Monday, January 28, 2008
This Day in the History of Tastes of the Future
On this day in 1871, Paris fell during the Franco-Prussian War and France lost the war, although the peace treaty would not be signed until May. The country of Germany was a full 10 days old at the time and although Prussia clearly spearheaded this war, the actions of Germany in its figurative crib was a clear harbinger of what would be the bulk of early 20th Century European history, little of it good.
Labels: Franco-Prussian War
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:43 AM 
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"...the actions of Germany in its figurative crib was a clear harbinger of what would be the bulk of early 20th Century European history, little of it good."
The actions of Germany in the Franco-Prussian war were entirely indistinguishable from the bulk of European history (unqualified). When France was powerful and the rest of Europe weaker, France attacked. When Spain was powerful and the rest of Europe weaker, Spain attacked. When Sweden ....
The actions of Germany in the Franco-Prussian war were entirely indistinguishable from the bulk of European history (unqualified). When France was powerful and the rest of Europe weaker, France attacked. When Spain was powerful and the rest of Europe weaker, Spain attacked. When Sweden ....
As a percentage of the population, I think you could support the claim that Spain killed more people (during the 30-Years War). Note that I'm treating the deaths as caused by Spain rather than by one of the other combatants for much the same reason as people usually attribute losses in WWII to Germany rather than to the USSR.
Also, I think you have to count the USSR's "self slaughter" for the same reason that you have to count Germany's "self slaughter". While Germany didn't consider Jews, et al., to be Germans, the USSR didn't consider "Enemies of the Revolution" (of whatever description applied that day) to be true Soviets either.
For some interesting data, see this site. In 1600, Germany had a population of about 20 million. In 1648, the population had dropped to 10 million. By contrast, the population of Germany actually increased during WWII. During the same time, the population of Metropolitan France dropped by about a million (per this wikipedia page). For the USSR/Russia, this site indicates approximately a 5% decline between 1940 and 1950 that was more than made up by 1960.
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Also, I think you have to count the USSR's "self slaughter" for the same reason that you have to count Germany's "self slaughter". While Germany didn't consider Jews, et al., to be Germans, the USSR didn't consider "Enemies of the Revolution" (of whatever description applied that day) to be true Soviets either.
For some interesting data, see this site. In 1600, Germany had a population of about 20 million. In 1648, the population had dropped to 10 million. By contrast, the population of Germany actually increased during WWII. During the same time, the population of Metropolitan France dropped by about a million (per this wikipedia page). For the USSR/Russia, this site indicates approximately a 5% decline between 1940 and 1950 that was more than made up by 1960.
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