Comments by "Winston Smith" (@kryts27) on "Are we a New Weimar?" video.

  1. I've heard this from Germans who have stated like an article of faith that they almost won World War 1 (no), and that they could have won World War 2 in 1942 (again, no). What is not well understood is Germany's geostrategic position in Europe and why they had to fight a three front war each time. Three Fronts? Yes, a naval blockade is the third front. Why risk everything and fight then? Geostrategic logic from the point of veiw from a powerful central European state that had about half a dozen bordering states, two of them powerful and dangerous (France and Russia) and ancient enemies to the early 20th century Germans. The war strategy was (both times); go for broke in the West to face a humiliating condition on France that she has to sign a peace treaty that would give up some of her land as a buffer (worked in WW2, failed in WW1) then wheel round and do a similar thing to Russia (sort of succeeded in WW1, failed in WW2). This is a bad strategy, a Faustian pact with war and sheer throw of the dice, and it failed to neutralize the British who traditionally went against the strongest power in Europe with naval blockade and periphery invasions (happened during Napoleonic war).
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  2. Marlene Dietrich, a very intelligent and attractive woman, came out of Germany during the Weimar Republic and became a superstar in Hollywood. One interesting thing about Marlene is that she was a rabid anti-Nazi. Not really suprising for a person who made her career in the liberal arts, but another (unrelated) prominent diaspora German was Sir Prof. Frederick Lindemann. He was a Physicist and a cabinet member in Churchill's government (so Churchill wasn't anti-German, he was anti-Nazi). Lindemann was another rabid anti-Nazi, to the point that he recommended to Churchill that the British mass bomb German cities to the point of destruction, that even Churchill had to pause and ask why.
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