Who Started WW1?

[Conquistador]

Some of my favorite theories of "history" include:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice.

Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

Gracias,

Glenn

[carlos marighela]

It is correct, but I would hazard that the equally-correct anglicised alternative "focuses" is much more commonly used. I don't think I have ever heard the word "foci" spoken out loud. 

I have, the speaker was scouse. Despite my state of inebriation, I declined her invitation. 

[Franz_Josef]

And lets not forget that the Serbian Chief of Staff was actually supporting what today we would call a terrorist operation (the Black Hand - of which Gravillo Princip and his friends were members), and the weapons used to kill Franz Ferdinand were supplied by the Serbians.  So when Austria thinks it will get into a short, sharp punishing campaign, the Germans unfortunately give them carte blanche - also unfortunately, the Russians are supporting the Serbs (who really did start the thing); the French supporting the Russians (to get their own back at the Germans in revanche for 1871 and to regain Alsace-Lorraine, which Louis XIV stole from the HR Empire in the late 17th century - note, Alsatians were more apt to speak German at home than French;Great Britain supporting them both, etc.  There is plenty of blame to go around, and GB shares in it.

[Calimero]

Might be kind of biased but I still wonder what was Canada’s role in the Bar brawl?

[Conquistador]

Might be kind of biased but I still wonder what was Canada’s role in the Bar brawl?

Tending the Bar?

Gracias,

Glenn

[Cubs]

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

I distinctly remember some bloke responding to a conspiracy theorist on another forum. This foil-hat wearer blamed the CIA for everything from 9/11 to tsunamis (no, really, he actually did) and the response from someone else was - "I will never believe that the same organisation who was responsible for the 'Bay of Pigs' is expertly manipulating the world."

I think your truisms neatly explain WW1's causes (plus many others). You get anough errors of judgement together in one place and you have a major problem.

[FramFramson]

One of the things that allows speculation on motives is that while what happened is broadly known and documented, the mindset of the many of the people in mind is not as well documented. Even in cases where thoughts or motives were written down, they may have been done so by a person with an agenda or bias (think of all the Great War nobs eager in 1919 to disavow any responsibility for what was at the time possibly the world's greatest man-made fiasco).

This is where wiggle-room for "What caused it?" comes in. The alliances are one factor, but the human motivations - the decisions to go or not to go, the assumptions made about chances for victory, about the length of the war or its effects, the desire of individual citizens for an "adventure" or the chance to "avenge" themselves on a perceived national enemy - those are all much harder to pin down.

[grant]

Might be kind of biased but I still wonder what was Canada’s role in the Bar brawl?

Well, we certainly participated ...




Vimy Ridge Memorial, pics taken in 2010 just before the anniversary (April). Carved around the base of the memorial are 13000+ names of Canadians who simply disappeared in the 1914-1918 fighting - never found. Walking it is very moving, the names seem to go on forever. Incidentally, in 2007(?) they identified two of them when a pair of bodies was found in a field.

I very much think Austria-Hungary, with it's crumbling empire and last-ditch clutch for keeping it together was to blame. Hastings recent book Catastrophe is about 50% "why?" and the rest of the book about the war. It's quite an in-depth analysis of the lead-up to the war.

[grant]

I would not be surprised to find out the bulk of the british effort in the early stages of the war was at sea and their war aims focused on knocking the stuffing out of the german fleet so at the end of the short war they envisioned they remained the dominant power at sea.

Very true. I think the land stuff was almost a sideshow, and it's why the early disasters at sea were very demoralizing to Britain. Robert K. Massie has two excellent titles - Dreadnought, about the race you speak of, and Castles of Steel, about the actual war at sea. Very thick books, hard to put down!

[Etranger]

Very true. I think the land stuff was almost a sideshow, and it's why the early disasters at sea were very demoralizing to Britain. Robert K. Massie has two excellent titles - Dreadnought, about the race you speak of, and Castles of Steel, about the actual war at sea. Very thick books, hard to put down!

Although the Germans rather spoiled things by not wanting to come out and play with their main High Seas Fleet. Massie's two books are excellent.

It's been argued though that the Germans had lost the 'naval battle' by 1912 when the British building battleship programme ("We want eight and we won't wait") was once again outbuilding the German yards & restoring the advantage that they were briefly in danger of losing.

[FramFramson]

Interestingly, it's been noted that the German navy was the least effective arm of the German military services in either world war, by a pretty wide margin.

Granted much of that is hindsight, but the Royal Navy had a lot of baggage and made many mistakes that could have been exploited by a more able foe. The views of Tirpitz and Raeder were particularly damaging.

[DowVooVoo]

All the leaders of those nation/empires, allied, central 'powers' doesn't matter they ALL share the blame. And of coarse the finger that tapped the domino...

[Hammers]

Apologies if this has been posted here before -

Potted history of World War 1

"Germany, Austria and Italy are standing together in the middle of a pub ..."

  Brilliant. Amazingly succinct to.

[Hammers]

I have, the speaker was scouse. Despite my state of inebriation, I declined her invitation. 

  You, sir, are a pisser...

[huevans]

Might be kind of biased but I still wonder what was Canada’s role in the Bar brawl?

Apologizing to everyone.