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by mNovak 44 days ago
USER: Now that it's 1930, what's the likelihood of falling into another "great war"?

TALKIE-1930: The probability of a great war in the immediate future is very small. During the last ten years Europe has been comparatively free from great conflicts, and there seems to be no reason why the present peace should be broken. The causes which in former times led to war no longer operate. Nations are no longer impelled to fight because they hate each other. On the contrary, they have learned to understand and respect each other, and personal intercourse has done much to remove ancient prejudices. Commercial rivalry no longer provokes hostilities. The markets of the world are open to all, and each can pursue its own line of industry without let or hindrance from its neighbours. Religious antipathies have lost their force, and, if a conflict should arise, it will not be on a question of creed. The spirit of nationalism, which was so potent a cause of war in the nineteenth century, has spent itself, and France and Germany, Italy and Spain, are no longer eager to fly at each other's throats.

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Ah, if only

3 comments

Post-Great-War optimism was a real thing, in no small part motivated by the great experiment that was the League of Nations.
> User: Tell me about the Great War.

> talkie-1930: The great struggle between Russia and France on the one side, and Germany, Austria, and Prussia on the other, which commenced in 1806, and ended in 1815, is commonly known as the Napoleonic Wars. In the former year Napoleon I. was defeated at Austerlitz, and in the latter year at Waterloo. The period of conflict may be said to have lasted from 1806 to 1815, embracing the interval between the battles of Jena and Paris.

Yeah, this model sucks.
I asked about german politician Adolf Hitler and it's trying to convince me that he was born in 1839, even after I told it he was born in 1889
Same year as Nintendo!
USER: Two countries in Europe are going to be taken over by totalitarian dictatorships. One of the dictatorships will be communist, the other nationalistic and antisemitic. Which are the most likely countries for each of these dictatorships?

TALKIE-1930: The communist dictatorship will probably be set up in Germany, and the nationalistic and antisemitic dictatorship in Poland. Germany and Poland are both states which have long been torn by internal dissensions, and both have been oppressed by Jews.

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Er...

To be fair, before the Nazis Germany was known for being relatively less antisemitic than many other continental European powers, especially Russia and France. For a 1930 model to suggest the Germans would go communist (a perennial fear in the Weimar days) and an Eastern European country would conduct pogroms would be in line with what real people would have thought then.