this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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What's a common "fact" that's spread around that's actually not true and pisses you off that too many people believe it?

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[–] wieson@feddit.org 43 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That WW1 was the same moral black and white as WW2.
In my opinion, every country in WW1 was the villain just that one side was impatient enough to be the aggressor first.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 7 points 22 hours ago

Yep, WWI was the result of a bunch of inbred rulers turning family disagreements into a war because they could.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 8 points 1 day ago

Yeah. When you look at how the war even got started, you start to see that Germany didn't expect Austria-Hungary to be that incompetent diplomatically and that Russia was the one who threw away a potential peace plan before the war started.

[–] oneser@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ooh this is a hot take, can you explain a little?

[–] wieson@feddit.org 27 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I don't think it is.
They all were colonial powers that oppressed and subdued their colonial holdings, extracting wealth and even soldiers. France was the only republic, all the others were monarchies and Russia had the most absolutist monarchy. But that doesn't really factor in, because even France wasn't fighting to spread or preserve democracy.

All were fighting to beat them arch enemies, to steal a piece of land or two or maybe a colony and to test their newly developed industrial weaponry. They were all ~~stomping~~ chomping at the bit before it started.

The German Empire was surely the most militaristic society. But they still fought all for the same ideology and reason.
To my last point, you can see that in the result: the losers had to gave up colonies but not to independence but to the victors as spoils.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 5 points 1 day ago

There was a large propaganda effort by the British and French to pin the blame for the war on one of the Central Powers and Germany was the only major Central Powers that didn't fall apart due to the war.

[–] Tramort@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Stomping at the bit? I've never heard that phrase

[–] wieson@feddit.org 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yeah I meant chomping at the bit. It comes from horses chewing the metal part of the bridle because they're fired up and want to run.

[–] Tramort@programming.dev 4 points 1 day ago

Ah, thanks. I am not a native English speaker.

[–] wieson@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

May you explain why you think it's controversial? Only if you want to.

[–] oneser@lemmy.zip 3 points 12 hours ago

To my primitive understanding the war was triggered by the Austrians, escalated by the Germans and win by the Allies. But I've never bothered to question the information, so it felt quite controversial to read. Your other comment explaining it makes perfect sense however.