Whatās wrong with declaring oneself Emperor? Iād love to be an Emperor, though I doubt anyone wants me as Emperor of Canada but I think that would be lovely.
Young men will follow a genocidical dictator to their deaths because he wears golden sunglasses and colourful capes. At least he is not like the other bland politicians š
Nah South Asian leaders aināt got no drip. They all wear the same Nehru suit, apart from some of the Pakistaniās who wear their parade uniforms everywhere.
So the only thing he does himself (there are several sources that suggests he learned to cut his hair when he was young and does it ever since out of fear of getting off by whoever might cut his hair)
The baddies get the best outfits. Itās in the rules, just look at the SS & the Mysterons. And if it was a purely aesthetic choice between a sweaty, battered MkVI Kevlar helmet with a slimy liner or a big, black, shiny turban with a gold-lined tail then Iām sorry but itās a no-brainer & a case of Hey, Mr Taliban, tally my bandana.
The only major world leader I really ever see wearing a hat is occasionally Trump with his maga hat, but its so basic and boring. Actually interesting and cool hats need to make a comeback so badly
Be the change you want to see! Do a bunch of research into how they were made, get a quality one tailored so that it doesn't look like a costume piece, and rock that shit
Hey, Iām super into fashion and regularly wear cloaks. Itās a trick to pull off without looking costume-y and older style cloaks will always look like a full-body fedora but theyāre pretty common in avant garde looks. Rosen, Julius, Rick Owens, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto all make incredible cloaks that you can use as inspiration to figure out how to style without spending massive money on one from one of those designers.
I promise you a tailored suit with a cloak is not going to work how you want it without a very specific degree of conventional attractiveness behind it, though.
Oh no, you are expecting a tailored "dracula" like cloak. You couldn't be further from the truth, no matter how expensive it is, it'd look cheap as hell. In my country cloaks are a really common traditional wear. You can look up "Suba" or "Cifraszűr" those were generally worn by shepherds, but the one i am looking for is the "Mente" worn by hussars. Those aren't really cloaks, but were worn as "half cloaks" on the left shoulder. I am interested how a full cloak would look with a "Mente" like design.
Oh hell yeah, Iām all here for variations on traditional clothing. Itās when people grab something less ātraditionalā and more āout of fashionā that problems arise.
Yea, I totally get what you mean, it's why I emphasised the research part. I myself am wondering if more medieval cloaks would work, the ones that are held together with cloak pins. I think they are already sort of a thing in women's fashion with regards to huge scarves. I do think that the 'dracula cloak' is indeed currently a really really tough sell and just has too much non-fashionable association to work out, but I am still very curious about stuff like shoulder-cloaks, older styles etc. Etc. But, trying out custom clothing is expensive and scary xD.
Itās a more high fashion item. If you want to make it work, you need to have an outfit that goes with it, which does not mean a suit or anything conventional, really.
For the record, Iāve definitely not been assuming a Dracula cloak. I didnāt think anyone was that fashion-blind because that would be rude lol
Yea, I did think that indeed, if you rock a cloak, and it's not clearly a native form of cloak, you have to make the entire outfit work! But I certainly don't have a fashion Education or Upbringing, so will definitely be approaching it with caution :P. Maybe if I ever become rich I'll drop money on some designers to challenge them xD. Although some of the cloak designs of those peeps you shared were cool!Ā
You donāt. That will always look like a costume, because itās not āclassicā, itās historical cosplay. You canāt will historical fashion back into existence, itās the same situation the fedora has ended up in; everyone who is convinced theyāve pulled off a fedora because theyāve paired it with period appropriate fashion is wrong, because it will alway look out of context and lacks the context-independence of fashionability.
Remember āhow do I pull this offā is a secondary question to be asked after ācan this be pulled offā
But, nobody obligates you to care what other people think. People wear anime t-shirts in public and those are far worse, so ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
Yeah, my biggest problem is that, while I'm not ugly, I'm pretty sure that I am not, "avant garde fashion" level attractive, so sadly I can't be making that bold of choice
pro tip from someone into fashion a long time: ignore the opinions of others. Thereās a reason some guys walk around dressed like steampunk barons from the 1800s: theyāre not fashionable but theyāre happy with themselves.
I make my own cloaks and wear them when it's cold. People definitely judge me but fuck it, worth it for the drip and the warmth. I've given some to friends and family and they love them
Poor bro is literally at war, while those cowards have time and money to get better stuff than Generic Suit #2905025. (it's actually an Armani but nobody cares cause they all look the same : bland and boring, just like modern architecture and contemporary art)
You can wear long overcoats if you're wearing a suit, it doesn't look out of place then, in fact it's quite functional (you don't want to get mud or dirt or water on the suit).
I have a long coat for when I wear a suit in winter
How? He arrested communists. Far right are already being bankrolled by American oligarchs working through Steve Bannon, they even fund Ukrainian far right. Same with zionist oligarchs who fund Swedish, American(Dearborn) movements.Ā
He wants to bring back the conquest part of Russian history, not necessarily the USSR. He does use a lot of Soviet imagery in internal propaganda but he has no tolerance for Marxist/communists in government.Ā
American ones have got older recently, but worldwide I don't think that is so much the case. Maybe a little older compared to the early 20th century, due to the increases in life expectancy, but not a radical change. In my country our leaders are definitely younger than they were in the 19th century for example.
there was much bemoaning in the Victorian era of the shift of male fashion from flamboyant colors and accessories to dreary black suits with small and subtle expressions of wealth.
America needs Teddy again now. Wilhelm looks cool but that cape is just to hide his chicken wing left arm....which gave him an inferiority complex....which made him want a High Seas Fleet.....which brought Great Britain against him instead of being a historic ally....ecetera ecetera
I think the knowledge that a united Greater Germany was governed by an Austrian Corporal and went to war with France, Britain, Russia, Denmark, Norwayā¦ would make him break open the pearly gates and invade Berlin with his Long Lads.
He and Britain ended their alliance near the end of the 7 Years War, and refused to ally with them during the American War of Independence. Actually it was the dissolution of that alliance that made Prussia distrust Britain in the long term, a distrust which was still a factor in the late 19th century.
Ehhh... a bit of an oversimplification. Willy wanted a large fleet yes, but mostly different classes of patrol vessels for the increasingly busy German trade routes. Can't be building an overseas empire without matching the British trade-lanes afterall!
It was Von Tirpitz that had a Dreadnought fetish and wanted to square up to the British wartime fleet, his doctrine of mutually assured destruction pretty much dictating that the Germans should be able to cause enough casualties in the case of war to the British Navy that they would never dare begin a conflict with them.
To be fair his mania for territorial expansion for its own sake was equally responsible for rubbing Britain up the wrong way while also providing almost no appreciable strategic economic benefit to Germany.
That is also true, though Germany wasn't the only one guilty of doing this. Since having colonies at the time was seen as 'cool' and prestigious, so the more you had them, the better. Massive amounts of British colonial land was run at a constant deficit, the Empire was a rather... expensive endeavor.
It is true that Germany wasn't unique in pursuing colonies for the sake of prestige, but I would argue they were unique in the extent to which they were willing to escalate international tensions and threaten conflict to achieve those ambitions, and Germany was unique in how little it stood to benefit from those colonies it did want to acquire.
In Britain's case there were at least some localised economic interests benefiting from later imperial formalisation and expansion, even if it represented a net deficit to the nation as a whole. Colonial expansion was relatively 'cheap' thanks to the existing investment Britain made in supporting its empire, and where expansion did occur, it was usually either into European terra nullis or within established spheres of influence to reduce the impact inter-colonial completion on her wider foreign relations. High imperialism was still a catastrophic mistake and disaster of epic propositions, but you can see the logic to it for at least some people if you squint.
For German I just can't see a rational need other than the kaiser's own self-aggrandisement. Expansion was expensive, all that was left were the scraps even the french weren't interested in, the entire German economy was already set up to work without imperial possession and was handily out-competing all its imperial peers, and whatever scraps they did get hold of they couldn't hope to sustain or benefit from in any future war. It's not just misguided, it's literally unjustifiable, imo.
It is true that Germany wasn't unique in pursuing colonies for the sake of prestige, but I would argue they were unique in the extent to which they were willing to escalate international tensions and threaten conflict to achieve those ambitions, and Germany was unique in how little it stood to benefit from those colonies it did want to acquire.
Let's face it: the main problem for Germany with Germany's attempt at colonial empire was that they got started on colonization after some imperial colonizers had already started losing their holdings in a big way. The pendulum had started to swing back. The Mexican War of Independence, for instance, was history before Germany fully unified (recent history, but not just yesterday either), and even nations still running the most successful colonial empires at the time were starting to have some problems keeping control and keeping their colonies profitable.
Germany got into the colonization game far too late to really make any gains from it.
For Germany I just can't see a rational need other than the kaiser's own self-aggrandisement. Expansion was expensive, all that was left were the scraps even the french weren't interested in, the entire German economy was already set up to work without imperial possession and was handily out-competing all its imperial peers, and whatever scraps they did get hold of they couldn't hope to sustain or benefit from in any future war.
Yeah, that about sums it up. There's a reason that one of Otto Von Bismarck's points of conflict with Kaiser Wilhelm II was that Bismarck saw German colonization as a useless vanity project, and while there were other and more significant reasons Bismarck was fired by the Kaiser, it was something they firmly disagreed about. Thing is, when you're in late 1800s Europe and Otto Von Bismarck, of all people, is telling you that further expansion and colonial ventures are a bad idea, they're probably a bad idea.
If we got a Teddy again now he would absolutely start the war with Venezuela as Trump is basically taking geopolitics back to the Monroe Doctirne and Roosevelt Corollary.
At least he would tell Amazon and Silicone valley to fuck off because the man hated monopolies almost as much as he loved imperialism.
If teddy was alive today and learned the US is trying to get rid of national parks heād burn down the White House and move to a cabin in the woods til we need him again.
No, Roosevelt was very picky about which monopolies he went after because he believed in "good trusts" which had a tendency to be "those that I like."
Taft was the trust busting man, he truly did not believe a trust could be "good" and went ham on them, even taking down some of Theodore's supporters trusts. It was something Theodore not only did not do, but made Theodore mad. It's one of the reasons Roosevelt found Taft inadequate for president.
I just want a US president with a really fantastic beard again. Woodrow really started a dumb trend that hasn't wavered at all in 100 years. I'll take even a really solid mustache. Give me something!
millennial hipsters circa 2015 tried really hard to make fancy mustaches cool again but that movement died hard. But there is some hope; Im seeing lots of zoomers with mustaches these days. I really hate how your only options as a professional these days seem to be clean or a goatee(maybe), and itās embarrassing that stupid Alex Jones / JD Vance unkempt lazy beard is somehow becoming acceptable.Ā
Furthermore I despise the 70s porno āstache slander that somehow became topical in the early 00s, how it bullied an entire generation of men into thinking mustaches are cringe and for creeps. Im glad zoomers are bucking the stigma.Ā
It never ceases to amaze me how redditors fail to understand "generally". Yes, "generally" means that there will be exceptions. But even at 70, he's a decade younger than Trump.
Macron: Born 1977
Fredriksen: Born 1977
Gahr StĆøre: Fairly old by European standards, born 1960
I really think thereās a pathology that drives Western globalists absolutely batshit crazy that thereās world leaders who chose to wear āpajamasā instead of conforming to their dress code.
Im actually still surprised Arab Gulf leaders wear their traditional bedouin garb in what seems almost like an exception. Trump absolutely blasted Zelensky for not wearing a suit to the White House yet MBS wears his robes and keffiyah and he doesnāt care. I know the reason is money, but itās still interesting.
This unironically bothers me. We all kinda adopted these British/France based attires and it's so boring. Which is why I lowkey like it when world leaders step out of the norm
I may be a rare commodity in this world, but I hate everything about suits.
How they look, how they feel, and I associate them with lying bastards. It's just such an inefficient garment in every way. They don't allow full range of motion comfortably (what even is the fucking point?!), they're fucking hot unless you crank the AC to like 65F, even a cheap suit is expensive as fuck, and the shoes that tend to go with them will slip on a single molecule of water.
Even just the standard dress clothes that go under them are ass. I could never be one of the professions that mandates wearing one.
I was forced to wear a suit to school. Never again. They can occasionally look alright but I completely don't get people who say that "suits look good". Like hell no? It's the same basic 3 to 6 piece garment every time, it is associated with status, and as someone brought up in Eastern Europe I associate it exclusively with power hungry lying bastards or people who really care about being perceived as important. I mean I guess suits have 5 variations in texture and I don't give a shit, how about we just dress interesting instead if we're not allowed to wear what we want
History lesson. The suit used to be the common man's formal wear about 150 years ago. The rich and powerful woreĀ tailcoats/frock coats. The rich then copied the poorer classes and western would was so dominant this spread to Asia and Africa etc
And if it isn't drab boring business suits it's some variation of dictator in a fake ass military uniform covered in a quadrillion medals, who wouldn't actually have the spine to fight off a fly if it got near his food.
And we didn't lose any of the Imperialism anyway. An empire in Europe is trying through force and feigned diplomacy to annex its old lands. And colonisers in the New World are fighting over boats in the South Americas.
We are truly in a drippless era
Meanwhile West African and South Asian leaders walk into the room like: š
Mobutu walking with a leopard skin hat and people who sang praises to him during meetings ( he is ONLY A HUMBLE PRESIDENT FOR DECADES)
Considering that his neighbor Bokassa declared himself emperor, that is probably very humble!!
Whatās wrong with declaring oneself Emperor? Iād love to be an Emperor, though I doubt anyone wants me as Emperor of Canada but I think that would be lovely.
Iād support you
People like fancy stuff.
Young men will follow a genocidical dictator to their deaths because he wears golden sunglasses and colourful capes. At least he is not like the other bland politicians š
Nah South Asian leaders aināt got no drip. They all wear the same Nehru suit, apart from some of the Pakistaniās who wear their parade uniforms everywhere.
Modi doesn't, usually he wears a Kurta.
I was referring to the fancy kurtaās as a Nehru suit. They look fairly identical.
I just noticed that š lmao Modi would be upset if he found out he'd probably stop wearing it
No field marshal was hurt in this statement
Dripless aura
The suit revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for international politics.
Gaddafi was the only world leader with drip and we killed him for it smh
Yep, I said it in another comment, dictators are basically the only ones still dressing in a unique way
You can wear whatever you want to wear when you can send anybody to a prison/labor camp
Tbf some of them have drip, Kim should stop eating half the nations food supply but he looks great with that leather jacket
Heās going for that Gƶring look.
except for kim, the only thing unique about him is his hair
That leather jacket though ā¦ but bro really need to lose weight, if I was the god dictator of a country I would do my best to stay healthy
Cultivating mass is the pinnacle of health fitness; how else are you supposed to bulk up for your transition to muscle god?
Then he needs to stop cultivating and start harvesting.
So the only thing he does himself (there are several sources that suggests he learned to cut his hair when he was young and does it ever since out of fear of getting off by whoever might cut his hair)
The baddies get the best outfits. Itās in the rules, just look at the SS & the Mysterons. And if it was a purely aesthetic choice between a sweaty, battered MkVI Kevlar helmet with a slimy liner or a big, black, shiny turban with a gold-lined tail then Iām sorry but itās a no-brainer & a case of Hey, Mr Taliban, tally my bandana.
Meanwhile we have the king of Thailand over here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/monarchism/s/iMRYU0JWIK
Has he considered pulling up his pants? Or perhaps investing in a more competent belt?
He's the king, he can wear low riders if he wants
They Feared Him Because They Did Not Understand Him
Previous Thai king (Rama IX) during his temporarily Buddhist ordination before taking the throne
https://reddit.com/r/theravada/comments/1peiqj7/his_majesty_king_bhumibol_on_the_buddhas/
Power bottom right here
He was too beautiful for this world. Heās lecturing models in heaven now.
Somehow this is all Beau Brummell's fault, a man with infinite drip
I blame his "friends" who all abandoned him when the King did. They ditched him, but kept his style.
Nowadays basically the only leaders still dressing in a āuniqueā way are dictators and some leaders in Africa / Asia
Justin Trudeau tried to dress as a sultan and people hated him for it
š
Trump claims he's quite a handsome guy.
Didn't realize looking like a frumpy collapsed recliner smeared in doritos dust with bird shit for hair counted as handsome these days.
And in a rizz-less era as well.
Squidward: "We GOTTA bring JFK back!"
Tsar with that "at least we know his parents didn't help him with the project" outfit
That one is Nicholas II ?
Or Medvedev at the pajama party
I never realized how similar Medvedev and Nicky look.
Yes and it is Russian local meme
Everybody talks about whether Anastasia survived, but maybe it was the Tsar himself
Maybe Medvedev is Anastasia Romanova
Sure, just look at this photo of him
Yes. And 100 years ago he was very, very dead. Got got by a revolution in 1918.
I dunno, it could be King George V wearing a Russian shirt, tbf.
Kinda fits with his regency.
Bring back cloaks. Please bring back cloaks. Cloaks are the coolest thing a man can wear.
Wacky hats and helmets, too.
The only major world leader I really ever see wearing a hat is occasionally Trump with his maga hat, but its so basic and boring. Actually interesting and cool hats need to make a comeback so badly
wacky hat :)
Can't match the Bernadottes energy
TouchƩ!
I was expecting the Pope, but this will do
Moustaches would be fun too
Be the change you want to see! Do a bunch of research into how they were made, get a quality one tailored so that it doesn't look like a costume piece, and rock that shit
You know what? I will fucking do it. I wanted to get a tailored suit anyways, but i will design it with a cloak in mind.
Hey, Iām super into fashion and regularly wear cloaks. Itās a trick to pull off without looking costume-y and older style cloaks will always look like a full-body fedora but theyāre pretty common in avant garde looks. Rosen, Julius, Rick Owens, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto all make incredible cloaks that you can use as inspiration to figure out how to style without spending massive money on one from one of those designers.
I promise you a tailored suit with a cloak is not going to work how you want it without a very specific degree of conventional attractiveness behind it, though.
Oh no, you are expecting a tailored "dracula" like cloak. You couldn't be further from the truth, no matter how expensive it is, it'd look cheap as hell. In my country cloaks are a really common traditional wear. You can look up "Suba" or "Cifraszűr" those were generally worn by shepherds, but the one i am looking for is the "Mente" worn by hussars. Those aren't really cloaks, but were worn as "half cloaks" on the left shoulder. I am interested how a full cloak would look with a "Mente" like design.
Oh hell yeah, Iām all here for variations on traditional clothing. Itās when people grab something less ātraditionalā and more āout of fashionā that problems arise.
Yea, I totally get what you mean, it's why I emphasised the research part. I myself am wondering if more medieval cloaks would work, the ones that are held together with cloak pins. I think they are already sort of a thing in women's fashion with regards to huge scarves. I do think that the 'dracula cloak' is indeed currently a really really tough sell and just has too much non-fashionable association to work out, but I am still very curious about stuff like shoulder-cloaks, older styles etc. Etc. But, trying out custom clothing is expensive and scary xD.
Itās a more high fashion item. If you want to make it work, you need to have an outfit that goes with it, which does not mean a suit or anything conventional, really.
For the record, Iāve definitely not been assuming a Dracula cloak. I didnāt think anyone was that fashion-blind because that would be rude lol
Yea, I did think that indeed, if you rock a cloak, and it's not clearly a native form of cloak, you have to make the entire outfit work! But I certainly don't have a fashion Education or Upbringing, so will definitely be approaching it with caution :P. Maybe if I ever become rich I'll drop money on some designers to challenge them xD. Although some of the cloak designs of those peeps you shared were cool!Ā
This is now a thread about cloaks.
So how do you pull it off? I'm looking into buying one to wear with my 3 piece suit
You donāt. That will always look like a costume, because itās not āclassicā, itās historical cosplay. You canāt will historical fashion back into existence, itās the same situation the fedora has ended up in; everyone who is convinced theyāve pulled off a fedora because theyāve paired it with period appropriate fashion is wrong, because it will alway look out of context and lacks the context-independence of fashionability.
Remember āhow do I pull this offā is a secondary question to be asked after ācan this be pulled offā
But, nobody obligates you to care what other people think. People wear anime t-shirts in public and those are far worse, so ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
Yeah, my biggest problem is that, while I'm not ugly, I'm pretty sure that I am not, "avant garde fashion" level attractive, so sadly I can't be making that bold of choice
pro tip from someone into fashion a long time: ignore the opinions of others. Thereās a reason some guys walk around dressed like steampunk barons from the 1800s: theyāre not fashionable but theyāre happy with themselves.
Cloak, tunics, tabards, ... So many cool pieces of clothing lost to the shrinking male wardrobe.
Hell yeah >:)
No, not you!
-in the style of Edna Mode- "No cloaks!"
Absolutely cloaks.
Dune sounds
Uh, I don't know if it means we'll be living under enlightened governments anymore, but the drip will be back.
Long coats are literally just cloaks with sleeves
Yeah but kinda takes away from the mistery factor. +you cant hide a sword under a long coat.
I make my own cloaks and wear them when it's cold. People definitely judge me but fuck it, worth it for the drip and the warmth. I've given some to friends and family and they love them
Heads of state cannot wear a tan suit and eat Grey Poupon without a national controversy anymore. š
Speak for yourself. My president got drunk on TV and jumped on the mattresses of a mattress store.
Sounds like a fun Tuesday morning, I'd vote for them
Finland?
Yeltsin??
They can have sex with minors and still gets votes though ā¹ļø
It's rape, not "have sex" when it comes to minors. Call it what it is.
True!
Wouldnāt be so bad if they had drip
This is not a Bondrewd situation
Reddit will never let anyone forget that.
Maybe we should have a fashion contest for world leaders.
Runway Ruler
All we need is a catchy name.
World's next hot supreme leader
Parade of players and teams for the WW3
The Fine Minister
Allemagne! Douze Points!
New Ms. World just dropped
The FIFA Fashion prize?
They attacked zelensky for not wearing a suit
Well he's still dripless but he introduced wearing waistcoats as a politician so props for that
Poor bro is literally at war, while those cowards have time and money to get better stuff than Generic Suit #2905025. (it's actually an Armani but nobody cares cause they all look the same : bland and boring, just like modern architecture and contemporary art)
Bring back capes!
Hell yeah >:)
Holy aura, i wouod die for this man souly for the drip
Hell yeah; capes and long overcoats.
You can wear long overcoats if you're wearing a suit, it doesn't look out of place then, in fact it's quite functional (you don't want to get mud or dirt or water on the suit).
I have a long coat for when I wear a suit in winter
Iād say tunics too. Tunics and capes with a magnificent brooch go well together
No capes! - Edna
Thankfully politicians are not the ones whose job is to solve the world's crises and save everyone, otherwise we'd be fucked
sobs quietly
Xi's started wearing Mao suits.
That can't be good.Ā
And Putin wants to bring Soviet Union..
And far right is gaining popularity in Europe..
Ohh my, we're going back..
He doesn't want to bring back the Soviet Union.
He wants to bring back the Russian Empire.
Two differences.
How? He arrested communists. Far right are already being bankrolled by American oligarchs working through Steve Bannon, they even fund Ukrainian far right. Same with zionist oligarchs who fund Swedish, American(Dearborn) movements.Ā
He wants to bring back the conquest part of Russian history, not necessarily the USSR. He does use a lot of Soviet imagery in internal propaganda but he has no tolerance for Marxist/communists in government.Ā
The USSR arrested tons of communists for not being Stalinist. Putin is just abandoning the veneer of communism.
World leaders now are at least 50 years older than that on average
Itās the same generation from the bottom photo
American ones have got older recently, but worldwide I don't think that is so much the case. Maybe a little older compared to the early 20th century, due to the increases in life expectancy, but not a radical change. In my country our leaders are definitely younger than they were in the 19th century for example.
there was much bemoaning in the Victorian era of the shift of male fashion from flamboyant colors and accessories to dreary black suits with small and subtle expressions of wealth.
The globalist suit.
America needs Teddy again now. Wilhelm looks cool but that cape is just to hide his chicken wing left arm....which gave him an inferiority complex....which made him want a High Seas Fleet.....which brought Great Britain against him instead of being a historic ally....ecetera ecetera
Ya Frederick the great would be surprised if he found out his successors eventually fought the British alongside Austrians.
"Oh well my legacy can go fuck itself I guess."
I think the knowledge that a united Greater Germany was governed by an Austrian Corporal and went to war with France, Britain, Russia, Denmark, Norwayā¦ would make him break open the pearly gates and invade Berlin with his Long Lads.
He and Britain ended their alliance near the end of the 7 Years War, and refused to ally with them during the American War of Independence. Actually it was the dissolution of that alliance that made Prussia distrust Britain in the long term, a distrust which was still a factor in the late 19th century.
Ehhh... a bit of an oversimplification. Willy wanted a large fleet yes, but mostly different classes of patrol vessels for the increasingly busy German trade routes. Can't be building an overseas empire without matching the British trade-lanes afterall!
It was Von Tirpitz that had a Dreadnought fetish and wanted to square up to the British wartime fleet, his doctrine of mutually assured destruction pretty much dictating that the Germans should be able to cause enough casualties in the case of war to the British Navy that they would never dare begin a conflict with them.
To be fair his mania for territorial expansion for its own sake was equally responsible for rubbing Britain up the wrong way while also providing almost no appreciable strategic economic benefit to Germany.
That is also true, though Germany wasn't the only one guilty of doing this. Since having colonies at the time was seen as 'cool' and prestigious, so the more you had them, the better. Massive amounts of British colonial land was run at a constant deficit, the Empire was a rather... expensive endeavor.
It is true that Germany wasn't unique in pursuing colonies for the sake of prestige, but I would argue they were unique in the extent to which they were willing to escalate international tensions and threaten conflict to achieve those ambitions, and Germany was unique in how little it stood to benefit from those colonies it did want to acquire.
In Britain's case there were at least some localised economic interests benefiting from later imperial formalisation and expansion, even if it represented a net deficit to the nation as a whole. Colonial expansion was relatively 'cheap' thanks to the existing investment Britain made in supporting its empire, and where expansion did occur, it was usually either into European terra nullis or within established spheres of influence to reduce the impact inter-colonial completion on her wider foreign relations. High imperialism was still a catastrophic mistake and disaster of epic propositions, but you can see the logic to it for at least some people if you squint.
For German I just can't see a rational need other than the kaiser's own self-aggrandisement. Expansion was expensive, all that was left were the scraps even the french weren't interested in, the entire German economy was already set up to work without imperial possession and was handily out-competing all its imperial peers, and whatever scraps they did get hold of they couldn't hope to sustain or benefit from in any future war. It's not just misguided, it's literally unjustifiable, imo.
Let's face it: the main problem for Germany with Germany's attempt at colonial empire was that they got started on colonization after some imperial colonizers had already started losing their holdings in a big way. The pendulum had started to swing back. The Mexican War of Independence, for instance, was history before Germany fully unified (recent history, but not just yesterday either), and even nations still running the most successful colonial empires at the time were starting to have some problems keeping control and keeping their colonies profitable.
Germany got into the colonization game far too late to really make any gains from it.
Yeah, that about sums it up. There's a reason that one of Otto Von Bismarck's points of conflict with Kaiser Wilhelm II was that Bismarck saw German colonization as a useless vanity project, and while there were other and more significant reasons Bismarck was fired by the Kaiser, it was something they firmly disagreed about. Thing is, when you're in late 1800s Europe and Otto Von Bismarck, of all people, is telling you that further expansion and colonial ventures are a bad idea, they're probably a bad idea.
If we got a Teddy again now he would absolutely start the war with Venezuela as Trump is basically taking geopolitics back to the Monroe Doctirne and Roosevelt Corollary.
At least he would tell Amazon and Silicone valley to fuck off because the man hated monopolies almost as much as he loved imperialism.
If teddy was alive today and learned the US is trying to get rid of national parks heād burn down the White House and move to a cabin in the woods til we need him again.
No, Roosevelt was very picky about which monopolies he went after because he believed in "good trusts" which had a tendency to be "those that I like."
Taft was the trust busting man, he truly did not believe a trust could be "good" and went ham on them, even taking down some of Theodore's supporters trusts. It was something Theodore not only did not do, but made Theodore mad. It's one of the reasons Roosevelt found Taft inadequate for president.
Also don't think teddy would do wonders for hyper polar politics .Ā
Teddy for 2028!!!
FDR pulled off the cape with pizzazz without standing up. Make men's clothes drape again
2/3 of these guys lost their entire empires before the end of their reign, in no small part due to their personal foolishness.
Right but check out their sick f#ckin hats
3rd guy technically started his empire during his reign
In fact, 100 years ago, all these guys were (recent) history.
I just want a US president with a really fantastic beard again. Woodrow really started a dumb trend that hasn't wavered at all in 100 years. I'll take even a really solid mustache. Give me something!
millennial hipsters circa 2015 tried really hard to make fancy mustaches cool again but that movement died hard. But there is some hope; Im seeing lots of zoomers with mustaches these days. I really hate how your only options as a professional these days seem to be clean or a goatee(maybe), and itās embarrassing that stupid Alex Jones / JD Vance unkempt lazy beard is somehow becoming acceptable.Ā
Furthermore I despise the 70s porno āstache slander that somehow became topical in the early 00s, how it bullied an entire generation of men into thinking mustaches are cringe and for creeps. Im glad zoomers are bucking the stigma.Ā
Zoomer mustaches are not bucking the creep allegations for me :(
Don't sit here wishing for a president with facial hair when JD Vance is the possible 2028 nominee. You're tempting fate.
More like devolution i would say, bring back majestic drip
Say that to the Saudi Prince
3/10 not orange enough.
The stock image guys in the top half are way too young to be accurate world leaders.
Let me guess, you're from the US? Here in Europe we generally have much younger leaders
The German chancellor is 70.
It never ceases to amaze me how redditors fail to understand "generally". Yes, "generally" means that there will be exceptions. But even at 70, he's a decade younger than Trump.
… to take a few examples.
Trump: Born 1946. Biden: Born 1942.
world leaders 100 years ago- kings, royalty, military veterans, badass
world leaders today- businessman, businessman & more businessman
only thing that remained the same is their love for young kids...
Capitalism and globalism I guess.
Also that last line š
Businessmen just cut out tge middlemen and rule directly now.Ā Ā
"badass" do massacres, ethnic cleansings, corruptions, social classes, and slavery count?
historically..... every badass had done at least 1 of the things you've mentioned
Look at you Otto
the only one I saw out of a suit is Iran's leader, the rest are all in the same drip
I really think thereās a pathology that drives Western globalists absolutely batshit crazy that thereās world leaders who chose to wear āpajamasā instead of conforming to their dress code.
Im actually still surprised Arab Gulf leaders wear their traditional bedouin garb in what seems almost like an exception. Trump absolutely blasted Zelensky for not wearing a suit to the White House yet MBS wears his robes and keffiyah and he doesnāt care. I know the reason is money, but itās still interesting.
Thatās not Bedouin garb.
Tsar wasn't alive 100 years ago
And Wilhelm didn't lead anything at that time.
Yes, 100 years ago was 1925, none of those photos is from that era. Not even Roosevelt's one.
As much as I hate the current Indian government, I have to say that most Indian leaders maintain a drip, including the current one.
Heads of state used to dress like it.
This unironically bothers me. We all kinda adopted these British/France based attires and it's so boring. Which is why I lowkey like it when world leaders step out of the norm
One more reason to hate the Nazis
They ruined Drip for everyone else
The Pickelhaube had some major drip... Major Drippelhaube
One world gov under capitalism
Them being stylish 100 years ago was a family thing ;)
Leaders from Bhutan, Some African countries, India, Saudi Arabia do wear distinct clothes.
Yeh they gradually removed faction differences for some reason
Idk that fist guys lookin goofy
Tsar Nicholas II
He locked much better without clothes.
Men: what happened?
I may be a rare commodity in this world, but I hate everything about suits.
How they look, how they feel, and I associate them with lying bastards. It's just such an inefficient garment in every way. They don't allow full range of motion comfortably (what even is the fucking point?!), they're fucking hot unless you crank the AC to like 65F, even a cheap suit is expensive as fuck, and the shoes that tend to go with them will slip on a single molecule of water.
Even just the standard dress clothes that go under them are ass. I could never be one of the professions that mandates wearing one.
I was forced to wear a suit to school. Never again. They can occasionally look alright but I completely don't get people who say that "suits look good". Like hell no? It's the same basic 3 to 6 piece garment every time, it is associated with status, and as someone brought up in Eastern Europe I associate it exclusively with power hungry lying bastards or people who really care about being perceived as important. I mean I guess suits have 5 variations in texture and I don't give a shit, how about we just dress interesting instead if we're not allowed to wear what we want
History lesson. The suit used to be the common man's formal wear about 150 years ago. The rich and powerful woreĀ tailcoats/frock coats. The rich then copied the poorer classes and western would was so dominant this spread to Asia and Africa etc
It's wild how style has become such a political liability. The bar for a scandal is now just wearing something with a bit of personality.
And if it isn't drab boring business suits it's some variation of dictator in a fake ass military uniform covered in a quadrillion medals, who wouldn't actually have the spine to fight off a fly if it got near his food.
aesthetic rot.
This is beyond backwards.
Look at what theyāve taken from us.
WE NEED TO BRING BACK CAPES
Capitalism and Globalism really has wrecked local cultural expression.
This is just sad.
And we didn't lose any of the Imperialism anyway. An empire in Europe is trying through force and feigned diplomacy to annex its old lands. And colonisers in the New World are fighting over boats in the South Americas.
Boomer fashion
Would you rather be ruled by a business man disguised as a militant or a militant disguised as a business man?
German King is aura farming
These outfits had so much aura. Where did we go wrong š
Bring back hats and cloaks 2026! The mountain snipe requires it
The bottom right helmet looks like trumps hair
Germans need to start wearing pointy helmets again.Ā
Dude, the drip back then was unmatched, honestly.