Angelika Tobisch wrote:
> Kurt Ullman schrieb:
>>> Germany was a civilized country that went temporarily insane in the=20
>>> space of less than a generation. One of the reasons that Hitler was=20
>>> able to do as much evil as he did was that no one but his followers=20
>>> took him seriously.=20

>>      I woudl disagree. They had been a little bit crazy before, like=20
>> in 1917 and other times. Other than the holacost (which I admit is a=20
>> VERY big other), it was just your standard garden variety war.=20

> Woah, waitaminit. First off, what did Germany start in 1917? I can't
> think of anything off the top of my hat.

I do not know whether this matters, but 1917 was when the USA entered=20
the war.

> If you're referring to 1914 however, that situation was _very_ differen=
t
> from 1939. The latter was a war of conquest started by one side, the
> former could more accurately be described as a Mexican standoff. Now,
> Germany and Austria (how they manage to continually make history forget
> about their part in both wars is beyond me)

As to WWI, Emperor Karl tried to negotiate a separate peace, and, when=20
that failed, he was effectively forced to abdicate. So, at the end of=20
the war, the Austrian Republic claimed to be at two removes from Franz=20
Joseph, and the Allies accepted this.

As to WWII, after the Anschlu=DF, technically, Austria didn't exist.

> may have been the ones to
> lit the fuse, but all involved had been busy constructing that
> particular powder keg for decades before.

> And what other times are you talking about? Times that had Germans more
> crazy than the rest of the neighborhood?

> IMO the main lesson we ought to learn from WW II and everything going
> with it is just how fast a situation can deteriorate and just how
> quickly our civilized facade can be reduced to crumbles. That lesson
> isn't served by painting Germans as long-time weirdos. They weren't.


--=20
John W. Kennedy
A proud member of the reality-based community.
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