"Lies told about World War I" Topic

"This Remembrance Day will doubtless see strenuous efforts by some to justify the fruitless bloodbath that was the First World War. Revisionist commentators have long attempted to rehabilitate the conflict as necessary and just, but the arguments do not stand up. It does no service to the memory of the dead to allow any illusions in the justice or necessity of war, particularly so when the precedents will be used to argue for the next ‘necessary' conflict. From the causes of the war, to its prosecution and its results, here are the counter-arguments to ten common pro-war ploys…"

link

Armand

After reading the piece and his credentials, I'm surprised he didn't claim the only good thing to come out of WWI was the rise of communism!

Thanks Col. I was disinclined to read the article based on the clip in the post, but your post sealed the deal.

Oh, stop it. Please.
Please. No more clickbait "Everything you thought you knew is WRONG!" nonsense. It gets tiresome.
And it's not even credible.

"Lies!" What a clickbait title.
I blame AI.

The title is a little over the top (pun intended), but I generally agree with most of the ten points the author makes.

Can't see anything surprising there other than the author, under the nothing good came out of the war section, didn't think the acceleration of the collapse of the old imperial regimes was a ‘Good Thing'. This does read a bit like a ‘1914 and All That' history.

Thanks

Armand

What a blast from the past. Those 'arguments' have been used almost since the war finished and few are entirely true or entirely false.
The 'secret' deal between the French & British military was sanctioned by both governments even if not made public. It was a plan and not an intention until the crisis deepened when more detailed arrangements were hastily made on the basis of the plan.
The naval race is the excuse used by Germany yet it was their insistence on challenging the RN that caused it. German expansionism was mostly focused on trade within Europe & Western Asia and it was quite late before significant numbers of German ships traded out of that region so 'protection' of its trade was a red herring.
Almost all the points have another side to them and another interpretation. History is like that and writers with limited ability and an agenda rather than an open mind can twist it either way. To my mind it seems to be becoming the accepted way to write 'history' today and I, for one, deplore the practice.

History is like that and writers with limited ability and an agenda rather than an open mind can twist it either way. To my mind it seems to be becoming the accepted way to write 'history' today and I, for one, deplore the practice.

Let's not forget the "need" to come up with a "new perspective". That usually boils down to recycling old ideas.

Don't worry! AI will show the way.

I'll be frank here. (Even though my name is John. 🙄)
I did NOT click on the link. Why? Precisely because I despise click bait titles. "Lies"? Really? No. Differences of opinion.

Typical clickbait titles that I refuse to click on:
Ten Lies about…
20 things you didn't know about … (yes. I did know.)
Secret gay actors in old Hollywood…
5 actors this director hated…
5 actors this actor hated working with…

Feel free to add clickbait titles you would avoid.

John the OFM +1