How the Great War influenced the twentieth century

World War One influenced World War Two, and also influenced the Cold War

In 1914, Europe was set ablaze by the outbreak of the Great War. A series of military alliances had been designed to keep the peace, but instead pushed Europe closer to war. Various minor wars and crises had each poured more gunpowder into the magazine. Then, suddenly, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand lit the fuse … and Europe exploded. The war eventually killed some 15 million people. The war included some of the bitterest fighting in history, and left behind the simple term “shell shock.” We still grapple with the war’s legacy today. In Europe, its outbreak might (possibly) have been preventable. And its conclusion rendered the Allied victory incomplete, and even a little unsatisfying. The bloodbath of a generation later was made almost (but not completely) unavoidable. Nonetheless, the war may have actually accomplished a few things despite this, even if it was incomplete. Therefore, what is the legacy of the war today? How, in both good and bad ways, did it set the course for the twentieth century? These are the questions that this post will try to answer. Whatever one’s opinion of the war, it clearly had a lasting impact upon many different parts of the world. It was fought from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East … to East Asia and the Pacific islands. It was fought in the world’s oceans and seas, from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean to the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. And, in many ways, it explains the Second World War and the twentieth-century Cold War. I should clarify that this post will have a special focus on Germany. This is because I have instead covered some other important parts of the story elsewhere, as I will describe later on in this post. However, I would also like to make some occasional comments about various other nations (including France), wherever this seems appropriate.

Raising the German flag at Mulinuʻu – German Samoa, 1900

Why military history remains relevant (not to mention interesting)

“We are met on a great battlefield of that war [the Civil War]. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here [at Gettysburg].”

– Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (19 November 1863)

In academia, military history seems to have been de-emphasized in some recent decades

The last few decades have seen a rapid proliferation of academic disciplines – including, among others, humanities disciplines. Within the academic discipline of history alone, there has been a similarly rapid proliferation of specific sub-fields within history. These include social history, labor history, ethnic history, women’s history, and LGBTQ history – among many, many others. But, interestingly, one kind of history seems to have been de-emphasized in some recent decades. This is simply: military history. This was traditionally one of the major areas of historical research. It goes back to the very founding of the academic discipline of history. That is, Herodotus covered the Greco-Persian Wars, and Thucydides covered the Peloponnesian War. Together, these two men co-founded the modern discipline of history.

19th century illustration of Athenian Greeks hammering the Persians at the Battle of Salamis

A review of “Hinduism” (audiobook)

There are over one billion Hindus in the world. This is more than triple the number of Buddhists. Surprisingly to many Americans, this makes Hinduism the most popular of the world’s Eastern religions. It is surpassed by Christianity and Islam, and even by those who identify (in one way or another) as “non-religious.” But, even when these “non-religious” folks are included, Hinduism would still be the fourth largest religion in the world. That’s part of why I wanted to listen to this audiobook – to hear about this major world religion.

How America and Russia became bitter Cold War enemies

“There are, at the present time, two great nations in the world which seem to tend towards the same end, although they started from different points: I allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of them have grown up unnoticed; and whilst the attention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they have suddenly assumed a most prominent place amongst the nations; and the world learned their existence and their greatness at almost the same time.”

“Their starting-point is different, and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems to be marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.”

– Closing two paragraphs of the 1835 portions of Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America,” Book 1, Conclusion (again, written in 1835)

What are the roots of the rivalry between America and Russia during the Cold War?

In 1700, a war began in Northern and Eastern Europe. It was called the “Great Northern War.” Russia was one of a number of participants in that war. This war lasted for more than twenty years, and only ended in 1721. Its “Treaty of Nystad” is often marked as the beginning of the “Russian Empire.” The Russian Empire was then officially proclaimed later in that same year: 1721. In many ways, this war had facilitated the rise of Russia. In 1722, Russia’s “Peter the Great” introduced the “Table of Ranks.” As Wikipedia puts it, this was “a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia” (see source). This would last for nearly two centuries. In 1776, the United States declared its independence from the British Empire. This independence was then recognized by the mother country in 1783. Thus, the Russian Empire and the United States were born in the same century: the eighteenth century – although the nation of Russia (obviously) had been around for much longer than this massive Empire. The American War of Independence had seen a young John Quincy Adams dispatched to the court of Russia’s “Catherine the Great,” as a secretary to the American diplomat Francis Dana. But the two countries’ histories would soon become parallel in the Napoleonic Wars, which would have a great effect upon both nations.

Peter the Great of Russia

Things to consider if you’re wanting to learn Biblical languages

“If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.”

– The New Testament, “The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians,” Chapter 14, Verse 27 (as translated by the King James Version of the Bible)

This might seem a strange way to begin a blog post about Biblical languages … but most versions of contemporary Islam require their adherents to learn Classical Arabic. This is because they are expected to read the Quran in the original. To Muslims, translations of the Quran are not even the “Quran” at all. Reading the “Quran” in English would thus be unsatisfactory to them. Some versions of Judaism have a similar reverence for the Hebrew language, with even the characters of the Hebrew alphabet being considered sacred. By contrast, most Christian religions would be totally fine with their members reading the Bible in translation. More to the point, reading the Bible in translation does indeed count as “reading the Bible” in most Christian denominations.

The caves at Qumran, where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered

Is college right for me? (It depends)

Which things are best learned in a classroom? Which are best learned somewhere else?

It’s an all-too-common refrain today: “college is good for everyone.” Some tell us that “everyone” should go, and that people are “failing” in life … if they choose not to go. But, if “everyone” is going, it seems to mean a little less if someone does have a degree. Even when the degree is a real one, rather than the fake kind sold by diploma mills, college degrees have nowhere near the value that they once held. More to the point, college is not inherently better for everyone. It is indeed good for some people, but it is not good for others. There are other ways to realize your potential besides going to college. And, although college might be best reserved for people who are unusually smart (as well as academically inclined), many smart people have never set foot in a college classroom. There are other ways to do smart things, and do some great deeds to boot. Some of the greatest minds of history were self-taught, and moved forward on their own willpower without the aid of a formal classroom. Thus, there is certainly a role for self-education. That being said, there may be some other things that can only be learned in a classroom. Laboratory science might be one of these things. You can read about biology and physics, and see videos of chemists using beakers and test tubes. But, unless you perform some laboratory science for yourself, you won’t really learn much about how it actually works. Self-education, although very valuable, can only go so far.

A Crookes tube in chemistry (two views): light and dark

Why I would like to learn Biblical Aramaic

“The king [Nebuchadnezzar] answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.”

– The Hebrew Bible, “The Book of Daniel,” Chapter 2, Verses 5 and 6 (as translated by the King James Version of the Bible) – one of the few parts of the Hebrew Bible to be written in Aramaic, rather than Hebrew

Religious schools are among the most prominent schools (usually at the college level) to offer entire programs in Bible Studies. For example, BYU has a major in “Ancient Near Eastern Studies” (more about that here), which is basically the same thing. Usually, such programs require you to take either Greek, or Hebrew, or both. Hebrew is the primary language of the Old Testament, while Greek seems to be the original language of the New Testament. Many of them will offer a class or two in Aramaic. However, very few of these programs will require their Bible Studies students to take such classes. I should acknowledge that this is perfectly understandable – and maybe even reasonable. This is because Aramaic makes up only 1% of the Old Testament – and far less than 1% of the entire Christian Bible. This, it is often offered as an elective, but is seldom required.

Aramaic inscription from Tayma, containing a dedicatory inscription to the god Salm