The Pity of War: Explaining World War I

Rating:
Summary: Pity ain't enough
Review: Well, Well another revisionistic, Sour grapes analysis of the First World War. Basically the thesis is simple Evil British Ministers commited a War crime by intervening when Germany invaded neutral Belgium. This war crime of defending a Neutral was massively compounded when the Allied powers committed the even worst crime of winning! Thus those British politicians are responsible for Adolf Hitler, the Second World War, the Holocaust, the Russian Revolution, the crimes of Stalin etc.. Of course these British politicians forced the German people to vote for Hitler and further forced Hitler to commit a vast array of crimes. But should we not expand the number of the guilty? The people of Belgium are guilty of the war crime of resiting an unprovoked German invastion. The French of winning the battle of the Marne. The crimes the author imposses are truly breath taking. That the Kaisar was an innocent despite his absurd, provocative behavior. The Author shows no awareness of the extensive literature on Imperial Germany revealing it's anachronistic social structure and the destructive effects on external policy of it's loony-toons ruler. Also loony is the Author's willingness to sacrifice France, Belgium, Russia etc., to Imperial Germany and his childlike belief that Germany would be kind to those criminal enough to oppose German ambitions. His spectacular misuse of the book German War Aims in World War 1 is extrodinary. Also the author ignores the overwhelming evidence of antipathy and hatred in Germany, particularily in the Navy and Kaisar's court of the desire for a show down against Britain. The author's blaise belief that Germany was no Navel threat to Britain is absurd. Thy Navy was built to compete with Britain and the British competed back. The Author is very willing to sacrifice the Continent to preserve the Empire. I frankly doubt that the Empire would have long survived a Europe dominated by Germany. Certainly the Self governing Dominions would have been lost in short order. No World War would not have delayed the rise of the USA and probably the decline of the Empire. But a continent dominated by one power would have accelerated it. If it was unacceptable for France to dominate europe in 1805 why was it acceptable for Germany to dominate it in 1914? But then so long has those inferior landlubbers get it in neck who cares right? Especially those evil French and Russians! All in all this book is basically one long hysterical scrid against the twentieth Century, British Decline and those evil peoples of the continent. I am amazed it is taken seriously