Which side would you have supported in World War I?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The football match approach is really only applicable with masses of hindsight. If you'd supported the Central Powers here you'd have been locked up before you could say 'DORA'.

Anyway, the reality is that before the war most people (and this most definitely includes the various Socialist parties) had no idea just what their governments were getting them into, while later on most people were ignorant of the full horrors of the war (largely because belligerent governments made damn sure to keep things that way). The sheer absurd murderous futility of it all only became apparent afterwards.

One of my great grandfathers was an ILP supporter (member?) in a reserved occupation and was white feathered; safe to assume that he was 'against'. Another was also rather radical, but lived in the Kingdom of Lloyd George on Earth so I don't know. Another joined up and was gassed on the Western Front (dying as a direct result decades later). Another (a hilariously sketchy individual) seems to have spent most of the war in Egypt although I forget why. He was IIRC a loyal Liberal at the time so was presumably in favour (but I don't actually know). It's also possible that he was too drunk to notice that there was a war on at all. A diary entry (a classic of its type: rarely updated and mostly used to record recipes and folk medicine) by one of my great grandmothers suggests that she wanted the war to end as soon as possible.