text: While your post has some merit, you weaken your argument when the casualties are exaggerated: according to wikipedia the UK suffered total casualties of 450,000 in WW II, and likely less than 1,000,000 in WW I.  Also, any assertion that any WW I participant is entirely blameless is a very simplistic view of history, and even WW II is not always black and white (see Dresden, etc.).  Last but not least, if current governments must pay for the sins of previous generations, I would not want to be in the UK's situation - their debt to the Irish alone would bankrupt them.