User avatar
Carrington
Captain
Posts: 198
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:53 am

Tue May 17, 2011 1:28 pm

gillianreynolds wrote:World War 1 was inevitable for one reason. That reason was that Germany wanted a war. They had been planning actions for a war for at least ten years. The Von Schlieffen plan was the German plan to win the war and if they didn't come one mile from Paris, I might be typing in German right now. The Germans knew they could win a war and that is why they did what they did.


To be fair, the French wanted a war as well: "vive l'Alsace." You might even say that they had been planning for the war for at least forty years.

As to Germany, it didn't just want a war. It wanted a war that it could win.

Which, I guess, leaves the interesting question: if anything, Britain and Russia wanted a war with each other, so how did they end up in a war on the same side.

User avatar
John Sedgwick
Colonel
Posts: 389
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:15 pm
Location: NL, Canada

Tue May 17, 2011 2:15 pm

Gillian, forgive me, but it seems fishy that you would register for this forum only to resurrect a thread from 2009 and copy-paste an entry from Answers.com. If you are indeed a human being and not some random bot, I sincerely apologize, but in any case I do not buy that argument for one second. Firstly, as a student of history I am wary of using the word "inevitable" to describe any historical event. The chain of causation leading to the First World War is extremely complex and cannot be reduced to any one reason. No one nation was solely responsible for WW1, although the argument can be made that Germany shares more of the blame than any other belligerent, but I don't buy that either. The fact that Germany was planning for a war proves nothing - everyone had war plans, it is only common sense; you may as well blame planning in general for the war, as indeed some historians have cited rigid mobilization timetables and the emphasis on striking first for the failures of diplomacy. Strategically, Germany was in the very vulnerable position of having to fight on two fronts, and the aim of the Schlieffen Plan was to deliver a knockout blow to France so they could focus their attention on Russia before she had the chance to mobilize her vast reserves of manpower. Finally, if Germany had won, you would still be typing in English. It was not intended to be a war of conquest (at least in the west), although they would almost certainly have demanded territorial concessions, mostly from Russia. But it's not as if von Bethmann-Hollweg turned to Wilhelm II and said, "What shall we do today, Kaiser?" "The same thing we do every day, Chancellor - TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD" "NARF!"
"I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."ImageImage
ImageImageImageImageImage

User avatar
Carrington
Captain
Posts: 198
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:53 am

Tue May 17, 2011 3:39 pm

John Sedgwick wrote:Gillian, forgive me, but it seems fishy that you would register for this forum only to resurrect a thread from 2009 and copy-paste an entry from Answers.com.



Ouch. Nice catch on Answers.com, Sedgewick. Annoying.

User avatar
John Sedgwick
Colonel
Posts: 389
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:15 pm
Location: NL, Canada

Wed May 18, 2011 9:56 am

Heh, thanks Carrington. Yea, something about the post set off my bot radar, just didn't add up, so I googled the text in quotations. Plus, a female wargamer? Too good to be true :neener:
"I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."ImageImage

ImageImageImageImageImage

CSS
Lieutenant
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:32 pm
Location: Fort Worth Texas

???

Thu May 19, 2011 2:33 am

gillianreynolds wrote:World War 1 was inevitable for one reason. That reason was that Germany wanted a war. They had been planning actions for a war for at least ten years. The Von Schlieffen plan was the German plan to win the war and if they didn't come one mile from Paris, I might be typing in German right now. The Germans knew they could win a war and that is why they did what they did.


Contrair my friend France wanted the war. It was thier burning desire to avenge the total french defeat of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 , that they declared on Germany and lost not only the war but also the provinces of Alssace and Loraine. Frances diplomatic gain of twenty years was to Isolate Germany and get Revance!

User avatar
Carrington
Captain
Posts: 198
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:53 am

Thu May 19, 2011 3:16 pm

:-).

No need to argue with robots.

Return to “WW1 History club / Discussions historiques sur la Grande Guerre”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests