history

22625 readers

47 users here now

Welcome to c/history! History is written by the posters.

c/history is a comm for discussion about history so feel free to talk and post about articles, books, videos, events or historical figures you find interesting

Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember...we're all comrades here.

Do not post reactionary or imperialist takes (criticism is fine, but don't pull nonsense from whatever chud author is out there).

When sharing historical facts, remember to provide credible souces or citations.

Historical Disinformation will be removed

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Before Hitler, who was the go-to comparison for slandering your opponent? (hexbear.net)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Very popular in WW1 to call the German army a nation of Huns.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Was this to other them in an orientalist way? I'm familiar with the Germans being referred to as Huns during WW1, but never gave it much thought.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

There was a sizable community of Germans living in the US at the time, so its certainly possible that this intended to differentiate the Wicked Foreigners from our Righteous Domestics. But also, a lot of German communities and families changed their names and abandoned their cultural touchstones to avoid looking too German during the first war. So, idk.

This was sandwiched between the Chinese Immigration (Exclusion) Acts of 1885 and 1923, so there was definitely an abundance of anti-East Asian sentiment, particularly out west.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I remember hearing that Americans were calling sauerkraut "liberty cabbage" back then lol

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

I wouldn't have believed that if I hadn't lived through the "freedom fries" days.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

But also, a lot of German communities and families changed their names and abandoned their cultural touchstones to avoid looking too German during the first war. So, idk.

Including, hilariously, the British royal family - in July of 1917. They were hedging their bets on who would win the war.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I cbf looking now, but the keiser compared the german fighting spirit to that of the hun during the later part of the 19th century, scramble for Africa propaganda about how good germans will be at conquest

shouldn't be hard to find the origin with a quick search but this is my recollection from the last time I looked