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Today's ride - Down to the almost finished World War One Memorial

154.27.112.24
Posted on August 15, 2024 at 10:21:14
SamA
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Biked down D.C.'s 15th Street protected bike route to get a glimpse of the almost complete World War One Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue between 15th and 14th streets. Alas, it's still draped in blue plastic with metal workers applying the final touches. The canvas surrounding the work site gives a pretty goof idea what the finished memorial will look like. If in town, check it out. "Taps" played on site every day at 5 p.m.

 

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I was taught that WW1 was a family squabble among inbred European aristocrats, posted on August 15, 2024 at 11:13:46
Jay Buridan
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Neutrality was reasonable. Taking sides was crazy. In Dead Wake, Erik Larson blames Winston Churchill for master-minding the sinking of the Lusitania in order bring the us into the conflict. It makes perfect sense.

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

RE: I was taught that WW1 was a family squabble among inbred European aristocrats, posted on August 15, 2024 at 11:47:23
tomservo
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 Perhaps many things, also including an arms race that began when the British built a new class battle shop called the dreadnought. It was huge, super scary with big cannons and said "we go where we want"

This gave a number of countries rulers severe drooling "cannon envy" and they had to have some too. Probably something like what they used to say about guys and their cars being their reptile (as in those commercials for reptile dysfunction).

Hister, that guy with the funny stash from the ancient Nostradamus predictions ended up building the Turpitz in the follow up war, which was a very large glob of iron that could make especially large holes far away.
A real source of yacht envy at least for a brief time.

Some might say in WW1 there were those who could read the tea leaves well in advance but here in the USA curiously a significant number of special dry-docks were already newly built / being built, exactly what that this new class battle ship needed for construction.

somehow a country Joe and the fish song could have gone here, had they been around back then.
One thing can be said for WW1, everyone's expectations were totally wrong and possibly the saying " insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results" may have originated examining the tactics that were used in so many futile attacks charging at machine guns.

 

I read the book. Larson doesn't blame Churchill., posted on August 15, 2024 at 12:21:17
ghost of olddude55
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 Exactly.
The British tapped German communications and knew Lusitania was going to sail through an area patrolled by a German sub captained by a guy who had no qualms about sinking civilian vessels, but they didn't warn Lusitania or the US because they didn't want the Germans to know they had tapped communications. They hoped for the best and weren't totally unhappy when the worst happened, but Churchill didn't mastermind the sinking.
And the US entered the war at the behest of American banking interests which had loaned more money to Britain and France than they did to Germany and wanted to make sure they were repaid. Lusitania and the Zimmerman telegram were just McGuffins.
At any rate, Lusitania was carrying munitions for the Allies despite warnings from Germany, and may very well have been fair game.
Woodrow Wilson was a capital "B" Bastard. Racist, dictatorial, and a die-hard interventionist. He's one of the big reasons why Haiti is a mess today. He invaded Russia in 1919, sent American troops to intervene in the civil war on the side of the Whites. It didn't go well.
The US had no business getting involved in the first world war. We had no interest, and the Germans weren't any worse than the British or French.



The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.

 

If the Brits had stayed neutral, and not dragged in the US . . ., posted on August 15, 2024 at 12:48:11
Brian H P
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 . . . it would have been the Franco/Prussian war, act II, with some peripheral conflicts in Eastern Europe. Far less devastating.

 

Britain didn't drag the US in. American bankers provided the push., posted on August 15, 2024 at 13:00:25
ghost of olddude55
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 Rich assholes lent money to Britain and France. They wanted paid back. Didn't care what happened to the men who served as cannon fodder.
Neither did Woodrow Wilson.



The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.

 

Always the bizarre , posted on August 15, 2024 at 13:54:36
E-Stat
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Contributor
  Since: April 5, 2002
 and paranoid world view.

Hint: it was about German U-Boats sinking our ships. LOL!

"However, he refrained from asking for a declaration of war because he doubted that the U.S. public would support him unless he provided ample proof that Germany intended to attack U.S. ships without warning. Wilson left open the possibility of negotiating with Germany if its submarines refrained from attacking U.S. shipping. Nevertheless, throughout February and March 1917, German submarines targeted and sank several U.S. ships, resulting in the deaths of numerous U.S. seamen and citizens."

 

I have some interest in that war, posted on August 15, 2024 at 14:19:46
SamA
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 A great uncle from Pennsylvania coal mining country was gassed in the war and died shortly after returning home. I suppose black lung disease would have gotten him, but the gas got him first.

 

Nope , it was a policy of containment toward Germany by British Empire , posted on August 15, 2024 at 14:50:13
Wojciech
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 Which caused a Great War. Britain was declining fast and German industrial and colonial power was on the rise threatening the survival of a Great Empire.

 

The strategy is called LIHOP (nt), posted on August 15, 2024 at 14:57:11
emailtim
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 .
.

2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED

 

Ukraine is dying for the very same reason . To contain "revisionists policies" , posted on August 15, 2024 at 15:04:36
Wojciech
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 of those who feel USA is an "old news" already. It's just the beginning of bad news.

 

Either that or some other mining accident., posted on August 15, 2024 at 15:17:49
ghost of olddude55
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 It was a senseless war which served no purpose. That's the worst part.
They're all senseless, but that one was one of the most.



The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.

 

Indeed..., posted on August 15, 2024 at 15:28:52
SamA
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 Another coal mining uncle was a medic/paratrooper in WWII in the battle of the bulge, survived. Came home and had his wife's wedding gown sown from his parachute. he died a week later when his coal truck lift crashed on his spine.

 

RE: Nope , it was a policy of containment toward Germany by British Empire , posted on August 16, 2024 at 01:16:02
JDK
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 You can't blame England.
Germany joined up with Austria and Hungary and then set off to invade France. They were marching through Belgium when England decided to get involved.



Trying to hide from entropy
John K

 

Section of the Great Allegheny Passage..., posted on August 16, 2024 at 03:00:12
ghost of olddude55
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 ...from Cedar Creek Park through to Connellsville, one monument to coal miners killed by company negligence after another.



The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.

 

Naturlich , posted on August 16, 2024 at 05:20:49
Wojciech
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 It's always "an unprovoked" act of aggression of "revisionist power" which is the source of conflict if it comes to The Crown and its bastards and their history :) Pearl Harbor is a Classic example in it's simplicity.
After 1873 financial crisis Germany recovered fast while stagnant England and it's quickly becoming obsolete industry was marred in troubles for decades. The empire was dying a slow death but it wouldn't let go easily.
Europe became a powder keg of conflicting interests -an ideal swimming pool for British diplomacy

 

I'll get it from my library and re-read it, posted on August 17, 2024 at 06:32:08
Jay Buridan
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 I'm pretty sure he blames Churchill for steering Lusitania into a wolfpack of U-boats operating in the South Irish Sea. His research was based on recently declassified British Admiralty documents, i.e., recent as of the time Larson was writing.

P.S. I agree with your assessment of Wilson. Churchill was no better.



"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

Or putting one's finger on the scale of destiny, posted on August 17, 2024 at 06:34:05
Jay Buridan
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Location: Michigan
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 ,

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

Sad, posted on August 17, 2024 at 06:37:11
Jay Buridan
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Location: Michigan
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 And Wilson imprisoned those who opposed intervention.

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

RE: Today's ride - Down to the almost finished World War One Memorial, posted on August 17, 2024 at 07:42:03
Inmate51
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Posts: 2712
Location: Dallas, TX
Joined: August 12, 2022
 "Almost finished"?

WW1 was a little more than a hundred years ago.

Must be a government project.

*********

We are inclusive and diverse, but dissent will not be tolerated.

 

H. H. Asquith's decision to intervene changed the course of history, posted on September 2, 2024 at 21:02:30
Jay Buridan
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 But was it the right one?

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

It was the only one possible , posted on September 2, 2024 at 22:26:04
Wojciech
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 Right or wrong has no meaning when the lifestyle of deciding part of population is threatened. It's the very reason we will go to war with China. We just have to invent convenient reason . Uiggurs ,Taiwan lack of democracy you name it . Either we are going to work for them or they are going to work for us like they used to.

 

A majority of the British population were opposed to war in 1914, posted on September 3, 2024 at 12:27:11
Jay Buridan
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But the majority wasn't the deciding portion. And look at British lifestyle today. The country went down the tubes where it awaits us at the bottom.

P.S. I don't think the U.S. has the will to fight the PRC unless the military serves Cheetos and meth. There's too much corruption. Our troops have zero morale, live in rat-infested roach motels, and drink brown water.



"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

A majority is always opposed until it's not , posted on September 3, 2024 at 13:54:16
Wojciech
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 and the opposition doesn't matter since they vote in the same pro war people over and over again.
Majority is already convinced China is our enemy, probably because they want to take our freedom akin to slogan " buy Chinese loose your freedom" which actually makes some sense since they will be able to control us economically. China doesn't need war nor wants it. Why would they even
want to invade Taiwan when they can gain full control just doing what they do which is overtaking all the supply chains and developing parallel trade routes. We have to attack them soon or it will be way too late. Putin made a mistake of attacking too late. He should have destabilized Ukraine right after the putsch in 2014. Russians are too inept to organize any proper civil war the way we do. In his place I'd destabilize the country and went in to protect Russian minority and order. He took Crimea and was sitting on his hands watching Ukraine gaining strength and developing strong ties with Nato. Now he is facing 50 countries supporting Ukraine and bleeding out his troops instead of watching Ukrainias bleeding out each other.

 

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner launched by the Cunard Line in 1906, posted on September 3, 2024 at 19:54:32
Jay Buridan
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 When Lusitania was built, her construction and operating expenses were subsidized by the British government, with the proviso that she could be converted to an armed merchant cruiser if need be. A secret compartment was designed-in for the purpose of carrying arms and ammunition. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan advised President Wilson that ships carrying contraband should be prohibited from carrying passengers. Lusitania did not carry enough lifeboats for all her passengers.

Most Americans were for neutrality or favored the Germans.


"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

Our role in WW1 was indefensible and stupid, posted on September 3, 2024 at 20:27:45
Jay Buridan
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Posts: 10803
Location: Michigan
Joined: January 21, 2004
 And tragic. Thankfully, the new memorial seems to capture those features.

Now, we need a memorial to the Bonus Army.

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

A majority opposed the war in 1918, posted on September 4, 2024 at 10:03:05
Jay Buridan
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Location: Michigan
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Sometimes brainwashing doesn't work.

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

The Brits were governed by inbred butchers , posted on September 4, 2024 at 10:05:52
Jay Buridan
Audiophile

Posts: 10803
Location: Michigan
Joined: January 21, 2004
 .

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields

 

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