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Happy Armistice Day

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  1. James FergusonNovember 12, 2010 at 11:15 AM

    I suppose it was a happy day back then, at least for a short while.

    But, it is sad that only a weak-kneed League of Nations came out of it. Without the US, the LoN was severely handicapped and without a military element a paper tiger. It proved ill-equipped to deal with the many border disputes that came up during the 20s and 30s. Poland was effectively able to annex Vilnius and all the LoN did was refuse to recognize it. Disputes continued over the Alsace-Loraine, the punitive measures thrust on Germany severely handicapped its recovery, and of course the 1929 stock market collapsed set Europe as well as America into an economic free fall.

    Would be interesting to find a book on WWI and its aftermath we could all read together.

    ReplyDelete
  2. James FergusonNovember 12, 2010 at 11:18 AM

    A book that immediately springs to mind is Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan,

    http://www.amazon.com/Paris-1919-Months-Changed-World/dp/0375760520/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289553409&sr=1-1

    ReplyDelete
  3. James FergusonNovember 12, 2010 at 11:28 AM

    Here's an C-Span interview with MacMillan from 2002,

    http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/174388-1

    ReplyDelete
  4. avrdsNovember 12, 2010 at 3:22 PM

    "But, it is sad that only a weak-kneed League of Nations came out of it...."

    Well, that and another major war. And probably the heart of all the strife in the Middle East.

    ReplyDelete
  5. James FergusonNovember 12, 2010 at 3:27 PM

    All in all, more a curse than a blessing.

    ReplyDelete

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