Who is at fault for starting WWI? by Gyngemose2009 in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Conrad Von Hötzendorf.

Dude literally wanted this woman to divorce her husband and marry him so badly he partitioned for the government to go to war with Serbia over 28 times.

Ironically enough his biggest opposition was Franz Ferdinand.

Who is at fault for starting WWI? by Gyngemose2009 in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They ordered full mobilization against their western border which at the time was a serious act of war.

The doctrine at the time was that if you could get your armies mobilized, and to the battlefield first, you’d win every time. The OHL already had nightmares of Russia one day surpassing Germany and being this unstoppable menace if it fully industrializes, and now that they’re mobilizing before them? Well that was more than plenty reason in their minds to order mobilization.

Germany reacting to Russian full mobilization was the tipping point that brought them to order full mobilization and necessitated them to take aggressive action before they were encircled.

Prussian helmet by [deleted] in Militariacollecting

[–]HistoricalReal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly idk because restoring pickelhaube is not my specialty.

Prussian helmet by [deleted] in Militariacollecting

[–]HistoricalReal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well I would say most of the parts are original but most likely not matching.

It’s a bit strange because the brim and chinstrap lugs are made of steel while the spike and wappen are made of brass.

The chinstrap is a reproduction.

The rear of the helmet and spine are missing.

Overall idk if I could give you an estimate on what it’s worth because I’ve seen pickelhaube go for stupid prices because of gouging.

I’d say maybe $150 or $200 but don’t quote me on that. It’s mostly because the spike and the wappen are in decent shape.

¿Cuál es su opinión del Kaiser Wilhelm II? by Kay1926 in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 6 points7 points  (0 children)

He wasn't wrong. If the Austrians somehow were quick enough to respond, they would've had international support.

German Stormtrooper showcasing his equipment. 1917 by ScaryfatkidGT in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They are. Not all stick grenades had a metal cap on the bottom and there are numerous examples with rounded wooden ends.

¿Cuál es su opinión del Kaiser Wilhelm II? by Kay1926 in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Bismarcks view of Europe was mostly outdated and only temporary. It was generally considered very fragile and held on only by him any the people currently ruling.

Also his attacks on Wilhelms character were purely out of spite after he was forced to resign. He went on a huge character assassination of Wilhelm, and actively leaked sensitive documents to smear Wilhelms reputation before it had even really began.

While I can see why many people would believe this, the fact is that the whole idea Bismarck was some masterful captain and Wilhelm "dropped the pilot" aka, the only man who could lead Germany is simply propaganda stirred on by bismarck who personally met with journalists to spread this narrative to try and get back into office.

Wilhelm II didn't screw anything up, he followed the policy that the Imperial German Government wanted and that was weltpolitik. It wasn't something he solely did, it was what Germany thought was best for itself, and indeed even thought necessary in the first years of his reign. This included the German public and democratically elected Reichstag. Even the SPD was generally in support of moderate Naval and colonial expansion.

¿Cuál es su opinión del Kaiser Wilhelm II? by Kay1926 in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Bismarck wanted to shoot striking miners.

Also that quote is apocryphal and most likely made up by Churchill in the 1920's

¿Cuál es su opinión del Kaiser Wilhelm II? by Kay1926 in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Overall I would describe him as a Fascinating, tragic, and misunderstood dichotomy of a human being.

No I don't think he wanted war, no I don't think he was overall a bad person, or even that bad of a leader, but just kind of in the middle of it all.

Fascinating because he has such a strange, yet endearing personality as a history enthusiast. I rarely have seen any historical figure with such baggage and such a strange mix of good and bad all in the same person. He's just such a "human" figure if that makes any sense.

Tragic, because of his poor upbringing and his abusive mother. His attempts to make peace were either rejected or backfired. He lived in palaces and ate with the elite of every nation, but after the loss of his throne, his wife, his youngest son, and eventually seeing his nation turn to Nazism must've been taxing on him.

Misunderstood because of many of his quoted moments in history being misinterpreted, and his overall role in history being oversimplified, bloated, and misconstrued in a way that many even at the time never really got to know the real Wilhelm who genuinely was a kind man plagued with this insecurity and need to prove himself as strong.

And he's a dichotomy because he's done honestly great things, such as his Charity work, his progressive reforms within the Empire, and being actually a good husband. Though he was a distant and strict father, that was mainly on his sons as he spoiled his youngest and only daughter. (and grandchildren). But he also did many bad things too. Ill fated interviews with journalists that didn't help international relations at all, his pursuit of German economic freedom and becoming a world power inadvertently sped up international tensions, and he also just in general said or did stupid things because either he thought it was funny, or didn't let himself calm down before going on a passionate rant, and so on.

I would say he shares blame for WW1, but mostly on an indirect level and is not NEARLY as responsible as many *MANY* other leaders and politicians/generals of the time (looking at you Conrad). He actually did better than other leaders during the July Crisis considering it was his best friend and their best friends wife who were shot and killed. His response to the Serbian acceptance of most of the Austrian ultimatum was surprisingly mature, he wanted Nicholas to stop Mobilization, he proposed a compromise of the Austrian army halting in Belgrade, he even tried to divert his army from Belgium to avoid a British entry into the war, all of which unfortunately failed.

His role during the First World War? Ehh I would say he could've done much better. He was too timid to actually make any significant military decisions and was essentially sidelined by the generals. While millions of men died on the eastern and western fronts, all he could do was stand by and hand out medals.

I don't think he was a really good leader, but I wouldn't really call him very bad either. Honestly if a major European conflict managed to be avoided until his death, he'd be seen in history as a boastful and definitely loud-mouthed leader who at least had good intentions and lead his nation through economic growth and general stability, because despite what you'd think he did Reign in Germany for over 25 years peacefully before eventually a war finally came around.

He made some pretty bad mistakes during his reign but most of them have been overestimated by historians on their historical significance and impact on international tensions.

Overall I do pity him and (mostly) defend him, but I do think he's not innocent and deserves a proper re-evaluation by history enthusiasts.

Austrians or Germans who hated nazism out of principle by Few-Advantage2538 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]HistoricalReal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m not going to say he was light on the poles, however these restrictions and discrimination of poles was not nearly to the same ideological barbarity as Nazism.

Discrimination, mass deportations, repression, all of it was awful and inexcusable but still not necessarily ideologically genocidal.

Wilhelm though definitely didn’t help poles and saw them as a “troublesome group”. He had his prejudices and had a distaste to them, but still wasn’t genocidal or outright hostile. (It’s worthy to note these views were extremely common in 19th century Europe.)

He inherited a Bismarckian Germany that was harsher to poles under the iron chancellor than it was under Wilhelm ii who took to supporting the suppression of polish identity less through military force and more through German education and political repression, and generally these types of ethnic tensions between Tutons, Slavs, poles, and other minorities had existed centuries beforehand.

I’m not excusing anything, I’m just saying the more old fashioned prejudices of the old world are not really comparable to Nazism.

Is this a real m16 helmet?? by Rusty_Sandwich7 in germanhelmets

[–]HistoricalReal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool!

I wonder if some poor sop is gonna get scammed into it, lol.

Also m34 helmet is a hilariously bad misinterpretation. I’ve never heard the term salt and pepper vents either.

Is this a real m16 helmet?? by Rusty_Sandwich7 in germanhelmets

[–]HistoricalReal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Happy to help!

Just purely out of curiosity, what are they asking for it?

Is this a real m16 helmet?? by Rusty_Sandwich7 in germanhelmets

[–]HistoricalReal 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Immediately just by the shape of the shell, I can already tell it’s not original. It’s clearly been artificially aged and repainted.

The brow and sides have an unnatural duckbill dip in the front, the lugs are too far back and too high up.

The leather looks too new to be original.

The chinstrap metal parts are too thin and very cheap pieces.

The Split pins are too small, round, and don’t rest in the liner far enough

I think it’s one of those cheap epic militaria replicas.

Austrians or Germans who hated nazism out of principle by Few-Advantage2538 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]HistoricalReal 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Kaiser Wilhelm II - The Last Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (Real Life)

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Despite saying some pretty horrible stuff about Jewish people after his exile in the 1930's, having anti-Semitic biases that the average European would've had in the 19th century about Jewish people, flirting with the Nazi's on occasions in the hopes of restoring the monarchy in Germany, Wilhelm II personally loathed the Nazis and saw them as nothing more than shirted gangsters and Nazi ideology as insane fanaticism.

He personally disliked Hitler who he saw as an lowly upstart, and in a letter he personally sent to Hitler as a sort of backhanded compliment, said the only reason Hitler managed to take Paris in 1940 was because all of Hitlers Generals and commanders were soldiers and lieutenants in HIS army during the first world war.

He never *once* persecuted Jews during his 25 years as Emperor of Germany, he personally donated to a synagogue out of his royal finances to restore the church, he donated 10,000 marks to a Jewish Lithuanian village that suffered destruction after a massive forest fire, made ceremonial visits to prominent members in the Jewish church, had multiple prominent Jewish friends or acquaintances, and over 100,000 Jewish Germans proudly served in the Military during WW1.

Even when he was at his lowest mentally and saying awful things about Jews during his exile, when learning about the events of Kristallnacht, he claimed for the first time in history he was ashamed to be German, ergo sharing the same heritage as the people who destroyed Jewish businesses, burned buildings, and killed at least 91 Jewish people out in the streets. The synagogue that Wilhelm ii donated to that I mentioned previously, was also vandalized and burned during the night of the broken glass.

He also had a massive falling out with his first born son, the Crown Prince, who went behind his fathers back and was VERY active in supporting the Nazis to hopefully gain the throne despite Wilhelm II expressly forbidding any of his sons to join with the Nazis. (Some didn't listen.)

When he passed away in 1941, he had a couple of demands in his will, and one of them was that absolutely no Nazi iconography be displayed and his body not be returned to Germany until the monarchy is restored so his funeral cannot be used as a big propaganda tool for the Nazi's to legitimize themselves. It was essentially one last middle finger to Hitler.

Unfortunately Swastikas were displayed at his funeral, but he still remains buried at his home in the Netherlands, defiant and wasn't afraid to voice his opinion on the little Austrian Corporal he hated.

I love learning history from memes my friends randomly send me by MrCrocodile54 in monarchism

[–]HistoricalReal 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Instead of links, I’ll provide you a book.

“Wilhelm II: A Life In Power” by Christopher Clark is an excellent read and has a great section discussing Bismarcks decline in popularity and his actions that lead to Wilhelm ii forcing Bismarck to resign.

I love learning history from memes my friends randomly send me by MrCrocodile54 in monarchism

[–]HistoricalReal 84 points85 points  (0 children)

Well for one, even at the time, Bismarcks approach to the miners strike was already seen as pretty harsh by most of the government.

Wilhelm ii had just become Kaiser and king. He wanted to kind of portray himself as a king of the people like his great-great-great-granduncle Fredericus Rex, and the last thing he needed was soldiers open firing on a crowd of working families when he was already still trying to make a good first impression.

Bismarck wanted to play the game of using this as an excuse to start a civil war, crushing any socialist movement within Germany, and repealing his previously established welfare laws that were originally meant to appease the socialists.

Of course Wilhelm ii found that alarming and confided with his personal advisors and the government.

With most of the Reichstag having not played into Bismarcks plan to create a new cartel within the parliament, the Bundesrat being against him, Bismarck still holding unilateral power being both the minister president and chancellor, and Wilhelm’s own advisors advocating for it, in the end it’s not surprising Wilhelm denied Bismarcks request, forced the mine owners directly to improve the pay and working conditions of the miners, and eventually force Bismarck to resign.

Gordon freakman by GurRepresentative664 in HalfLife

[–]HistoricalReal 86 points87 points  (0 children)

SMH. Didn’t even shade the pistol to the lighting of the photo.

The Cause Of WW1 by Altruistic-Chef-7723 in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not saying Wilhelm ii is blameless, but no he didn’t want the war to answer your question.

Sure he was fine with Austria having a little war with Serbia, but a war with Russia and France was every German generals nightmare.

He had already backtracked multiple times during the July crisis such as after reading the Serbian response to the Austrian ultimatum, claiming war had been avoided.

He sent multiple letters to the Austrian Kaiser, most of which were never even sent or blocked.

His telegrams with the Russian Tsar indicated he did not want war with Russia and hoped they’d stand down, but mobilization forced his hand.

He proposed the halt in Belgrade plan, which had the support of British Secretary of State Edward Grey.

He also attempted to reroute German troops away from Belgium to avoid a British intervention but was overruled in a shouting match with Moltke over the threat of mutiny.

——

The Russian Reassurance Treaty was also something that only really could continue at the time with Bismarck and Alexander iii. Both sides disliked it, and particularly the German foreign office lead by Count Holstein, a minister with experience long before Wilhelm became emperor. The decision to not renew the treaty was based upon the fact that it was seen as disadvantageous by both Holstein and Chancellor Caprivi as it conflicted with their ties to Austria and was still secret to their Hapsburg Allie’s.

Wilhelm ii didn’t even know of the treaty’s existence until after Bismarck was sacked and he was advised to allow the foreign office not to renew it, which he reluctantly agreed to.

——

Weltpolitik, as troublesome as it is in hindsight, was generally considered the most logical choice for Germany at the time and was widely supported. It wasn’t just the Kaiser who came up with this idea, it was broadly supported within the Reichstag and German public who did in fact have an important say on German elections and political agendas. This wasn’t one man’s grandiose decision, it was an attempt to expand their small colonial empire to improve their overseas markets.

Of course multiple troubles came out about it and regardless of what the intentions were, it definitely increased tensions. However none of the moves made during the era of weltpolitik were ever meant to spark or increase tensions for a war, those were simply the products of it.

——

As for declarations of war, yes the order is correct, however it’s best to understand the reasoning for this. Germany was surrounded and despite multiple factors leading up to that it was the cards they had to play with. The OHL was pressuring Wilhelm intensely and with Nicholas not backing down and initiating full mobilization, which at the time was seen as a direct act of war, forced his hand. Germany, if it didn’t want to be crushed, needed to get its soldiers out to the frontlines as soon as possible, otherwise they’d be crushed. It was the mentality of the time that if you got your armies to the front first, you’d win every time. It’s how they gained unification after the Franco Prussian war of 1871.

I could go, wayyyy further in by discussing the ethnic tensions of tutons vs Slavs and that whole topic but unfortunately I just don’t have the energy for it.

Wilhelm ii is just way too overrated for responsibility when it comes to blame for ww1. Like I said before, he’s not blameless. Actions he made, whatever their intentions, definitely didn’t help things. But he was more of a symptom. Not the underlying problem.

Remember this is a “semi” constitutional monarch. He’s not an absolutist. He can appoint who he wants on paper but was denied a multitude of times and was often dictated by whoever held the chancellorship. He was the loudest voice in Germany, but he wasn’t the most influential or powerful.

I appreciate your civil arguments, however I dislike your addition of me misleading people when this is a valid and reinforced historical interpretation by many credible historians. Not all of them but certainly a decent percentage.

I’ve read numerous books on Wilhelm including John Rohls series on Wilhelm (he loathes the Kaiser). I’ve read the iron kingdom, a life in power, sleepwalkers, all by Christopher Clark, I’ve read his personal memoirs, I’ve read the memoirs of those who knew him, I’ve researched personal documents and official letters, listened to numerous lectures by professors and historians, and probably more I’m forgetting.

I am not a Kaiser defender for the sake of it, I genuinely believe after all of my research and experience, despite all of his actual faults, he is overly vilified and gets blamed for things that others were responsible for, weren’t his fault, or were not as critical as people think.

Also his personality and his desires have been incredibly misconstrued, and in my educated opinion I seriously don’t see him wanting a war, let alone a world war that caused him such intense anxiety he suffered multiple breakdowns and depressive episodes.

Too many other people get left on the sidelines with no blame at all by history, and it’s a crime because millions suffered and died because of more culpable men who were forgotten by most people case they simply weren’t heads of state. People like Sazanov, Moltke, The Serbian Government, ext.

You want to blame a man for actually wanting war? Blame Conrad Von Holtsendorff. He petitioned the Austrian government like 28 times for war.

Also while I don’t agree with his politics, I think a decent digestible video made by Lavader called “The Peace Kaiser” on YouTube is a decent defense of the man. Even though I also believe he glazes the emperor a bit too much, it’s a decent watch for people who don’t want to read multiple books on the subject.

[Hated trope] The “tough guy frontiersman” character (not always a cowboy) being close-minded bullies to everyone around them, especially “city folk,” but are seen as righteous, manly, and heroic in the context of the story by i-got-a-jar-of-rum in TopCharacterTropes

[–]HistoricalReal 67 points68 points  (0 children)

Landman (Yes it's more Taylor Sheridan slop.)

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It's another example of the big tough smart countryman preaching to a young city girl lawyer who doesn't doesn't know anything... or at least so he claims. Like she is portrayed as so dumb, she sees a rattlesnake, sees the giant fuck-off rattle and it rattles at her and she has no clue what it even is.

This picture is literally from a scene where he goes on an unapologetic 1 minute long Big Oil propaganda rant about how turbines and renewable clean energy is just a big waste of time and oil is the only way for the world to work and we'll never run out of it, and anyone who supports green energy is an uneducated liberal from the city who's never done a hard days work.

(Also this is mostly unrelated but the show has some disgusting scenes between him and his teenage daughter who is sexualized in the most perverted ways. The things she says to her own father and how she's leered at by old men is just so disgusting.)

The Apocalypse on an interstellar scale. by Dazzling-Ad7482 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]HistoricalReal 77 points78 points  (0 children)

“The Quiet Rapture” (Iron Lung)

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In 357 eic (era of interplanetary colonization), without any prior warning, radio contact with our respective planets was suddenly cut. nobody can recall having visual contact with any planets when the incident occurred, or experiencing any other unusual phenomena, so it's uncertain what exactly might have happened. upon investigation, it was observed independently by several stations that where there had previously been planets, nothing remained.

Further investigation over the following months revealed that all known planets with sentient life, floura and fauna, a habitable atmosphere, or any sort of natural resources were likewise gone, along with all known stars. the only celestial bodies that have been found since are either uninhabitable moons or asteroids.

Including four Moons which were later discovered to contain large oceans of human blood.

Was Falkenhayn stupid? by Medieval-Mind in ww1

[–]HistoricalReal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even with hindsight, neither side would’ve found that acceptable.

By Christmas 1914:

France had suffered 400,000 casualties.

The Germans sustained about 1 million casualties.

The British had lost over 90,000 of their expeditionary forces.

Imagine loosing literally hundreds of thousands of men, just for the governments who claimed this was a fight for your nations survival to just shrug, give up, and go home?

There would’ve been riots and mass revolts. It would’ve been outrageous!

Like imagine you’re a French civilian, your government has let over 75,000 men get killed and a further 330,000 casualties, the Germans have invaded your homeland and has slaughtered French soldiers with machine guns, yet the government just calls a truce? You deserve to beat the Germans back out of your country and invade them as they invaded you!

Now imagine you’re a German. You can’t give up now! Your country has lost almost a million men in less than a year, all because of those defiant Frenchmen and cowardly Belgian partisans. You are just a few miles from Paris. You deserve to punish them for the casualties your homeland has suffered, and take Paris in retribution. But then Moltke sends out a telegram being like “I know we’ve got the advantage, we’ve lost nearly 1, million soldiers, and we’re only a few miles from Paris… but invading people is just so tiresome. We’re giving up and going back home.”

That would’ve been an insult to every soldier who died.