One of my favorite historical interludes is the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Forgotten today, it was the peace treaty that won the war for the Germans on the Eastern Front. On one side you have aristocratic Prussian Junkers, complete with spiked helmets and monocles. On the other, the Bolsheviks, who tbh resemble a lot of today's comrades. Seeing these two sides collide was really entertaining. They didn't just have stale diplomacy, they had socials, dinners together and everything.
Count Ottokar Czernin, Former Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, was there and wrote about it in his book "In the World War" (1920). Here's a choice comment:
They are strange creatures, these Bolsheviks. They talk of freedom and the reconciliation of the peoples of the world, of peace and unity, and withal they are said to be the most cruel tyrants history has ever known. They are simply exterminating the bourgeoisie, and their arguments are machine-guns and the gallows. My talk to-day with Joffe has shown me that these people are not honest, and in falsity surpass all that cunning diplomacy has been accused of, for to oppress decent citizens in this fashion and then talk at the same time of the universal blessing of freedom - it is sheer lying.
He literally can't see that they're eliminating those like him, and to him, the rest of the population aren't people like he is. One still sees this attitude in today's ruling class, that they're the only ones who are real people, the rest of us aren't really equivalent except perhaps biologically being the same species.
One of my favorite historical interludes is the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Forgotten today, it was the peace treaty that won the war for the Germans on the Eastern Front. On one side you have aristocratic Prussian Junkers, complete with spiked helmets and monocles. On the other, the Bolsheviks, who tbh resemble a lot of today's comrades. Seeing these two sides collide was really entertaining. They didn't just have stale diplomacy, they had socials, dinners together and everything.
Count Ottokar Czernin, Former Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, was there and wrote about it in his book "In the World War" (1920). Here's a choice comment:
He literally can't see that they're eliminating those like him, and to him, the rest of the population aren't people like he is. One still sees this attitude in today's ruling class, that they're the only ones who are real people, the rest of us aren't really equivalent except perhaps biologically being the same species.
based