How Those Bad Allies Made Germany Invade Poland in 1939

[Reinout]

Last night I was lying restless in my bed and I thought of something: France's blank cheque. If France gave their coöperation to Russia along with an eyewink, than wouldn't that give France a position in which it could also prevent war? By NOT giving their full support to Russia, or actually, withdrawing it...? If they had told Russia to either back off or go it alone, would Russia still have gone on with their full-scale mobilisation? Speculation of course, but it does show that France had a bigger part in all this than is generally assumed.
It seems I was a bit harsh on Nicholas II, when I made the statement that if anybody should be appointed a bigger slice of the pie it must be him. I am sorry for that, it turns out that he was just as misguided by his subordinates as was his German counterpart. Thanks for clearing the air on that one. The statement is withdrawn and may all royalty forgive me for this insult.

Kind regards,

Reinout

[stephen]

Paul: Haven't read up on it lately, but I was fairly sure that Serbia gave Austria everything anyone could reasonably, and in some cases, unreasonably, ask for. But it's been a long time since I studied it, and if I'm wrong then I must concede the point.

Reinout: Good point about France, and their impact on Russia is not forgotten. However, remember the domino effect. Serbia to Austria to Germany to Russia to France to Britain... that was the chain of events. Had Germany properly handled the situation, France's reaction to Russian mobilization would have had little if any effect because the problem would have been muted at it's source... Austria. Your point is well taken, but by that time it shouldn't have mattered. France did not have the first and best opportunity to squelch the conflict.

Hey, the other threads may have more posts, but by golly ours is going on longer!

[Reinout]

And Stephen,

Our thread actually has a decent topic. One of the other two 100+ threads is all about nothing. And we're here trying to tackle one of the heaviest subjects of this century! Well you know Stephen, the domino-effect is one of several theories that have come to my attention and has a lot of validity. The same thing can be said for some others. Generally I take what I find acceptable from several theories and use them to reconstruct what happened in those volatile days. That had led me to believe that the seeds had been sown as early as 1871 (obvious reasons). Without the 20 years of studying this subject, which would be mandatory for just about anyone who wants to say something definitive, I could go no further than to admit that:
-except Belgium, all warring countries in Europe have to accept some blame.
-I consider that of those warring nations, no nation stands out as the premium evildoer.
-the single guilty party theory is rubbish (I know nobody has tried to present such a black and white picture here).
-the roles of generals and ministers has not been sufficiently researched. Moltke, Von Bethmann-Hollweg and the Russian generals spring to mind instantly here.
-we'll never see the end of this.

There will always be people who actually believe that the German monstrosity that was the empire (according to them) was solely responsible for igniting WWI. Frightening isn't it?

Kind regards, and if you ever dream of starting up another 100+ thread, be sure to ask me!

Reinout

[Paul Forster]

It is true that Wilhelm and Nicholas were figureheads to a large extent,and that many of the most important decisions were actually made by others.

We are pretty much spinning our wheels now.Neither side is going to convert the other.