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On June 28, 1919, the day this was printed, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in France ending the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers of World War I. That's the context for the "hun mine-layer" comment.

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[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

So is Atilla the Hun just Atilla the German?

[-] OhNoMoreLemmy@lemmy.ml 25 points 2 months ago

Other way round. The nickname/insult was saying Germans are warlike barbarians like Atila the Hun and the rest of the the Huns.

[-] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 months ago

Kaiser Wilhelm gave a speech encouraging his soldiers to "be huns" on campaign, which led to it being an insult applied to Germans.

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 17 points 2 months ago

“hun” was the “orc” of the pre-Tolkien era

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

1919 was the Tolkien era. He just hadn't published yet

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago

Ehhh yes, but the stereotype already existed before that speech: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hun_speech

[-] Ordo_Bellatores@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

'atilla' meant something like 'little Daddy' in visigothic.

Do with that what you will

[-] topherclay@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

That's a little unfair because "daddy" is already a diminutive version of "dad" so you are double dipping on diminutives. It'd be more accurate to say that "atilla" is either like "little dad" or "daddy".

this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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