[Magnum PEI]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

How to answer so many wrong points at once, well lets start with the 'miracle of the Marne' and the 1914 campaign, the Germans pushed both the tiny BEF and the huge French army back towrds Paris, as in WW2 the French retreated much faster than the BEF leaving the British with the danger of having their flank turned, in the end, unlike in WW2 the French did stop and maintain some semblance of a line while the BEF caused so many German casualties that the Germans were unwilling to expose their own flank in an attempt to push the French and British apart completely (they did not make this mistake in WW2). The French had always envisioned the land war being their venue, the British were supposed to handle the ocean, the british even at the height of the empire had a tiny army in comparison with both the French and Germans, none the less in 1914 it was the BEF that generally held its line only pulling back as its French flank evaporated (exactly the same thing that happened in WW2).

The French purposely retreated and then regrouped to attack Germany’s exposed flank. The British thought it was all over and were evacuating their whopping 6 divisions back to England. Joffre persuaded them to stay. Both the French and British suffered heavy casualties.

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

The american involvement in WW1 was negligable, they arrived late, used dreadfull tactics and even worse equipment, got utterly bitch slapped by the Germans, and in the end they tagged along with the final push and no doubt their entry offered a moral boost but from a militarily point of view their contribution was negligable, they may have sent a million men but only 200,000 fought. )

EDIT: The USA had 300 000 casualties in WW1, and 4 million mobilized men. Not quite the negligible force you make it out to be.

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

In the end the British had learned their lesson in Cambrai, they started to use a grab hold and defend tactic that forced the Germans to lose heavily in the counter attack when they couldn't afford the losses,and it was this that precipitated the final collapse, although by then the Germans were spent, as you correctly pointed out the wartime blockade was crippleing to Germany. )

Germany completely bypassed that region and almost captured Paris. Both sides had heavy losses. The difference was the fresh Americans.

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

You are right Gallipoli is a somber occasion, but it is also the point that many historians feel that Australia as a seperate country was born, and it is no coincidance that Australia has a far more troubled veiw of the British as their birth was from a wastefull defeat, as opposed to the Canadian victory.

And whilst the British Empire may have grown after WW1 in shear size the loss of almost 3 percent of its population in such a reletively small country crippled it and made the transfer of its empire to the US inevitable.

Are you talking about southern Ireland? It would have had less than 1% of the ~500 million population.
How would losing the least industrial area of the British Isles cripple Britain? The oilfields of Iraq and Transjordan easily make up for that.
Britain was still willing to fight for its empire up until the 50s. If Churchill had had his way they would’ve never left India. I know there is a famous quote about the Somme, but Singapore and Suez are where the empire was lost.

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Always remember history is writen by the victors, in this case the victors included the French who have generally tried to minimise the effect that the utter collapse of their forces in 1870, 1914 and again in 40 had. It has long been a French claim that the British betrayed them in 1940, even though they ceased to exist as a fighting force and were withdrawing from Paris when the British cut their losses at Dunkirk.

More anti-french rhetoric that seems to be so popular these days. Obviously the French are pussies because they lost to Germany 2/3 times. Must be nice to sit back on your island and get someone else to do all the work.