Can whole countries go mad?

[TimberWolf]

I cant blame the German people for their survival instinct though a bit more backbone may have saved a world of hurt.
I wonder what we would do given the same choices.

Was a it here that I read an argument, which seemed almost plausible at the time, that if we hadn't declared war on Germany, a lot of the atrocities that occurred during the war wouldn't have happened? Or something along those lines.

[snaw]

seig heil.

Anyone who says any different is a liar or a fool

It is necessary only for good men to say nothing for evil to triumph

Some things in life are worth dying for.

[EternalOptimist]

Was a it here that I read an argument, which seemed almost plausible at the time, that if we hadn't declared war on Germany, a lot of the atrocities that occurred during the war wouldn't have happened? Or something along those lines.

Its possible. The nazis were certainly wary of public opinion and a lot of the things they did were for short term political gain, like declaring war on the USA.
They didnt even go to a total war footing till the middle of 1943, it was only after that the they started on the worst atrocities.

[EternalOptimist]

Some things in life are worth dying for.

you are, indeed, a fool.
Noone disagrees with what you are saying Snaw, noone in the UK 50 years later would go back and be a nazi in 1939. But if you had been a German then, in that climate, with that backgound and history, you would have been seiging with the best of them. Or would you have been one of the very few who stood up and said 'no thanks, pull my teeth out with pliars instead'




@rse

[expat]

Was a it here that I read an argument, which seemed almost plausible at the time, that if we hadn't declared war on Germany, a lot of the atrocities that occurred during the war wouldn't have happened? Or something along those lines.

It is arguable that if we had made a deal, a lot of lives would have been saved. And that might include a lot of Jewish lives, just in case you think the moral case was overwhelming because of the Holocaust.

And incidentally Great Britain would not have been bankrupted, Europe not shattered, and the nuclear arms race and the Cold War not launched.

[snaw]

you are, indeed, a fool.
Noone disagrees with what you are saying Snaw, noone in the UK 50 years later would go back and be a nazi in 1939. But if you had been a German then, in that climate, with that backgound and history, you would have been seiging with the best of them. Or would you have been one of the very few who stood up and said 'no thanks, pull my teeth out with pliars instead'




@rse

Who knows, but I like to think I would.

Now I've a family I could see how I might not, but without that I think I would have - not every German did nothing, you know!

[TimberWolf]

Its possible. The nazis were certainly wary of public opinion and a lot of the things they did were for short term political gain, like declaring war on the USA.
They didnt even go to a total war footing till the middle of 1943, it was only after that the they started on the worst atrocities.

It's incredible how Germany was transformed from a defeated nation only decades before into one able to take on the whole world.

[TimberWolf]

And incidentally Great Britain would not have been bankrupted, Europe not shattered, and the nuclear arms race and the Cold War not launched.

We lost the war, together with Germany. USA won.

[expat]

It's incredible how Germany was transformed from a defeated nation only decades before into one able to take on the whole world.

You could say the same for the French under Napoleon. If it can be done woth the French, it can certainly be done with the Germans.

[scooby]

We lost the war, together with Germany. USA won.

this maybe true, however, did outsource the fight, therefore we won.

i think it was only in the last two years that we finished paying for it! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4970720.stm