GUEST,Dave - 08 Dec 15 - 03:27 PM

Keith I am not saying WWII was good, no war is good. But the consequences of defeat in WWI would have been much more marginal, except for the ruling elites. Defeat in WWII would have been disastrous for a number of minorities."

Agreed no war is good but some are necessary and actually do have to be fought, primarily those are wars that are planned and pushed for by one of the protagonists as a means of attaining something that they would never have gained through negotiation - Germany's actions in 1914 and from 1936 onward are classic examples of this, there was never ever going to be any way to avoid those wars. As today with IS there is no negotiation with them and they have clearly stated that, they have clearly stated their aims and in the future as they see it our values, our freedoms and our way of life have no place, so we have fight them and we have to destroy them.

I know I will never get a response to this question but I really would be interested to know why you believe that the consequences of "Entente Powers" losing the First World War would have been marginal?

Had Great Britain remained neutral and had stayed out of the war in 1914 the following would have been the case

1: Belgium would cease to exist as it would have been annexed by Germany - so you now have the German High Seas Fleet and an Army of some 5 million men only fours hours steaming from London

2: Annexation of all the overseas possessions of both Belgium and France by Germany, in order that Germany could have her "place in the sun".

3: Using her newly acquired overseas possessions Germany could have then engaged in a subversive campaign to destabilised and destroy the British Empire to Germany's advantage - The Kaiser after all had tried that with the Boers in South Africa. With our Empire riven with trouble we would be economically ruined and that Dave would have affected everybody in the United Kingdom irrespective of class or position.

Now had Great Britain joined the fight in 1914 and the "Entente Powers" had lost - Just imagine what reparations Germany would have demanded from the richest country in the world - we would have lost everything and that would have affected everybody - so much for your "marginal" consequences.

On the reparations thing - take a look at what the Germans demanded from Russia under the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.