Unpopular Opinions Thread

[Cincydawg]

Someone here recommended "Paris 1919: 6 months that changed the world"  I am enjoying it

I did, I learned a lot in that book.

[Cincydawg]

I don't think Germans as a people are any more "bad" than anyone else.  It shows how humans can be deceived given certain conditions.  I've read a number of books about how Hitler rose to power, it's a bit frightening, more than a bit, to me.  There was a confluence of conditions necessary, the Great Depression was one factor, the loss of WW One was a factor, the Reichstag fire was a large factor, I suppose they would have staged something similar had that not occurred.

I think the Germans in 1933 largely thought "Anything has to be better than this".  Hitler told them things they wanted to hear, basically that Germany didn't really lose WW One, they were a superior people, and he generated a lot of public works projects with considerable fanfare to put them to work, initiated high tariffs on imports, convinced the wealthy folks like Krupp he didn't like communists who they viewed as a significant threat.  When a country is really down, they will more likely go along with an extremists, especially one who appears to be making good on promises and controls the media.

I think it's something of a misnomer to call them WW One and Two, it was a World War with an intervening period of 20 years or so, one leading to the other.  Once Russia was knocked out of WW One, the French COULD have approached the Kaiser about some kind of deal.  The front had not changed in years, men were dying in droves, the war was pointless and about to get worse.  The US entry, which Germany basically engineered, may have been the thing keeping the French involved.  But the US in 1917 had a tiny army, it would take a year to become significant.

I figure had the French asked for a negotiated settlement in 1917, Germany would have withdrawn from most of France in return for concessions, certainly keeping Alsace and Lorraine and their overseas colonies, something close to status quo ante.

Anyway, I find it amusing suppositions.

[Cincydawg]

So, let's imagine the Germans never send that telegram to Mexico, or it isn't intercepted, and they don't reinitiate unrestricted submarine warfare, then the US stays out, and what happens then?  1917 probably doesn't change much on the western front, all would be "quiet", relatively.  But in 1918, do the Germans "win"? 

Their major problem with the Ludendorf offensive was supplies,  they could break through the lines, but then their troops would sit down at French cafes and have lunch with wine.  I think their offensive would have stalled pretty much as it did as a result, probably with some further penetration, and maybe have gotten near enough to Paris than the French high command panicked.

The original aim was to isolate the BEF on their right flank, which didn't exactly work, and there was modest American involvement there (beyond indirect).  My GUESS is they get a negotiated settlement, favorable to the Germans, but not completely debilitating to France beyond having the northern arc of their country blown to bits.

American Expeditionary Forces

[MrNubbz]

Not sure if popular or not 

But never try to impress a woman too much because if you do she'll expect you to keep it up for the rest of your life

[Cincydawg]

In my experience, I spent effort trying to impress women who were "out of my league", in effect.  It's kinda like showing up at Fantasy Baseball camp and thinking you are going to impress some scout who happens to walk by.  Usually it's so obvious when someone is trying to impress someone else it leans towards comedy.

I knew a grad student who constantly tried to impress the professors.  Not even close to happening.

[SFBadger96]

I think the Germans in 1933 largely thought "Anything has to be better than this".  Hitler told them things they wanted to hear, basically that Germany didn't really lose WW One, they were a superior people, and he generated a lot of public works projects with considerable fanfare to put them to work, initiated high tariffs on imports, convinced the wealthy folks like Krupp he didn't like communists who they viewed as a significant threat.  When a country is really down, they will more likely go along with an extremists, especially one who appears to be making good on promises and controls the media.

A great deal of what occurred in Europe post WWI was in response to the fear of communism spreading beyond the USSR. Different populations had different reactions to it, but much of the support for far right fascism stemmed from the concern about far left communism. Curiously, just as there were many things that had to break a particular way for Hitler to come to power, there were also many accidents of history that allowed Lenin to take power, then Stalin to keep it. One of the tough things about history is that it never stops. And there are "accidents of history" all the time that lead to one thing, and then another, always compounding on each other. 
Historians will one day look at the world in 2025 and point to all the accidents that led to where we are today, and where people went from there. One of my hopes is that we do not return to interstate violence of the kind that was fairly common throughout most of the world until 1946. Another is that we do not retreat from the personal freedoms that much of the "developed" world has come to see as the norm. Yet another hope is that my saying these things here doesn't throw this thread into the chaos of that now-retired politics thread. :-)

[Cincydawg]

It's an excellent point how pivotal points in history "almost didn't happen", or required some fluke to happen, some very improbable confluence of events.

Harry Seldon would be mystified.

[betarhoalphadelta]

One of my hopes is that we do not return to interstate violence of the kind that was fairly common throughout most of the world until 1946. Another is that we do not retreat from the personal freedoms that much of the "developed" world has come to see as the norm. Yet another hope is that my saying these things here doesn't throw this thread into the chaos of that now-retired politics thread. :-)

You're doing it wrong.

I, for one, profoundly hope that we see the eruption of another world war, global destruction, famine, and the demise of personal freedoms. We should live in a world where everyone fears and hates their neighbor. Burn it all to the ground, I say! Leave nothing but rubble for our future AI overlords to rule! 

This is supposed to be the "unpopular opinions" thread, after all...