The Conduct of German Troops in Belgium - 1914

[forty8r]

I like the term "war raged between civilized nations". The British had no problem using similar tactics waging war on uncivilized nations on what they defined as uncivilized by Western European standards in the late 19th century. Still that is then and today is today in which we need to approach things.

[rsm2ndbtnlf]

The Great War was occured during the second decade of the 20th century.

Comment...
The British had no problem using similar tactics waging war on uncivilized nations on what they defined as uncivilized by Western European standards in the late 19th century.

Thread title...
The Conduct of German Troops in Belgium - 1914

Correct me if I have missed something along the way, but where is the link between... Comment and Thread title... as listed above? Is there also some form of cryptic clue embed in the latter part of 'Forty8r's post?

Seph

[forty8r]

While the Great War chronologically occurred in the second decade of the 20th century most countries were ruled by 19th century or earlier standards or in France and Great Brittan's case their colonies were ruled as such.

[rsm2ndbtnlf]

OK. I see where your going now.. but your missing the point of the thread entirely.

The point is not concerned with French Napoleonic fervour, or British Victorian Empire Building / Imperialism. Its concerned with trying to decipher the reasons for Germanys hard handed attitude which sparked.. rightly or wrongly.. the reported atrocities of the intial stages of The Great War.. notably, their conduct in Liege, Belgium.

Seph

[Larry Dunn]

The reason for Germany's hard-handed attitude? Simple, they couldn't afford to have their supply lines disrupted or waste a lot of resources trying to keep things quiet in the occupied territories. Compare to Britain's handling of the Easter Rebellion in 1916. In both cases, the efforts to suppress "disorder" (anathema to both the German and British militaries) was brutish and clumsy, resulting in numerous unintended consequences.

-Larry

[forty8r]

Correspondingly you throw in the Armenian genocide, war atrocities in the Balkans, Cossack atrocities in East Prussia all make what in 1914 participants thought would be a short "19th century civilized' war into a long "20th century' war.

It was ironic that the 100th anniversary of "The Battle of Leipzig" in 1913 was regarded at that time as a triumph of civilization by Imperial Germany.

[centurion854]

So maybe we could say under similar circumstances all of the involved parties behaved dreadfully. In the late 19th and early twentieth centuries, I can't remember any one of the major powers who could boast about their gentle occupation of a colony or territory