• @[email protected]
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    1014 months 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.

    • partial_accumen
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      1094 months ago

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

      • @[email protected]
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        304 months ago

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

      • @[email protected]
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        204 months 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.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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          24 months ago

          It is possible to engage in global warfare without deploying the nukes. Don’t undersell their creativity.

      • @devfuuu
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        74 months ago

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

      • @ChickenLadyLovesLife
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        64 months 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.

        • partial_accumen
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          14 months ago

          I think you’re underplaying the sequel aspects. Russia was one of the antagonists in the first installment, began as an antagonist in the second, but flipped to protagonist ally in the first act. Also in the first installment the Ottoman Empire was an antagonist ally, where Turkey was neutral through all of WWII. Finally, China was an ally in WWII and huge victim of the Japanese , but underwent a revolution joining with Russia to become the primary antagonists in the third installment “Cold War”.

          • @Reddfugee42
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            14 months ago

            Pfft but what can you tell us about the Kardashians

            • partial_accumen
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              24 months ago

              I think Cardassia joining the Dominion in their efforts to control the Alpha quadrant was a mistake.

    • The Picard ManeuverOPM
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      174 months ago

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

      • IndiBrony
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        314 months ago

        People in November 2019: “Next year is my year!”

        Little did we know.

        • @HootinNHollerin
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          124 months ago

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

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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          24 months ago

          No joke, my wife and I had legitimate plans to finally do some traveling abroad in 2020, after talking about it for a decade and a half. FML.

      • @[email protected]
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        4 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]
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    554 months 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.

    • @captainlezbian
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      224 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

    • @Hagdos
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      64 months ago

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

      • @[email protected]
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        24 months ago

        Fair point.

        I recently learned about how recently we moved to the current calendar. It’s wild to think about.

    • @Ultraviolet
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      54 months ago

      “Ah yes, the start of World War 1.”

      “World War what now?”

    • @UnderpantsWeevil
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      274 months 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.
          • @ChickenLadyLovesLife
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            14 months ago

            There were monoplanes in WWI, most notably the Fokker Eindeckers which kicked the snot out of the Allies for most of 1915 and on into 1916, though largely because of their synchronized machine guns rather than any superiority in their design.

          • Flying Squid
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            24 months ago

            Good point. And, not to glorify warfare, but the synchronization gear was an amazingly innovative piece of technology.

            • @ChickenLadyLovesLife
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              24 months ago

              It was certainly better than the initial French attempt to solve the problem, which was so good they named a tennis stadium after it.

      • @mojofrododojo
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        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

    • @wildcardology
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      94 months ago

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

    • @this_1_is_mine
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      44 months 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.

      • @ChickenLadyLovesLife
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        34 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.

    • @mkwt
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      14 months ago

      The eastern front was a lot more dynamic and had fewer trenches.

    • @TheDoozer
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      74 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.

    • @cmbabul
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      14 months ago

      I stopped keeping up after 12s first season… what the fuck is 1 doing on the Tardis

  • @masquenox
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    244 months ago

    “But… but… they told us it’s the “War To End All Wars!””

  • @[email protected]
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    154 months 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.

    • @Entropywins
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      314 months ago

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

      • @masquenox
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        74 months 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.

        • @Klear
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          14 months ago

          I found this citation referring to a book published in 1920, though I couldn’t find the text of the book itself online.

          What I find more interesting is the use of the phrase “millenial folk”.

    • The Picard ManeuverOPM
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      74 months ago

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

      • @masquenox
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        74 months ago

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

    • @[email protected]
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      44 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.

  • Toes♀
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    124 months ago

    “It sure isn’t ww3, I don’t see any drones”

  • Diplomjodler
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    104 months ago

    I think the fifth one was the best.

    • @[email protected]
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      84 months ago

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

      • Diplomjodler
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        44 months ago

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

    • @someguy3
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      44 months ago

      What weapons did they fight that with?

      • Diplomjodler
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        124 months ago

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

        • @Klear
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          14 months ago

          That rocks.

  • @proper
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    84 months ago

    not General Angle!

    • @cmbabul
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      24 months ago

      Yelling at him that he sucked will always be a happy memory

      • @[email protected]
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        4 months ago

        I love how that went from an attack on him, to a sign of respect for him. I can’t hear that song without singing YOU SUCK! Same with Cenas, can’t not hear “John Cena Sucks!” When that horn hits.