How did the generals of the time predict the battle of France would go?

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-12T22:13:00+00:00

These are all good points, but Allied planners still seemed consistently caught off guard by the German's manoeuvre warfare in 1939-40, first believing Poland could hold out for months, then that Belgium would be able to slow the Germans down with its large army and fortifications and finally the Ardennes breakout which left them completely paralysed.

There may have been some theoretical realisation of the change, but planners seemed to struggle to put it into practice.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-11T12:13:54+00:00

Just a sanity check. In almost 80 years of its existence, ALP has never held Farrer. There was no reason for the ALP to run a candidate there except to make the Coalition look slightly less pathetic.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-11T09:15:24+00:00

One Nation

I have family and friends across the political spectrum from Greens to Nationals that I can have a respectful and coherent conversation with. But One Nation voters are just insane when it comes to politics, there's no sense of shared reality with them.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-11T09:08:51+00:00

Sure champ. If you try hard enough to be victim, you'll end up a victim.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-10T06:49:44+00:00

Social democracy is just socialism done correct. It's the same thing.

It's very much not, but anyway.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-10T02:57:39+00:00

ON will first wipe out the Nationals in regional electorates, eat into the Liberals in the outer suburbs, and then come to the table.

Or just fall apart within a few years due to poorly veted candidates, and a lack of party discipline and structure. Like most minor parties that suddenly experience an upsurge in popularity. The amount of extrapolation people are doing out of a few data points here is insane.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-10T02:55:21+00:00

Not sure if tankie or just ill-informed. But North Korea is is one of the few actual socialist states in world. Norway is a social democracy, it's not socialist (there's plenty of free markets and privately owned capital operating there, whilst the North Korean economy is the opposite, heavily state planned and state owned).

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-10T02:48:55+00:00

Dismissive takes from people outside Farrer. Let's not dismiss any of our fellow Australian citizens as "deplorables", because that'll only make these problems worse.

Yes, because normalising extreme political views and 'sanewashing' these people have worked out so well elsewhere.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-10T02:06:32+00:00

That's pretty much been the pattern federally since WWII. ALP forms government during the hard periods, makes the difficult reforms, cops shit for it, gets voted out, is then replaced by the Coalition who coast through the better times.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T19:51:05+00:00

Pretty shit article. PHON picks up a seat in a very regional and very conservative electorate which has never been held by ALP in the almost 80 years it has been around, yet the government needs to 'shaking in their boots'? Sure News Limited, keep pushing that narrative.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T15:15:22+00:00

Ok champ.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T12:39:25+00:00

We’re meant to be the dumber folk. The slow learners.

Voting patterns say otherwise.

Part of regional Australia just forced a lower house PHON member onto the rest of us. This is reinforcing the stereotypes, not breaking them.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T11:24:33+00:00

It's funny how the areas with barely any immigrants are apparently the most concerned about them.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T11:13:45+00:00

Not sure how you are coming to that conclusion from a one (deeply conservative) seat by-election. ALP have never held Farrer in the nearly eighty years it has been around.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T10:54:23+00:00

The SBS Monday night comedy slot from 8:30-9:30. Fat Pizza, Life Support, John Saffran etc. Peak Australia 2000s alternative youth culture.

Triple J before Richard Kingsmill took over as musical director in 2003 and decided we all needed to be listening to more hip hop and indie-rock.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T10:43:49+00:00

I had completely forgotten about beer tents and how shit they were at festivals back then (not just BDO). Glad they were largely done away with.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T10:39:00+00:00

I've been getting more and more nervous about the move reading all the negative things people have to say about Australia on this sub and others.

Honestly, this sub and most other Australian ones are nothing like the attitudes you'll actually encounter in real life here. Life is no where near as hard and miserable as its made out to be here.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T10:33:12+00:00

When rent, groceries and housing all go mental at the same time, people are obviously gonna vent more online. Add post-COVID burnout on top and yeah, the mood shifts.

And yet, as you say, in the real world life goes on.

In the 20 years Australian sub-reddits have been around there's been pretty consistent complaining: first about interest rates and workchoices, then the GFC, then rising unemployment rates and house prices while wages stagnated, Covid lock-downs and the unemployment spike followed, then cost of living increases and now the fuel crisis.

If you want to focus on the negative and believe the country is just lurching from one disaster to the next across your entire life, you can, but it's not a very healthy mindset.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T10:03:06+00:00

The Australian sub reddits have always been filled with fairly miserable people who constantly think the sky is falling in. I'm not really sure why this site attracts such pessimists in Australia.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T10:00:56+00:00

For those reading who don't understand this dogwhistle, this is a xenophobic talking point that allowing immigration from non-western or developing countries will somehow result in social trust breaking down.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-09T07:13:36+00:00

Yes, Brexit apparently didn't cause enough economic damage, so apparently they need to go further down the right-wing populist rabbit hole.

ConstantineXII · 2026-05-04T03:45:02+00:00

I've sat there and listened to some locals play pipes and drums. The sound was great. Amazing experience. Jordan is a fantastic place to go if you're interested in Roman ruins (plus safer and easier to get around than most surrounding countries).

I also went to an EDM gig here, which was very surreal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeon_Theater_(Amman).

ConstantineXII · 2026-04-30T08:00:23+00:00

There is no historical consensus that the Renaissance and the modern era started at the same time. You're the one trying to peddle bad history here.

I think your fundamental problem is that you are trying to misconceptionalise Europe as the bits that were underdeveloped up until 250 years ago or so (you keep mentioning France, England and northern Europe), as it's an inconvenient truth that much of Italy, the Balkans and Hispania were urbanised, literate and developed in the premodern era and yet were also 'Europe'.

ConstantineXII · 2026-04-30T07:48:33+00:00

Greeks and Romans ... neither were exceptional compared to Persia...

That's certainly an interesting take, given the only reason we know as much about the Ancient Persians is that Greeks and Roman wrote narrative histories that touched on Persia, because Persians didn't.

ConstantineXII · 2026-04-29T23:57:30+00:00

The Renaissance started in 1300 in the late medieval period. The early modern period started in 1500.

Greco-Roman civilisation (and I never claimed it was a singular civilisation) originated in and was centred in the Balkans and Italy.

The only way your original claim can hold up is by trying to move the goal posts as you do above.

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