From: Marty Galyean (marty@heavyreckoning.com)
Date: Mon Feb 06 2006 - 18:39:47 PST
Rick v100 wrote:
>Marty,
>
>Your confusing wars, we are talking about the First
>War to End all Wars. Which had roots in the
>Franco-Prussian War of 1870 which had roots in the
>Napoelonic Wars of the 1800's.
>
>
>
Well you were kind of mixing both great wars together and I was mistaken
in what was addressing what.
It is always easier to see the dominoes leading to war in *hindsight*.
Something tells me WWI would have been kindled whether Ferdinand had
been assassinated or not. Historians like a script and a plot, but the
general decentralized tensions throughout Europe probably had a lot more
to do with WWI than any single event. The system of treaties certainly
played a role, but what lead up to such a polarized treaty structure?
Was it just Napoleon? Was it the clash of religion and science? Was it
the aftershock of the Reformation? Was it the the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution? Was it a wild English colony in the Americas
throwing off the yoke of colonialism? Was it a butterfly flapping its
wing? I don't claim to know.
>Which was started by secret treaties between the
>Europeans and was triggered by the assination of a
>minor Archduke.
>
>Europe has only really been at peace since the end of
>WW2.
>
>
>
A lot like the rest of the world, really. Well, except for places that
border on a strong Muslim or Communist presence. There hasn't been a
dearth of peace in regions bordering those ideologies since their
inception. Ask Israel, or Tibet, or the Philipine Islands, or
Afghanistan, or South Viet Nam, or El Salvador, or Haiti, or....and let
us not forget the random African tyrant thrown in who will sign on to
any bandwagon as long as weapons come with the deal.
In my view what leads to war is the will to control the lives of
others. Crime writ large. And just as in crime, there are agressors,
and there are defenders. The defenders might have issues of their own,
but if the are not the agressors, they are not the agressors. And any
actions they resort to in defense must be seen in the light of the fact
that they are being coerced to defend themselves in the first place and
should be given some slack historically.
Marty
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