Basic Lessons from World War I

A good reminder of the atrocities of war.

 Curious that WWI is seen as a wound to civilization rather than a product of European civilization. What civilization would that exactly have been? Churchill was prepared to machine gun dock workers at about this time, most upper class people throughout Europe saw average people as subhuman and most of the lower classes were illiterate with less knowledge of geography than their betters who drew up the boundaries of Europe in 1919. The Tsars army had recruits with straw and hay strapped to their legs because they did not know left from right.

As Ghandi observed, western civilization? A good idea if it had ever been tried.

I was convinced as an undergrad that WWI was a battle for hegemony in Europe and about maintaining the old aristocratic social structure.  The technological edge (- chemistry and electricity)  went to Germany late in the 19th Century and the Brits saw this hence the arms race. I still think that is what it was about. As long as people are not confronted by the consequences of their actions-stinking rotten flesh-- or recognize themselves in others (and other species) atrocities continue. Technology makes it worse. Drones make it possible for us to imagine that there are no casualties. There are always casualties. And of the 100,000,000 or so casualties of 20th C war, the majority were civilians. More so today if you count disease........

To speculate that certain things would not have happened if WWI had not happened is an egregious distortion of how societies evolve . The Holocaust as we saw it might not have happened but the ongoing pogroms of Jews would have, and when technology was available to do it the scale of the pogroms would have become bigger. Even after WWII there were no Jews and niggers allowed in 'nice' clubs in western society. The Roma scandal in Europe illustrates that little has changed fundamentally. We are still essentially tribal as any Sunday football game demonstrates.

One of the lessons of history is that we don't learn the lessons of history.

 

Walter


Thank you Walter for this, as always, thoughtful reflection.  Yes, I have always contended, as The Nye Committee, in the 1930's documented in the US Senate, US entry in WWI was the result of profits to be made for selling guns, ammunition, etc.  The rest was propaganda to hoodwink the "sheeple."  I had the good fortune to visit the grave of Woodrow Wilson and express the deep dislike of him in my family for being a stooge for the military-industrial complex, which continues to chug along quite nicely in these parts - while more and more people lack affordable healthcare and go bankrupt to the insurance-healthcare complex.  Be thankful for being in Canada.  Take care. 
 
Paul 

FYI  Walter and Paul taught together at St. Andrew's College, Aurora, Ontario, Canada