds over my head for what feels like 300 days of the year - would happily take some of that variability!