Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Let your sleeve brush The Channel

American Thinker has an extensive article up about the business debacle that is the Eurobus A380. It is interesting in its own right but while reading I was reminded of the last time the French and Russians conspired to weaken Germany.

Kaiser Wilhelm II (who had, fortunately for the French, lost the brains behind the operation) sent von Moltke to execute the Schliessen Plan.

It was not implemented closely enough and failed. Yet Europe received, many believe, a schwerpunkt to the belly from which it has never recovered.

I've always liked the admonition that history does not repeat itself but, rather, echoes. Fools, on the other hand, do repeat their errors despite what they should have learned from the echoes of history.

2 comments:

Ed onWestSlope said...

Knucklehead Good thoughts

Far too much weight is placed on a bad set of alliances after the Archduke was assassinated. The fall of the House of Hohenzollern and Germany had been many years in the making.

My mother, from the Dodge City-Pratt Kansas area, was of German stock and most had apparently been on this side of the pond from prior to the Revolution (although my father used to kid her that one or two may have been Hessians who went AWOL). She had one Grandfather who was a recent arrival. The family story is he was either a draft dodger or a deserter from 'Bismark's Army'. He never clarified it.

From my readings and conversations, I have been left with the feeling that many who left Germany from 1870 on, regretted the decision. Similar to the Welsh and Scotch-Irish on my father's side.

Ed onWestSlope said...

OOPS
From my readings and conversations, I have been left with the feeling that many who left Germany from 1870 on, RARELY regretted the decision. Similar to the Welsh and Scotch-Irish on my father's side.

I have got to proof better, or else stop doing this during the workday.