tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post779103714474967865..comments2024-03-26T22:57:21.033+00:00Comments on Random Views: 22 November: an ambiguous anniversaryDavid Beesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00393977902379776532noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post-32137677674561228842008-11-23T17:09:00.000+00:002008-11-23T17:09:00.000+00:00Thanks, Mark - you're absolutely right. The plan w...Thanks, Mark - you're absolutely right. The plan was for a referendum and the French occupation put paid to it.<BR/><BR/>The use of the word 'Soviet' is iself ideological. We can just as well use the translation 'council' (which is what 'Soviet' means in Russian), but to use the Russian term makes an explicit link to the Soviet Union. It's unlikely there was any real link but suggesting there was one gave the French authorities good ideological cover, as you say, for what they wanted to do anyway.David Beesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00393977902379776532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post-75210858528702652008-11-23T14:06:00.000+00:002008-11-23T14:06:00.000+00:00And a fine party it was! (by the way, I don't thin...And a fine party it was! (by the way, I don't think France would have automatically regained Alsace Lorraine at the end of the war - according to Wilson's Ten Points, the territory should have remained German until a referendum could be organized. The French used the soviets as a pretext to "create facts on the ground" and skip over a vote that might not have gone their way).strasmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03332469508592595136noreply@blogger.com