Margaret MacMillan: Was World War I Inevitable?

[@lokegranbergarreflod295]

My teacher forced me to watch this

[@davidmaslow399]

Did You enjoy it?

[@brianhammer5107]

Good. You needed to see it.

[@McIntyreBible]

It's always a pleasure to listen to Professor MacMillan. She is a very knowledgeable historian!

[@michaelnoonan352]

Very impressive, and very relevant to contemporary circumstances.

[@bebopalooblog2877]

There is a tendency to talk and think about nations as individuals - they aren't. This talk starts off recognizing this fact, but ends treating entire nations as individuals regardless. England did this. Germany did that. It may be shorthand for the prevailing sentiment - but in the end it is still NOT a people which unanimously decides to wage war, but members of particular elites who hold positions of authority who do so by virtue of that authority and their particular circumstance. It is dangerous to equate nations with their leaders - it leads to war, for instance.

[@brian78045]

(1) The World War I Allies conspire to not mine the Danish Straits, such mining allowing the Allies to control the Baltic Sea, which means the British and Russian navies can hook up, allowing troop landings all across the Baltic coastlines, resulting in Germany being knocked out of the war before the war begins; the mining of the Danish Straits checkmates Germany. However, Germany is allowed to mine the Danish Straits, knowing their critical importance to her entry into the looming war. Germany also bullies Denmark into placing mines in the straits. Once Germany moves on the straits, Britain and Russia conspire to not use their minesweepers to remove the mines! Why isn't this in our history books? Why didn't the press of the day sound the alarm about the critical importance of controlling the Danish Straits? Where were the calls for inquiries into the Danish Straits fiasco that allowed World War I to take place? (2) The World War I Allies conspired to not deploy the 50,000 strong Czech Legion to oust Lenin & Bolsheviks in Saint Petersburg. The Check Legion was encamped southeast of Kiev, 600 miles south of Saint Petersburg, but instead of sending the legion 600 miles north to destroy Lenin & Bolsheviks, the Allies send the legion 6,000 miles across Russia to Vladivostok for evacuation, thereby allowing the redeployment of one-million German soldiers from the Russian Eastern Front to the Western Front! Why would the Allies want Russia out of the war, knowing they would now probably lose the war with the arrival on the Western Front of one-million German soldiers? Who told the Bolshevik Central Committee that it was safe to go ahead with the Kerensky coup, allaying their fears that the Allies had no intention of easily destroying the Bolsheviks? Why didn't the press call for inquiries into the Czech Legion fiasco?

[@claudermiller]

How much of Europe's prosperity during the 19th century was a result of colonial exploitation and not just industrialization? I think a great deal of American wealth generated during the 1800s was a direct result of basically the ethnic cleansing and confiscation of the west from Mexico and native Americans.

[@brane4859]

Industrialisation created so much wealth that practically all the wealth has been created thus. Before the Enlightenment very little wealth was created so it mostly changed hands. Britain didn't become the richest empire because of exploitation but because of industry, similar applies to America. Otherwise, does it mean that after all of human history Britain and America suddenly became the most efficient exploiters (exactly at the time when the Enlightenment got rolling)?

[@aliceinwonder8978]

Not true, there were many rich in Rome who owned tons of property and slaves

[@aliceinwonder8978]

So yes it was 100% bc of exploitation. USA got rich bc of expropriating profits from slave labor.

[@charliecook7974]

Have you read Barbara Tuchman’s “Proud Tower” ?? Has Professor Macmillan read it ??

[@davidmaslow399]

Excellent!

[@roymarius1634]

I am extremely fascinated by the musical sound of her speech. I know she is Canadian, but she seems to be 2/3rds non-rhotic in her speech. Why does she sound so English? I know it’s aside from the point of her content. She is brilliant. But I am fascinated by her speech-patterns and why she sounds so trans-Atlantic. Supposedly, William F Buckley Jr was the last true trans-atlantic speaker. What is up with this lady? Can anybody tell me why she is non-rhotic? She sounds very close to the Queen’s English. The mystery of her accent has driven me crazy for weeks, since I listened to her excellent program on OPB radio.

[@brucegibbins3792]

Ms McMillan has an accent of a cultired and educated woman very similar to an upper class accent from Massachusetts -New England. Her times attending school in the UK as a child and teaching at Oxford Unversity would all have contributed to how she speaks now. An expert on the subject would no doubt be able to give a more confident reason than I.

[@brianhammer5107]

@@brucegibbins3792 Pffftttt. Her parentage was English and many Canadians speak that way.

[@Quinefan]

She really isn't very close at all to 'Queen' s English'.

[@McIntyreBible]

9:45, a very pertinent statement of why the world is why it is now: citizen interference!

[@deoglemnaco7025]

Citizens should NEVER interfere in the dealings of the government.

[@rogerthornton4068]

War has been and always will be a representation of human weakness, failure and deficiency.

[@sewinvicta9274]

MacMillan: The war was not inevitable.. Also MacMillan: The British Empire did the right thing by fighting not just one but two world wars.