For the REAL reason for WW1: Blackadders theory in "Blackadder Goes Forth!" BBC 1989:

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For the REAL reason for WW1
See Blackadders theory in "Blackadder Goes Forth!"
BBC 1989:
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Private Baldrick :
"No, the thing is: The way I see it, these days there's a war on, right? and, ages ago, there wasn't a war on, right? So, there must have been a moment when there not being a war on went away, right? and there being a war on came along. So, what I want to know is: How did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs?"
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Captain Blackadder :
Do you mean "How did the war start?"
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Lieutenant George :
"The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire- building."
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Captain Blackadder :
"George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganiki. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front."
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Lieutenant George :
"Oh, no, sir, absolutely not."
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[aside, to Baldrick]
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Lieutenant George :
"Mad as a bicycle!"
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Private Baldrick :
"I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry."
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Captain Blackadder :
"I think you mean it started when the Archduke of Austro-Hungary got shot."
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Private Baldrick :
"Nah, there was definitely an ostrich involved, sir."
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Captain Blackadder :
"Well, possibly. But the real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort not to have a war."
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Lieutenant George :
"By Gum, this is interesting. I always loved history. The Battle of Hastings, Henry VIII and his six knives, all that."
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Captain Blackadder :
"You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocks developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war."
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Private Baldrick :
"But, this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?"
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Captain Blackadder :
"Yes, that's right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.
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Private Baldrick :
"What was that, sir?"
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Captain Blackadder :
"It was bollocks."
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Private Baldrick :
"So the poor old ostrich died for nothing then."
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