>>4991939Yes, indeed. We were socially, culturally and politically very close to one another. Both France and Germany had fairly similar social development (Germany was ahead in terms of suffrage, since women's right to vote came in 1945), but we had the equivalent of Bismarck's laws offering protection to workers, and women were part of the workforce, as they were in most european countries.
Both countries were politically much closer than what we would think: even though France was a democracy and Germany was an empire, both in reality had fairly similar democratic values. Germans were used to vote for their local representatives, both on the local and federal level.
Our diplomacy was very close to: we were both interested in expanding our respective colonial empires.
In all honesty, it is a real shame that such a destructive conflict happened. If it weren't for WWI, Europe would still be the center of the world, and people might speak French instead of English internationally. But I guess that WWI was unavoidable really: it is the fate of empires to fight each other whenever their authorities collide. But WWII could have, and should have, been avoided at all costs. Democracy was already strengthened by the end if WWI, and had we treated Germany like we did at the end of WWII, there would have been no need for such a costly and destructive war.
/rambling, I find that subject very interesting either way
