Blame Germany...Blame Germany...

In Der Fatherland, the Alternative for Germany Party doesn't like the German Empire's bad rap:

Germany's far right is trying to rehabilitate the German Empire and its role in World War I, resuming a decades-old debate ahead of the centenary of the armistice.

The magazine Compact, which is close to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), is publishing a special November issue dedicated to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which held the Reich responsible for the Great War and compelled the country to make colossal reparations.

The title recalls the rhetoric used in the 1920s by those nostalgic for Imperial Germany and the Nazis: "The shame of Versailles: how the victorious powers enslaved Germany".

The problem with Versailles was that it was harsh enough to piss off the Krauts, but not harsh enough to keep the Krauts from rising again.

That is, the Treaty of Versailles was no Carthaginian Peace.  After the last war with Carthage, Rome burnt the city to the ground and sowed the land with salt. They were so effective we still can't read the Cartho-Phoenician language.

Since the 1960s Germany has generally been thought to bear the brunt of the war guilt for WWI as well. The events of August 1914 have been debated since September 1914. We're inclined to agree with the Blame Germany crowd- even though the man for whom we are named fought for Germany.

Still, Imperial Germany, the Kaiser, and all the rest of Der Reich wasn't evil, at least not compared to what came next. The more we've learned about the Great War the more convinced we become that America's entry was a mistake.

Had Germany won in 1914 the world would have been infinitely better off.

Which was the point of The Austrian Painter.