Comments by "Ralph Bernhard" (@ralphbernhard1757) on "Today I Found Out" channel.

  1. Marie Antoinette would have moved away to a 'country estate', and said: "Let them smell poop".
    15
  2. London went to war on the continent twice, by own admission, to "balance powers" on the continent... London's standpoint, by own admission: "The equilibrium established by such a grouping of forces is technically known as the balance of power, and it has become almost an historical truism to identify England’s secular policy with the maintenance of this balance by throwing her weight now in this scale and now in that, but ever on the side, opposed to the political dictatorship of the strongest single, State or group at a given time." Primary source material: [Memorandum_on_the_Present_State_of_British_Relations_with_France_and_Germany] In a nutshell = the strongest side is the default rival in peace, and the default enemy in war. And so the London lords played their "balancing games". From: The Complete Yes Minister: "Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least five hundred years – to create a disunited Europe. How absolutely funny... They gave their diplomatic worst, were proud if it, and millions of young men from the Empire paid the price. Huddled in muddy trenches, getting their heads blown off, or drowning like rats on the seven seas. That's what you get if you play follow the leader, when these leaders play "divide and rule" with the continent, for own gain. Millions dead. Millions mutilated. Too bad. So sad. Price tag for these stupid "games"? A ruined British Empire. Good riddance. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They "hopped on the scale" and they "hopped" their way into extinction. Good riddance.
    2
  3. Hollywood movies.
    1
  4. A thousand years ago most people died before they reached the age of 50. Today, 70 or 80 is the norm in the west. So, logically, people should also marry later, allowing them a few more years for school, college, or varsity, to gather education or knowledge for a much more complex 21st-century life.
    1
  5. OK, the big picture then. Unfortunately, although declared wisely, WW2 was implemented unwisely... Churchill or the other lords were still "fighting the last war", as that saying goes. In their effort to hang on to their Empire, they made the wrong "friends"... One their one side, there was the USA. But Washington DC followed the principle of "America first", even if not propagating this aloud... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Century If London or Paris thought there'd be "another Versailles" after WW2, with the British and French empires "drawing lines on the map" and "carving up people/territory/powers" to protect their own interests, they were to be disappointed... https://www.britannica.com/topic/balance-of-power The attempt by Churchill to use the USA to throw Stalin out of Eastern Europe, and remain "the balancer" of power, too transparent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unthinkable There would be no US support to start Unthinkable. The "poor Poles have to be liberated"-argument, wasn't swinging... After being dragged into another European (World) War, Washington decided to become the "balancer of powers" herself, and Europe was divided in "East" and "West"... And the other "friends"? On the other side of Europe, there was the other "friend": Stalin. Stalin however, figured out that the Washington DC wouldn't sacrifice US soldiers just so that London could have a few "percentages" of influence in Central Europe... https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Percentages_agreement Stalin: "I'll tear this up this scrap of paper now. What are you going to do about it?"
    1