Posted on 08/03/2014 3:08:58 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
The French and German presidents have commemorated the 100th anniversary of Germany's declaration of war on France on 3 August 1914.
Francois Hollande and his German counterpart, Joachim Gauck, made a joint tribute in Alsace to soldiers killed during World War One.
They were to lay the first stone for a memorial at Vieil Armand cemetery.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Leave it to you, my friend, to point out the horrific suffering of the French during the 1st World War.
The Germans instigated the war, lost the war and as a consequence suffered greater. Including massive reparations. Yet, the Germans did not allow that to eradicate their warrior class or martial spirit. That came 30 years later.
Statement of fact not empathy.
They started empire building a century late because they could not unify. And build a world class Navy.
That is not the fault of the British,French,Spanish, Portuguese,Belgians,or Dutch. Nor even the Russians and Ottomans.
More on the lights going out:
http://news.yahoo.com/lights-parts-britain-world-war-one-centenary-114010642.html
In reality it was a fight amongst cousins who happened to be monarchs. And to me anyway, underscores the degeneracy of a monarchy.
“The Hun is either at your throat or at your feet’’.— Winston Churchill.
“When the next war comes in Europe it will come from some damn silly thing in the Balkans’’.— Otto Von Bismark
And what is Europe post monarchy ?
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow/between the crosses row on row/that mark our place and in the sky/the larks/still singing/bravely fly. We are the dead/short days ago/we lived/felt dawn/saw sunset glow/loved and were loved/and now we lie/in Flanders fields.’’
It hasn’t started any more wars in about 70 odd years.
It started WWII without the help of monacrchs.
And Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) has stopped any hot wars since.
At the start of WWII the monarchies were symbolic and had no real power whatsoever. Kings or Emperors had absolutely nothing to do with the start of hostilities of WWII.
And forms of government have had nothing to do with preventing war in Europe since.
How is “royal blood” bigoted? That is stupid nonsensical leftist talk.
Western Culture was developed in the time of monarchies.
I would much rather live in Imperial Vienna than in Republican Berlin.
Ooh...now I’m gonna cry! So sad - all those lost boys. All that destroyed infrastructure, farms and one million war horses dead and the ones that survived sold off for horsemeat...
Winnie was quite accurate in summing up folks.
Gee, I thought our founding fathers were pretty anti-monarchy. Were they leftists, too?!
The King of Italy allowed Mussolini to form a government . We know what that led to.The King of Spain abdicated in 1936 opening the door to The Spanish Revolution, often called ‘’the dress rehearsal to WW2. And lets not forget Japans version of a monarchy, it’s emperor who gave his blessing to Japanese depredations in China and we know what that led to. Read a little more history. To me the idea that someone’s blood is different than mine and then structures an entire society and form of government based on this to me is bigoted. Western culture did indeed flourish under monarchies but for centuries their people had little or nothing to say in the affairs of their societies. In any true monarchy you have what ever freedoms you might be granted at the whim of a monarch.
Funny man!
The King of Italy had no power to stop the Fascist.
He only had symbolic power. The only difference the Italian King would have made my making a defiant symbolic opposition not asking Mussolini to from a government is that a lot of Italian bureaucrats and Italian Royal family members would have been murdered a la the Bolsheviks.
If the King said “NO” Mussolini would not have said “oh Well” and gone home to retirement.
The King did not “allow” the Fascist to come to power any more than the typical wealthy Italian. Less so than the leaders of other Italian political parties. Aristocrat or not.
The King of Spain was driven from his Thrown by Spanish Communist and Anarchist. The Communist and Anarchist won a landslide election on April 12 1930 and proclaimed a Republic on April 14. King Alfonso was told that the military would not fight for him because by this point no significant numbers of Europeans believed in the Divine Right of Kings. So he fled.
This is exactly what you propose should happen in all cases correct? Democracy and Republicanism. Again the King could have chosen to die and have his family share the same fate.
In Japan. Hirohito had more of a quasi religious role. Tojo made all the political decisions. The Emperor just parroted them. Much like the Queen of England Empress of India. Tojo never would have dared remove the Emperor because of these quasi-religious implications. But having one Emperor die and be replaced by another. Or locked away in a tower while Tojo made all the proclamations in his name would not be far fetched. But the Japanese are inherently different than Europeans.
Monarchies were established long before the concept of “royal blood.” Monarchies were established by brute force of will by a military commander and his power to leave political power to his sons or children. “Royal Blood” was a justification concocted much later for transfer of power not the established of societies.
Competition between small Western Monarchies for labor and entrepreneurship is what led to Western notions of freedom. And Monarchs slowly giving aristocrats rights in custom then in law. Then down to common folks. That is what separated Western Societies from Eastern Tyrannies.
By the time of WWI there were no true monarchies. Modern Britain is a republic in everything but name. Calling it an Empire or Kingdom is almost an ironic joke.
You should read a little more history with a little more common sense and perspective.
BTW That Monarchies transfer power by inheritance is self-evident. Calling the concept bigoted is parroting the Left and with it all the nonsensical implications.
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