WAR ORIGINS: WWII ON TWITTER

War origins bring out the experts on Twitter.

With warnings on what to pay attention to, what to ignore.

It wasn’t a bad take, just wrong.

WWII didn’t begin in 1939.

It didn’t begin with the Versailles Treaty after WWI either, but that wasn’t helpful.

At the same time, it also didn’t begin with capping the the Arch Duke

All of those war origins got space. None of them rang the bell.

What Started WWII

It’s too convenient to blame Germany. For anything.

But let’s put blame where it belongs:

Germany.

Other nations were more organized than Germany. That changed in 1900.

By that time other nations had colonies feeding them raw materials and wealth.

England, France, and Belgium were raking it in.

All Germany wanted was equal representation on the world stage. Instead they got left-over colonies. They felt short changed. They wanted the sort of colonies befitting their great nation.

The rest of Europe said pound sand.

And America had just taken a seat at the Big Table with a victory in the Spanish – American War.

The old school notion was it takes beating a world power to become a world power.

To balance the new kids on the block, Germany began an ambitious ship building program.

It was a time before air power. Ships were the leading factor of any arms race.

For example, Japan had enough ships to defeat Russia in 1905.

America’s Great White Fleet circled the globe beginning in 1907.

Both were making Germany nervous.

War Origins Start Early

The German navy grew, then modernized and grew again.

What does a nation with new battle ships do? They keep on eye on other naval powers.

And they work to keep up, to stay competitive, to remain relevant.

Was Germany looking for a reason to go to war with their new navy?

They were scientific, industrious, forward thinking. Were they better than their perceived adversaries? Of course they were.

At least that was the idea before WWI.

Then they lost WWI, got pounded by the Versailles Treaty, and began paying for their role in WWI.

It was called Reparations.

Germany wanted more land, better colonies, before WWI.

Then, before the start of WWII, Germany was convinced it needed more room.

That the war ended with two halves of Germany, East and West, couldn’t have satisfied anyone.

Neither could the sight of the blasted cities and displaced people.

Somehow, Germany had people who thought they’d get more land if they rounded up six million people, took everything they owned, and sent them to ‘work camps’, ‘death camps’, ‘concentration camps’, or any other camp associated with the holocaust.

And that, boys and girls, is how WWII started.

Any questions.

War origins start with a bad idea that takes hold.

In the case of Germany, it was a very bad idea from a very bad man.