I read the book as a teenager but seeing it in live-action was brutal. You forget that soldiers used gas and fucking flamethrowers on people, and they did it so their ruling class can get even wealthier.
Remembering that the causes of that war were about European empires trying to carve up Germany because capital had reached its zenith under the pre-war status quo unless it acquired new markets and territories to expand into was just eye-opening.
:eu-cool: :germany-cool: :france-cool:
:ukkk:
The Great War was your standard imperialist war, but instead of picking on defenseless nations, the imperialists set on each other.
Politicians like Otto von Bismarck knew that they must not fight among themselves and tried to keep the peace, but stony-hearted sociopaths like Wilhelm II would have no part in it and would never be happy unless they could read about their pissing matches in the newspapers.