patrick.net

Is today the Capt'n Obvious' b-day?

I used to believe that, until I came across all the dirty shit German Saboteurs and Provocateurs did during our Neutrality.

Black Tom Explosion - Germans destroy US Munitions Facility in New York Harbor, shock breaks windows in Manhattan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion

According to the forerunner of DNI, a USN investigation pointed at assistance to German Imperial Agents by Fenian Bastards. Many Dockworkers were Irish Republicans who worked with the Kaiser on sabotaging Docks, and Ships bound for France and the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_na_Gael

Anton Dilger launched attempted Bioweapon (anthrax) attacks in the USA in 1916, before our entry, to kill our horses and cattle.Approved and Funded by the Kaiser.
https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/An-American-waged-germ-warfare-against-U-S-in-WWI-2657341.php

He also paid stevedores to place incindiary devices on US Ships and Docks/Wharves. 1st Gen Germans and Irish Republicans were first choice assistants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Dilger

Again, before US entry into WW1. Here are a few more:
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/article02.html

I remember the Kaiser's saboteurs also trying to target US-Canada border bridges to reduce the flow of goods between the countries.

Finally, the proposed German-Mexican Alliance. This was just a final attempt before WW1, the Kaiser had been working on plots like this for many years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram

And the Kaiser's plan to occupy and weaken the USA in the early 1900s, before WW1, to reduce our ability to Rival the Reich:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_German_plans_for_the_invasion_of_the_United_States#Discovery

tovarichpeter says

Woodrow Wilson pushed U.S. into WW1

Bullshit! Presidents only want what's best for our country! Rivers of American blood overseas are what keep this country free!!!

First of all ... the writer of this article is an idiot.

~40% of the American causalities was in the last battle of the war, the Battle of the Argonne Forest (or Meuse-Argonne), which all occurred between late September and Armistice Day, Nov 11th 1918. That was the final 5-6 weeks of the war. Before that time period, the US suffered the least, among the allied powers.

And the Argonne was the single largest offensive in American history, eclipsing both Gettysburg and D-Day.

And if General Pershing had his way, he wouldn't have even sanctioned that slug fest battle, as he has a far easier path to breaking into the German Rhineland w/o assisting the French in capturing the rail-hub at Sedan France, the primary target of the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

And if Pershing's original approach was sanctioned by Allied High Command, all of General Lundendorf's German armies would have been captured, thus giving Hitler NO propaganda, insisting that Germany was betrayed from within, leading to WWII. Instead, the story would have been clearly telegraphed ... "All of Germany's armies were captured by the forces of supreme commander, General John J. Pershing, between Dec 1918 and Mar 1919". There would have never been a second world war had that occurred. That's what unconditional surrender does to the defeated.

NuttBoxer says

Rivers of American blood overseas are what keep this country free!!!

Read the above on Pershing, we didn't need a river of American blood to win that war.

WW1 was the best thing that ever happened to the US from a geopolitical point of view.
WW2 was not far behind.
The poet was a fool who wanted to conflict.
Where are the counterfactual questions? What would happen without these wars?
Fools think they can remove the bad parts but keep the good parts.
Doesn't work that way.

Rin says

Read the above on Pershing, we didn't need a river of American blood to win that war.

Why did we need any American blood shed in a foreign war to start with?

NuttBoxer says

Why did we need any American blood shed in a foreign war to start with?

According to the Monroe Doctrine, outside of the Americas, no American needs to get involved in a foreign war.

On the other foot ... using TwoScoopsOfWompWomp links in his posting, the US was undergoing a cold war where in fact, the US was caught between German agents & our post-War of 1812 trading partner, Great Britain including Canada.

Since Canada was still under the UK parliament at the time, there was no safe passage across the Atlantic between the US, British North America (Canada), and the UK itself which finally came to a head in 1917, where no US vessel could safely cross the Atlantic w/o a potential U-boat showdown. Germany in a way, declared maritime war on the USA first.

So could it have simply been a war where US naval vessels ran around dropping depth charges everywhere, instead of sending the boys abroad? Sure, it could have and probably, that may have been the best 'pacifist' way of dealing with the situation. On the other hand, if boys were sent to France then let Pershing do his job and actually defeat Germany instead getting the men into the Yankee "Somme", a.k.a the Argonne Forest.

And with that defeat ... no future rise of Hitler and no WWII.

Rin says

So could it have simply been a war where US naval vessels ran around dropping depth charges everywhere, instead of sending the boys abroad?

Even better, let the private parties who want to risk transportation in wartime waters bring their own security, or trade in places that are safer/more profitable. Assuming that we HAD to keep going to Great Britain is illogical.