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