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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 101 points 1 month ago

I'm reading a book from the 30s and it has phrases like: "in the time after the war". It's written in 1937 and hits differently in hindsight.

[-] [email protected] 109 points 1 month ago

They called WWI "the war to end all wars". Then humanity developed its interest in sequels.

[-] [email protected] 30 points 1 month ago

Yes, the "second war to end all wars" and the "cold war that only gets hot in the periphery"

[-] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

Nukes are about the only reason we haven't made it a trilogy.

It'll be the last one in the franchise if they do.

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[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Typical holywood and their sequels. Just pray they don't remember to retrofit a prequel in there.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

WWII wasn't even really a sequel - it's more of a classic reboot. It's almost exactly the same story as the first one, just with a few twists like Japan and the atomic bomb ending thrown in.

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[-] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

Wow, that truly is my favorite part of reading/watching old media. I love learning how people thought back then.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 1 month ago

People in November 2019: "Next year is my year!"

Little did we know.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Eventually they’ll be a bigger pandemic and all this post pandemic talk will be seen in the same light

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He also talks about unemployment rates in Britain and "unless a war is coming soon" many people will stay underfed. Maybe the British proletariat is behind WWII?

Edit: Since I'm downvoted: the last sentence was a joke, obviously

[-] [email protected] 55 points 1 month ago

Pro tip for time travelers, ask what year it is instead. So much easier. It's weird to ask, or be asked, but it's less weird tham giving spoilers.

[-] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago

What year and country am I in?

Russia, 1917.

Unfortunately that doesn’t narrow down much except really telling you to get anywhere else asap

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago

Easier? Yes. More fun? No.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

As long as you are someplace and time where they use the Gregorian calendar

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

"Ah yes, the start of World War 1."

"World War what now?"

[-] [email protected] 44 points 1 month ago

Would you even need to ask? What with the trenches and mustard gas everywhere?

[-] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago

They did still have trenches and other fortifications in WW2. That said...

  1. Do you see any tanks traveling faster than 15mph? Any planes with less than four wings?
  • WW2
  1. Mustaches? Waxed?
  • WW1
  1. Folks with gas masks on their belts are definitely a tell.
[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago
[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Fair enough

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Yes, but not other way around

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Not a lot of WWII in biplanes?

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

yeah, no, gas masks were carried in ww2. some poor bastards (depending on unit) carried them all the way through the war. promask carriers were a choice bit of storage room if you decided to lose the mask, but early on lots of folks worried that it would be used on the battlefield again.

plenty of discussion on this with a quick search

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Why would he even ask if it's 1 or 2, just ask the year.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Ground so dangerous you couldn't walk offinto the fields. So many shells fired it turn the soil into quick sand. Stick to the boards. If you slip and fall your compatriots dare not try and save you or their fate will be sealed as well.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

So many shells fired it turn the soil into quick sand.

An interesting stat is that the major combatants fired approximately 300 artillery shells for every soldier that was killed - and 75mm shells (the most common caliber) are not trivial industrial products to produce. It's hard to even conceive of an industrial society devoting that much productive capacity to the task of killing somebody.

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[-] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago
[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago
[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

That hit surprisingly hard and unexpectedly. I don't remember any of the rest of that episode, but I remember that tiny bit very clearly.

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[-] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago

"But... but... they told us it's the "War To End All Wars!""

[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

I think I saw on QI that WWI was already being called that before the war had ended.

People at the time knew there would probably be another one someday.

Which isn't that odd, really. We use the Term WWIII at times. It's not that we know it will definitely happen but it's not something that's unfathomable either.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 1 month ago

I've always heard it was called the Great War.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

You heard correct. I have never heard any contemporary account from the time call it "WW1" - they did call it "the war to end all wars," though.

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[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Really? That would be an extremely concerning thing to hear anyone say back then.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

"Great" did not automatically imply "good" back then - just big.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Good point. Of course, with the number of nuclear war-heads we've built, I would feel pretty confident referring to it as "World War Final".

I actually usually just refer to it as "our extinction event". But I'll acknowledge I'm going out on a limb - there's plenty of other ways we could finish ourselves off.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

"It sure isn't ww3, I don't see any drones"

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Could also be good old number 4 then

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

And it's not ww4 because I don't see any weapons made from sticks or stone.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

I think the fifth one was the best.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Imo they ran out of ideas during the third and from then on it was just a cash grab. Creativity really is dead

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

There's only so much you can do in radioactive wasteland.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

What weapons did they fight that with?

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Well, number four was with sticks and stones. For five they didn't have sticks any more.

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

not General Angle!

[-] jubilationtcornpone 6 points 1 month ago

"Nice shotgun! That'll really get the German's riled up."

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

That image of Kurt Angle will never stop being hilarious to me. God I love that man.

[-] MeDuViNoX 5 points 1 month ago

What made him give that original look to the camera?

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago
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this post was submitted on 19 May 2024
723 points (95.5% liked)

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