The Stupidest War in History?

[The new old world]

WWI was not a stupid war! The war started because a serbian killed the HEIR TO THE THRONE!!!!

[Free foundation]

east india company's afgan war

[Caninope]

1. I doubt you meant to sound patronizing, but it's coming off that way.
2. It's a moral thing. I think independence and freedom can be worth fighting for.

I actually agree with you, so I didn't mean to sound patronizing and I apologize for that. Independence and freedom are worth fighting for. However, back to the question.

Why are they worth fighting for? What makes them so important?

Because I believe them to be. There's little more to it. I hold those values dear enough to fight for. It's just a thing.

[Misterfisher minions]

WW1 is the stupidest war ever: it brought Hitler, Mussolini and the bolsheviks in power. Then, WW2 ( 50 million deaths ) aftermath: one third of the world population fall into communist slavery ( 100 million deaths ), of course the said communists where brought to power in Russia thanks to... WW1.
War in general is fucking stupid and should be the very last solution for a state's foreign policy.
I can think of other stupid wars: the one hundred year war, for example, since the brits had no legitimate claim to the french territory.
The Iraq war was completely stupid too: it was all about acting on bad intel to destabilize a whole region. Furthermore, this mess up benefited Al Qaeda and the nasty Iranian Islamic Dystopia.
Also, the Algerian war was useless: the french should have given civil rights to algerians in order to make algeria a true part of France, or should have leave them their independence without a fight.

[Horsefish]

As always, everyone focuses on poor old Adolph Hitler...

Where I live, we have a saying that a billet never burns alone. Meaning old Dolphie couldn't have started a war all by himself. He needed fellow politicians like N. Chamberlain to give in to his demands, he needed trusty allies like Mussolini, he needed greedy and backstabbing friends like uncle Joe, and he needed indifferent isolationists like Roosevelt. He needed jingoistic opponents like Churchill to put up a good fight, and even Jewish American bankers who were perfectly aware of what was going on in Germany by 1940, yet chose to keep it secret.

Nice to see the Nazi apologists are out. Here we go:
1)Appeasment when viewed in context is probally the correct policy. Hitlers intial demand (Stopping of reperations, re-militarising the Rhineland, the mis-information surrounding the treatment of Sudeten germans) weren't that extreame and were viewed as 'fair'. Combine this with the fact that Europe had just exited the worst war in living memory and the great depression creating sympathy for Germany and the need to focus internaly meant that the govt. were less likely to stop Hitler.
2)Ah yes, Mussolini. He was trustworthy but the whole Italian military sphere of the campagin was more of a hinderance than help to Germany.
3)I'm pretty sur eHitler back-stabbed Stalin first. I'm not saying Stalin wouldn't of (because he would) but Hitler defiantly attacked first.
4)The American policy of isolation can furthur be viewed within context of the time. The American public didn't want to be involved in European affairs and didn't want to fight for a far away land (though IIRC Roosevelt was pro-intervention but congress was more isolationist?)
5)Because Churchill should have just rolled over and let Hitler take over Britain shouldn't he?
6)What is this, I don't have a clue what Jeish Bankers have to do with anything but source for whatever.

In other words, it is pointless and ignorant to blame a war on any particular individual, for that is what the victorious party wants people to do. In reality, NOBODY in ANY war EVER leaves with clean hands, and to say that German treatment of Jews or Japanese destruction of China's cities is any more atrocious than British/American firebombing campaigns or Soviet atrocities against German (and their own) civilians is pure hypocrisy.

See, the bolded part I can get behind, but the fact of the matter is Germany was so much more responsible for the start of WWII than any of the other great powers it's unbelievable. Was this due to matters beyond their control? Most certainly but the outbreak of war sits almost wholely on their shoulders.

Trying to compare the fire-bombing of dresden to an act of indsutrilised genocide is completely dishonest. So is mentioning the Soviet atrocities against the Germans but not the Germans agaisnt the soviets and the other victims of the holocaust.

[Horsefish]

WW1 is the stupidest war ever: it brought Hitler, Mussolini and the bolsheviks in power. Then, WW2 ( 50 million deaths ) aftermath: one third of the world population fall into communist slavery ( 100 million deaths ), of course the said communists where brought to power in Russia thanks to... WW1.

Please, read Angleters post on the last page about WWI. Versailles and everything was an increadibly reckless treaty, so was letting the German army march home with their weapons and heads held high.

I can think of other stupid wars: the one hundred year war, for example, since the brits had no legitimate claim to the french territory.

The Brits had a slight claim to the throne via some ancestors somewhen along the way. It was the same way the French kept trying to claim the British throne.

[Caninope]

The invasion of Grenada was pointless.

It wasn't pointless. It wasn't internationally justified on the other hand, but it wasn't pointless.

[Skywarp]

WWI was not a stupid war! The war started because a serbian killed the HEIR TO THE THRONE!!!!

Yes, and next thing you know, thanks to a whole slew of alliances and pacts everyone in continental Europe is killing each other. Like I said, Soap-Opera turned war.

[Sunkistodia]

Anglo-zanzibar war. 45 min. Yep. I forgot which won but the invading side lost! They were stupid enough to invade!!!

[The Anglo-Saxon Empire]

id say the cold war but there was no fighting,so id go with WW2 becouse i dont think america really had any reason to invade europe as hitler declared war on america as part of his pact with japan.

No, not it was not. Hitler's agreement was a defensive treaty, it is why Japan wasn't obligated to invade the USSR. They obviously didn't want to because their army was shit and was humiliated in a small border conflict with the USSR. Even then you are forgetting about the invasion of Poland, invasion of China, invasion of Denmark, invasion of Norway, invasion of Belgium, invasion of Netherlands, invasion of Greece, and the invasion of Luxembourg.

[Caninope]

Anglo-zanzibar war. 45 min. Yep. I forgot which won but the invading side lost! They were stupid enough to invade!!!

The British won. They were invading.

[Belvadaire]

Iraq war, it's stupid because they did'nt blow down the twin towers in the United states, The U.S Goverment killed their own citizens, hey research for your self, don't judge me about it.

[Horsefish]

WWI was not a stupid war! The war started because a serbian killed the HEIR TO THE THRONE!!!!

Yes, and next thing you know, thanks to a whole slew of alliances and pacts everyone in continental Europe is killing each other. Like I said, Soap-Opera turned war.

Yea, the alliance systems and the assasination were the sole cause to the war. Not Austrian aggression in the Balkans, rising international tensions, multiple arms races, the decline of the ottoman empire, imperialism and the social belief that war 'sort everything out'.

Nope, none of them at all.

[Mosasauria]

The Banana Wars.

[Sunkistodia]

Anglo-zanzibar war. 45 min. Yep. I forgot which won but the invading side lost! They were stupid enough to invade!!!

The British won. They were invading.

Oh... really? raja baga maja flaba faba!

[Malgrave]

Anglo-zanzibar war. 45 min. Yep. I forgot which won but the invading side lost! They were stupid enough to invade!!!

I think it's pretty obvious who won that minor conflict.

[Wordar]

I think, the Football War.

[Novarica (Ancient)]

1.Iraq(It should be obvious)
2.Vietnam
3.Germanic war
4.Pakistan civil war

[EnragedMaldivians]

The Flower wars fought between the Aztec Triple alliance were rather retarded, being that their sole intent was to capture prisoners to sacrafice to their Gods.

[Malgrave]

The Flower wars fought between the Aztec Triple alliance were rather retarded, being that their sole intent was to capture prisoners to sacrafice to their Gods.

I also thought the flower wars aided the collapse of their civilization as well?

[Basementees]

Either:

The Children's Crusade
Or
The War of 1812 (AKA: We burnt down your Whitehouse, doo dah, doo dah).

[EnragedMaldivians]

The Flower wars fought between the Aztec Triple alliance were rather retarded, being that their sole intent was to capture prisoners to sacrafice to their Gods.

I also thought the flower wars aided the collapse of their civilization as well?

They certainly pissed off enough enough tribes; so much so that the Spanish had little trouble making alliances with many of them who wanted to throw of the yoke of arrogant Mexica imperialism, the Tlaxcala being notable among them.

The final seige of Tenochtitlan, contrary to popular myth, did not merely have a small band of Spanish Conquistadors as the main protagonists.

[Camicon]

War of the Bucket.

[Samuraikoku]

WWI stands high in my list.

I am of this same opinion.

[Xanixi]

id say the cold war but there was no fighting,so id go with WW2 becouse i dont think america really had any reason to invade europe as hitler declared war on america as part of his pact with japan.

Well, let's see...

December 7th, 1941, Japanese fighter/bomber pilots came and attacked Hawaii, or more exactly, Pearl Harbor. This attacked killed thousands of innocent Americans, and pretty much FORCED the United States to respond (keep in mind this attack was run because the US stopped shipping oil to Japan, in order to help their closer ally, Britain). To respond, the United States declared war on Japan, something they believed would not be done (they being Japan). Because of the Japanese-German Defense Pact (which was made to counter a Soviet invasion, not a war with the US...I think) forced Nazi Germany to respond to the war declaration in the Pacific by declaring their own war. That brought down some of the serious barriers that stopped the US from helping Britain to a closer extent. Of course, this also meant that many U-Boats that had been ordered NOT to fire on American ships to save their neutrality, would begin attacking. As Americans died in the Atlantic, that really started to piss them off. As it continued and continued, the US continued to lose men and supplies to the Germans. Their lines were pushed back as aircraft ranges expanded, but still, resources were being lost. They decided that invading Europe through Normandy would successfully push the Germans to send any and all resources to defend their territory rather than push for offensive operations in the Pacific.

And thats just Reason 1!

Reason 2:

On June 22nd, 1941, 4.5 million Axis-Powers soldiers cross the Soviet-Nazi border to invade the USSR. The USSR is MASSIVE! And letting the Germans into the area would give them access to a lot of resources. The USSR, thanks to the Lend-Lease Program, managed to slow down the Germans to a complete stop, then pushed them back, and began to fight the Germans in their own territory. However, as they dug deeper and deeper, they started having A LOT of problems. Supplies were getting strained, and they were fighting way too many Germans. They pushed the other Bigs (The Big 3, Britain, The USSR, and the US) to invade Europe in order to force the Germans to fight on 2 fronts, similar to the situation they were forced in back in WWI. The other Bigs got so damn pissed cause of the Soviets constantly annoying them that they finally decided to just invade Europe! No, not really, they actually saw a massive strategic advantage, should they invade Germany. You know, like the defeat of their enemy... JUST SAYIN'!

But wait, I aint done yet!

Reason 3:

THEY DECLARED WAR! If that's not enough to give the US the go-ahead to start blowing up German infrastructure, I don't know what the hell is!