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Matt and others,
I am the 'other person' that you referred to in your reply. I may have been mistaken about the British leading in the world economy and perhaps I don't know every single facit of the American plan during the cold war, but consider this ... Germany was responsible for the deaths of how many millions of people (not just Jews) during the years from 1914 to 1918, and 1940 to 1945? In both wars they were the belligerents. As far as England being pure, white, and holy, NOT BY A LONG SHOT considering how they oppressed the Irish for 700 years. But they weren't the innovators of the Konzentrationlager now were they? The dreams of empire died during the first world war along with a few monarchies. It gave birth to evils such as communism, nazism. The world has paid a heavy price in the wake of that world war due to the ideologies that it spawned. But who was responsible for the war? Germany was held as responsible and rightly so. Britain's culpability in any 'criminal' behaviour during that war was allowing such butchers as Haig and Rawlinson and Gough to lead their armies. Look at the battle of the Somme alone where the total casualty figure is 1,360,000 Allied and German dead. How many was there for each battle of Ypres? Who really won? How many lives were expended for each yard of territory taken? You look at the 'Big Picture' and you'll see that nobody really won. The 1st World War was an orchestration of industrialized murder. Sheer weight of numbers defeated the Central Powers. But atrocities... what about the Kindermord at Langemarck (Germans) and the 'Pals' at the Somme (England). Those are the real atrocities, the stupid plan at Gallipoli. The plan of attack by 'Pere' Joffre ( massed frontal assault). Has any other armies in any other wars mutinied en masse? The butchery of Falkenhayn during Verdun. The insanity of Passchendaele (attacking through the mud). The best and the brightest of a generation was ground into the earth by that war. Tell me again how the German's or any other of the participant's countries came out as real winners. At least there were clear cut objectives in mind during the 2nd WW, the Great War was a pyrrhic victory at best for any of the victors. But that victory at least stood as a victory in history's eyes. So allowing the victors to dictate policy to the vanquished (losers). It doesn't always mean that they were right, it just means that it didn't matter because they could! I once heard it quoted 'The victors always write the history books' if that is true then what we are seeing is the victor's version of history. My points in this tirade is ' Culpability for atrocities rests with everyone, The Allies won(but looking at their losses in men, did they really?) And the governments that wee spawned in the wake of the war ( did anybody really win?)
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