Poll;- Are you ashamed of your national heritage?

[Southover Street Seagull]

would you need to make an explicit statement renouncing your technical nationality to prove you did not really consider yourself British or English, or that you considered your religion to be your 'nationality', in effect?

Or could we all just take an educated guess as he blew himself up.

Did he say anything about renouncing his nationality in the videos that were made before he committed the atrocities?

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

I disagree. The only country that was guilty of misguided rampant imperialism was Germany. The new industrialised Germany posed a greater threat to continental Europe than Prussia did. Prussia alone had defeated France in 1870. The writing was on the wall for the British Government at the start of WWI regardless of our obligation to Belgium.

In that way our reasons for going to war was more similar to 1939, Britain could have stayed out but the choices were stark. With the other continental powers of Europe defeated or allied to Germany it would have only been a matter of time before German demands would have forced Britain to fight or make strategic concessions.

That is not to say there were not 'compensations' for Britian in going to war with a European power challenging Britain's status, however the commitments and size of the 'contemptible' British Army in 1914 tells you that there were no aspirations for going to war on any large scale and certainly not with Germany in Europe.

We could have stayed out of the conflict, Belgium would have been invaded, France invaded and then there could have been the possibility of a German led Central European Customs Union. Plus the war would have perhaps only lasted a few months.
Having the much bigger navy at the time would have prevented Germany invading us and we could have built up the army to the required level to defend ourselves against German aggression.
I still think that Britain was guilty of rampant imperialism, but agree with your points that Germany was far worse.
There is an interesting essay in Virtual History discussing what might have happened if Britain had stayed out of the Great War.

 

[Slough Seagull]

Did he say anything about renouncing his nationality in the videos that were made before he committed the atrocities?

nationalities...as I'm sure he would have had Pakistani papers too

 

[cunning fergus]

We could have stayed out of the conflict, Belgium would have been invaded, France invaded and then there could have been the possibility of a German led Central European Customs Union. Plus the war would have perhaps only lasted a few months.
Having the much bigger navy at the time would have prevented Germany invading us and we could have built up the army to the required level to defend ourselves against German aggression.
I still think that Britain was guilty of rampant imperialism, but agree with your points that Germany was far worse.
There is an interesting essay in Virtual History discussing what might have happened if Britain had stayed out of the Great War.

That's the point though, in 1914 (as with 1939) the British Gov't effectively had a single choice to make, fight now or fight later.

At the start of of WWI Germany was not as strong as it would have been had it been sucessful (as was likely) in a continental campaign. Whether or not we could have relied on the Navy is also a moot point. Whilst I agree an invasion was unlikely due to Britain's massive navy, an embyonic U-boat service was still able to cause carnage in the Atlantic and cause food rationing. Had Germany been unrestricted from the start of WW1 it would have come even sooner and pushed Britain's politicians towards a settlement.

Remember too this was a U-boat service when Germany was fighting on 3 fronts, had Germany been able to focus more resources on a Britain standing alone the U-boats would have been even more effective.

Personally I think it was the right decision as it also was in 1939. The fact is that Germany's military leadership had a 'hard on' for imperial advancement in 1914 and nothing was going to stop them. In contrast Britain in the early 20th century was a different animal with a civilian Government of different colours applying control to excessive imperial ambitions.

The size and objectives of the British Army at that time tells you everything about the priorities of Britain. Tiny in comparison to its European peers and positioned to maintain Britain's overseas interests definitley not engage in a European war.

That's my opinion anyway.