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.
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.
So is Atilla the Hun just Atilla the German?
Other way round. The nickname/insult was saying Germans are warlike barbarians like Atila the Hun and the rest of the the Huns.
Kaiser Wilhelm gave a speech encouraging his soldiers to “be huns” on campaign, which led to it being an insult applied to Germans.
“hun” was the “orc” of the pre-Tolkien era
1919 was the Tolkien era. He just hadn’t published yet
Ehhh yes, but the stereotype already existed before that speech: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hun_speech
‘atilla’ meant something like ‘little Daddy’ in visigothic.
Do with that what you will
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”.