everybody's_attacking_belgium epitome of incomprehensibility Tales from a World War 1 timeline, safely viewed from a computer screen almost 101 years after the war started. Countries are personified for convenience. Also, that's how timelines are often written - "Germany did this" - because countries are people too. So. Germany wanted to attack France and, to get to France, it had to go through Belgium. Belgium said, No, we're neutral, don't involve us. Germany said, Yes, we have to, you're in the way. Then they got mad at Belgium for fighting back, so they shot a bunch of civilians they suspected of being snipers and burnt down a historic library in the city of Louvain. Not nice. Leave the libraries alone. Naturally, the Allies, particularly the UK, took this and ran with it, claiming that the "Huns" regularly killed babies by spearing them with bayonets, etc., and this was why United States should totally come and join us in the war! We need to defend poor Belgium! Think of the chocolate!! (In serious!world, the Belgian colonies in the Congo had already committed worse atrocities against the people there: random killings, mutilations, and all, because... they weren't white and, er, "civilized." Of course.) But yes, Belgium wasn't having a great time, because who wants to have their country invaded and then blamed for resisting invasion? I had to laugh, though, when one of the WW1 timelines I was looking at said "Austria-Hungary declares war on Belgium" (August 22). "Everybody's attacking Belgium!" was my reaction. Technically, declaring war doesn't mean attacking, but it just seemed redundant and a little silly. ("Hey, my ally invaded you! I need to declare war on you to show my support! No offense, though!") 150421 ... e_o_i To be completely clear, that last part should read, "Hey, my ally invaded you! I need to declare war on you to show my support for the invasion! No offense, though!" It would be like, I don't know, the government of Belarus? Hungary? China? going and declaring war on Ukraine. At least we haven't got to that point yet. 220402 ... e_o_i I mean, this is nothing new: everybody did seem to be attacking Afghanistan twenty_years_ago. And unlike with Iraq, at that time I thought it made sense: drive out the dictatorial regime sheltering terrorists, make people happier in the long run, even if you get innocent casualties in the short term (a cold equation). Only the long run wasn't one, with the Taliban coming back, and now that eyes are on eastern Europe, people warn that Afghan refugees are getting short shrift. B'en, c'est compliqué, mais je n'aime pas la guerre in real life. 220402 ... e_o_i I mean, this is nothing new: everybody did seem to be attacking Afghanistan twenty_years_ago. And unlike with Iraq, at that time I thought it made sense: drive out the dictatorial regime sheltering terrorists, make people happier in the long run, even if you get innocent casualties in the short term (a cold equation). Only the long run wasn't one, with the Taliban coming back, and now that eyes are on eastern Europe, people warn that Afghan refugees are getting short shrift. B'en, c'est compliqué, mais je n'aime pas la guerre in real life. 220402 ... e_o_i ...except to attack the slow "blather" button or my impatient fingers, the combination of which made me post twice. Bad button! Bad fingers! 220402 ... raze how i wish you'd been my history teacher! you would have taken a subject i usually struggled with and turned it into one of my favourite things. 220402 ... e_o_i I feel like I'd have to learn some history first! The interest in WW1 is from sort of tangential things like -curiosity about Remembrance_Day poppies (the texture, plasticky on one side and velvety on the other, made it a more interesting fidget_spinner, though admittedly less spinny) -my mistaken belief that the writer of "Flanders Fields" was a distant relative (but his name was McRae, not MacRae) -Rilla of Ingleside, 8th book in the Anne_of_Green_Gables series -but mostly, helping Dr_K edit his book about the WW1 sermons of Karl Barth (religion wasn't my forte either - I happened upon the job because the man used to be my dad's thesis supervisor) Oh, and The Great and Holy War by Philip Jenkins is an interesting book about how religion affected the rhetoric on different sides of World War 1. 220403 what's it to you? who go blather from