this post was submitted on 19 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 101 points 3 months ago (2 children)

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 3 months ago (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (4 children)

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 3 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago (2 children)

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

Little did we know.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months 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 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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 3 months ago (4 children)

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 3 months 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 3 months ago

Easier? Yes. More fun? No.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

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

"World War what now?"

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 months ago (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (2 children)

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 3 months ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Fair enough

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yes, but not other way around

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Not a lot of WWII in biplanes?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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 3 months 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 3 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months 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 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (3 children)

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 3 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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 3 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months 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 3 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Could also be good old number 4 then

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I think the fifth one was the best.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What weapons did they fight that with?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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 3 months ago

not General Angle!

[–] jubilationtcornpone 6 points 3 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] MeDuViNoX 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What made him give that original look to the camera?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago
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