I don't quite see how "the French won" pre WW1. The way I see it is the French lost at Waterloo 100 years earlier and then lost again against Prussia in 1870 and meanwhile the British ruled rather more of the world than they could actually afford to, despite industrialization giving them a surplus of males that needed to be employed somewhere
Still not seeing how the French won even in continental Europe. I see WW1 in large part as a determination by the French to not lose any more to the Prussians/Germans who had become the dominant force in 1870
I agree that the French did a lot of winning, Waterloo notwithstanding. But saying that European politics led to the atomic war with Japan is an oversimplification. It’s a fascinating idea to distill history into such a brief synopsis, but it can lead to errors in the relative cause and effect.
I don't quite see how "the French won" pre WW1. The way I see it is the French lost at Waterloo 100 years earlier and then lost again against Prussia in 1870 and meanwhile the British ruled rather more of the world than they could actually afford to, despite industrialization giving them a surplus of males that needed to be employed somewhere
On the Continent. The British won in the wider world. But WW1 was about control of the Continent.
Still not seeing how the French won even in continental Europe. I see WW1 in large part as a determination by the French to not lose any more to the Prussians/Germans who had become the dominant force in 1870
Mmmm...okay, I see where the way I put things communicates an error. I will fix it. Thank you.
I agree that the French did a lot of winning, Waterloo notwithstanding. But saying that European politics led to the atomic war with Japan is an oversimplification. It’s a fascinating idea to distill history into such a brief synopsis, but it can lead to errors in the relative cause and effect.