I had to find out more about the 1870 - 1871 conflict mentioned in yesterday's post. This was in fact the Franco-Prussian War. In the UK we were not taught about this pivotal conflict which means that we would never fully understand why the First and therefore the Second World Wars took place.
In his book "The Battle of the Frontiers Ardennes 1914", Terence Zuber tells us that, prior to 1914 both France and Germany had spent 40 years arming and training their armies. The reason for that must surely be the failure of the Franco-Prussian War to provide an outcome to keep both sides happy.
So we need to brush up on our history in order to understand what happened and if truth be known to heal the wounds and make sure it does not happen again. Who was it who said "if we do not learn from the lessons of history, we are condemned to relive them"?
