A list of (IMO) more historical revisions and misconceptions. I can go into more detail in my opinion if anyone is interested.
WW1 Happened for stupid reasons.
Many people believe WW1 was an unreasonable and easily avoidable conflict, especially compared to the more “black and white” morality of WW2. However the European powers of the early 1900s had a perfect reason to be at each other’s throats—the mutual threat they posed to each other.
France was terrified of Germany, because Germany was bigger and shared a land border so they allied with Russia, which Germany was terrified of just as the French were of them. The ottomans were threatened by the Russians, which drove elements of their government to the central powers camp. England (which lived and died by its navy as an island nation) felt threatened by Germany’s attempt to compete with then at sea, and was ready to back anyone anti-German to reduce the prospect of a reverse Trafalgar. Europe was split between 7 big countries who were all independent of each other and had the capability to throw millions of men at each other so naturally the prospect of a power struggle was everyone’s primary concern. If you didn’t make military alliances or mobilize before your enemies you ran the risk of having enemy troops in your capital in a month. Europe was full of tension for years before WW1, with the Balkan wars, anger over German and Russian victories in past wars, and the scramble for Europe. Once the mobilization started in 1914 a domino effect occurred with all the major powers trying to pre-emptivley mobilize and attack each other while most of the leaders didn’t actually want war. It’s a consequence of a multi-polar world which we can return to if/when the US isn’t the sole hegemon anymore.
Blitzkrieg was a radically original strategy:
Yes and no. Germany’s use of tanks and motorized units for maneuver warfare, combined with successful use of air support was very organic, decisively defeating Polish, French and Russian armies, but many armies were developing mobile warfare doctrines in the interwar period at least to some degree—they largely failed to implement it instead of being too dumb to entertain the prospect. The Red army developed “deep battle” doctrine in the inter war period which called for heavy use of mobile units to exploit the enemy rear and decisively collapse their line, but many of the generals who developed it got purged and they were in no shape to do it in the early years of WW2. Even in Germany itself most of what noob historians call “blitzkrieg” was based on pre-ww1 Prussian maneuver warfare doctrine designed to win tactical victories on the (mostly) flat lands of Central Europe.
The 13 Colonies were badass during the American Revolutionary War:
Obviously this is mostly from the US educational system. While the revolution was impressive in that it managed to keep going despite the problems it had and made one of the richest nations in the world give up, the Redcoats had a lot of disadvantages which makes American victory less impressive. Britain, unlike the revolutionaries, had to ship men, supplies and information across the Atlantic before the time when sailing technology reached its height. The British government was in a gridlock, and their army wasn’t in the best state either. It goes without saying that the colonists had a huge home field advantage. Britain also wasnt trying to fight a total war so instead of throwing in everything they had they retreated/agrees to peace when it got too expensive for them.
Tsarist Russia Deserved the Bolsheviks
Tsarist Russia had a lot of problems but it had good qualities as well. Many of its people lived as miserable peasants, but it saw successful industrialization in some of its core regions, and was able to compete with the Western Europeans in many fields. Around 1900 IIRC they had the 3rd largest navy (on paper at least) despite being an almost landlocked country. It was also a huge source of culture, and had high birth and industrialization rates before WW1 and 1917. Instead of taking a nuanced view on Imperial Russia people try to depict it as a cartoonishly corrupt and backwater region, often making the communists look more agreeable.
The idea that the ACW was revolutionary in the field of war-fighting. That it announced the beginning of trench warfare and was a kind of proto-ww1. That europeans did not learn the lessons from that war.
The european military attaches in america correctly observed that the american forces at the beginning of the war were badly equipped, badly trained and badly led. Just a few years later, the franco prussian war would see more men mobilized in a smaller theatre of war with a better application of modern tech and it resulted in a quick, maneuvre-based warfare.
Second, the two weapons that made trench warfare a possibility did not exist during the ACW. These are the indirect firing, long range artillery piece and the machine gun.
The ACW was bloody, but this was because most of the generals were napoleon-boos who thought élan and massed charges were a great idea.
Im inclined to disagree. ACW wasn’t radically different from previous wars, but it was a precursor of things to come. You do have a point in the Franco-Prussian war validating a lot of European ideas, but I think WW1 could’ve been less painful if more of the European advisors sent there took more notice of how much more lethal rifles had become instead of thinking that French bravery or Prussian tactical genius would make them exempt from situations like the siege of Petersburg.
Everyone who appeased Hitler should burn in hell with him.
Appeasement policies were generally poor ideas because of the 48 laws of power and Hitler being a geopolitical pitbull, but considering the time it’s easy to understand why England didn’t immediately declare war on Germany in the name of democracy. Many found it reasonable Germany would stop after regaining what they lost after WW1. Hitler actually had some international clout before tensions rose. Most of all people were terrified of another European war after how horrible WW1 had been, and wanted to avoid it if at all possible. Once Germany broke the Munich agreement and took all of Czechoslovakia the future allies realized it wasn’t going to work and began preparing for fight Germany instead of begging them to stop.
