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| | World War I |
 | | To fight one set of wars at the start of the twentieth century to unify Serbs and Croats and to fight another set of wars at the end to dissolve the union and "ethnically cleanse" the region seems among the sickest of the jokes History plays on human populations. |
 | | The Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Prusso-Danish War of 1864, the Franco-Austrian War of 1859, and the Balkan Wars of the early twentieth century had all seen armies assemble, armies march, a pitched battle or two, one army in retreat or dissolution, and a peace treaty signed. |
 | | As the war settled into stalemate, generals called for greater and greater commitments of resources to the front: if battles could not be won by strategy, perhaps they could be won by the sheer weight of men, metal, and explosives committed to the front. |
| www.j-bradford-delong.net /TCEH/Slouch_WWI10.html (3577 words) |
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