Comments by "Ralph Bernhard" (@ralphbernhard1757) on "Germany's Brutal Invasion And Mistreatment Of Belgium | First World War EP2 | Timeline" video.
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Before WW1, Belgium was both a strategic barrier, as well as a strategic gateway, depending on how a potential continental European war developed.
The "gatekeepers" sat in London.
In case the European Balance of Power was threatened by Germany (as happened), the propaganda machine would term Belgians as "poor Belgians".
In case of another "Napoleon", and the scenario of the European Balance of Power threatened by France, the gateway that was Belgium would open. In that case, the propaganda machine in GB would term Belgians as "evil Belgians", who were simply "reaping what they had sown in The Kongo"...
Poor "Jack the Plumber", sitting in the pub, quietly drinking his ale: oblivious to what the London lords were up to behind closed doors...
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GB would not stay out of any continental war which endangered their own grip on continental affairs.
Unlike their government, who aimed to involve itself in any continental war, regardless of who fired the first shots, or why it started, most British civilians didn't want to become involved in a great war on the continent.
Of course, London already knew this.
That meant that in the leadup to WW1 London (the state) had a little problem:
Which was that they (the state) had already determined that Germany was the rival in peace/enemy in war, but "the people" of GB didn't despise/hate the Germans (the people) but their own "allies", the Russians and French, the traditional imperialist rivals, whom they had fought against for centuries, and were firmly ingrained as "enemies" in the belief system of the people who lived in the UK around the turn of the century (around 1900).
And so "poor little Belgium" was born.
Of course it was a propaganda tool, set up after the Napoleonic Wars to protect "poor little (still in single states/kingdoms) Germans" from "nasty nasty France"...
France was beaten in 1871, and Germany (in a rock-solid Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary) was now the "power" which needed to be "balanced out"...in peace as well as in war.
The propaganda simply did the 180˚ about-turn Jedi mind-control trick on weak minds :-)
"Friends" one day.
"Enemies" the next...
Right or wrong?
London didn't care.
The policy came first.
Of course the above comment is no excuse for invading neutrals.
It just goes to show how "wrongs" add up.
Adding up "wrongs" don't create "rights".
It just leads to what the Bible calls "sowing seeds", which all have to "reap" at some point.
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@indy_go_blue6048 GB would not stay out of any continental war which endangered their own grip on continental affairs.
Unlike their government, who aimed to involve itself in any continental war, regardless of who fired the first shots, or why it started, most British civilians didn't want to become involved in a great war on the continent.
Of course, London already knew this.
That meant that in the leadup to WW1 London (the state) had a little problem:
Which was that they (the state) had already determined that Germany was the rival in peace/enemy in war, but "the people" of GB didn't despise/hate the Germans (the people) but their own "allies", the Russians and French, the traditional imperialist rivals, whom they had fought against for centuries, and were firmly ingrained as "enemies" in the belief system of the people who lived in the UK around the turn of the century (around 1900).
And so "poor little Belgium" was born.
Of course it was a propaganda tool, set up after the Napoleonic Wars to protect "poor little (still in single states/kingdoms) Germans" from "nasty nasty France"...
France was beaten in 1871, and Germany (in a rock-solid Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary) was now the "power" which needed to be "balanced out"...in peace as well as in war.
The propaganda simply did the 180˚ about-turn Jedi mind-control trick on weak minds :-)
"Friends" one day.
"Enemies" the next...
Right or wrong?
London didn't care.
The policy came first.
Of course the above comment is no excuse for invading neutrals.
It just goes to show how "wrongs" add up.
Adding up "wrongs" don't create "rights".
It just leads to what the Bible calls "sowing seeds", which all have to "reap" at some point.
1