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[misko27]

How did you think the UK got involved in the first world War?

(and, slightly less heroic, why was France overrun during the second world war).

You also got foundations for the European union, and some other stuff.

I was under the impression they were in a alliance with France and Russia, and the Black Hand gang, to which Josip Princip belonged and admired, had to fuck up everyone's day. They are also the seat of NATO, if it makes you feel better. And there were a number of reasons for france being overrun, not just belgium.
 
But yeah, all in all, a fairly uninteresting place. At least the Swedes took part in the Napoleanic Wars. I mean sure, it is important in a european sense, but in matters which shaped the world, ehh.
 
OH WAIT I REMEMBERED A MONTY PYTHING SKIT THAT MENTIONS BELGIUM. Skip to 1:00 to go straight to Belgium.

[ab00]

The Black Hand wasn't really a gang, but more of Serbia's "Seal Team 6".

[misko27]

The Black Hand wasn't really a gang, but more of Serbia's "Seal Team 6".

More like a Al Qaeda. They were, essentially, a nationalist terrorist group.

[TheBronzePickle]

I was taught that = is right under all circumstances, personally. If there's an exception, it must be stated or it's wrong.

[Darvi]

Well algebra is all about finding the exceptions, but in that case it's hardly always right.

[SealyStar]

What the kid meant, though, was that 1/x = x/1 for all x; he used the "it's true when x=1" argument to say that it must be true for all numbers... so I took out the calculator and began showing him that 1/10000 =/= 10000, 1/2 =/= 2/1, 1/5e^2 =/= 5e^2/1, etc.

[Pnx]

I was under the impression they were in a alliance with France and Russia ...

Well France was allies with Russia, and Britain had signed a bunch of peace agreements with both of them that meant they acknowledged each other's colonial territories, which was essentially just a non-aggression pact, it just all amounted to a lot of good will and agreements that they would try really hard not to wind up fighting each other. Now this was all done with a general alliance-y structure in mind, they wanted something to counteract the German, Austrian, and Italian central powers alliance that was looking really menacing to all three of them, but Britain was sort of keen to avoid getting dragged into a small pointless war that the Russians or the French were fighting.

So yeah, long story short, Britain wasn't allied with either of them, but likely would have entered the war anyway if Belgium (which was in Britain's sphere of influence and under guarantee) hadn't been invaded, Belgium was a good excuse to get in it, it looked good in the papers to be riding to it's rescue, rather than just getting involved in a fight with the world's foremost military on land just because it was going.

[Sirus]

YouTube comments. Just...YouTube comments.

[Oliolli]

YouTube comments. Just...YouTube comments.

I heard they are an effective carcinogen.

[Xantalos]

YouTube comments. Just...YouTube comments.

I heard they are an effective carcinogen.

Concentrations of 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 part per (Grahm's Number) were shown to kill within 5 seconds. This is the power of stupid.

[Loud Whispers]

YouTube comments. Just...YouTube comments.

thumbs up if u cry everytme

[Sheb]

Actually, as I Belgian, I had this very same discussion with a friend. After much searching, we found the one moment in history when Belgium did something significant: we refused to let the German cross Belgium in 1914. Sure, they did cross anyway, because it's not like we're going to stop them or anything, but it slowed them for around 3 days, which let the French move troops (The Marne Taxi stuff) and prevented von Schlieffen's plan from working.


We also killed 6 millions congolese and instaured a market in severed hand, but somehow it does not seems to count as historically significant.

[miauw62]

Didn't we lay the foundation for the EU too? I would call that historically significant.

[Reelya]

While significant, if von Schlieffen's plan had succeeded an armistice might have been achieved 2-3 years earlier, the treaty of Versailles wouldn't have happened, there would have been no Bolshevik revolution in Russia, no 1918 influenza epidemic that killed half the population of Europe, and no rise to power of the NAZI's, no WWII, and therefore no Cold War, nor the rise of Communism in China, no Pol Pot in Cambodia, no Korean war or Vietnam war, no Suharto in Indonesia, etc.

It's just possible that Belgium was the lynch-pin that killed 200+ million people.

Damn you, what hath Belgium wrought?

[Sheb]

miauw62, we hopped on the EU bandwagon, but if Belgium had been replaced by one huge inflatable dick from 1945 to 1950, things would have gone pretty much the same way.