In doing so we talk about British justifications for war, Russia and Japan, linear reasoning, nationalism, the European Union and Ireland.
Having listened to this a few times I realise I should have given Brian a lot more push back on the theory about Russia arming against Japan and this alarmed Germany. To the best of my knowledge, all Russian military expansion in the period immediately preceding the war was aimed at Germany. The French would certainly not have been lending them so much money (see Notes) if the expansion was aimed at Japan.
Also while listening to this it dawned on me that while I am talking about Teddy Roosevelt (1:05:00 or thereabouts), Brian is talking about Franklin Roosevelt. Whoops!
Brian Quotes
“Causation is not a linear process.”
“The biggest lie is that the First World War started because no one knew how to stop it.”
“…often what matters is not the actual state of things but the direction in which things are moving.”
“I committed my perennial sin of talking too much.”
Notes
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