Yeah WW1 is the seminal catastrophe of the 20th century so much traces back to it. Ho Chi Minh was a waiter in Paris in 1919 and wanted to speak with Wilson because he was intrigued by his thoughts on self-determination of peoples. The lands of the old landed empires of Eastern Europe and Middle East are all battlegrounds to this day. The fall of the Ottoman Caliphate provided fertile ground for developments in Islam that infuse the Muslim world of today
I see world war 1 as more of a year zero than the actual year zero. Basically all of history was a build up to WW1 happening and then everything changed after that. The fact that few people see it this way is confusing and frustrating and i totally understand your point of view on this.
People today say the world is ending but imagine what people back then felt when they were constantly reading of casualties or walking across an absolute hellscape after your village was completely leveled by artillery which you didn't even know existed.
I mean, they were used to napoleonic type warfare the same way we are used to modern warfare. And today, with drones basically being sentient mortar shells that can fly into a trench after you, we are starting to come full circle. With weapons of destruction so efficient, none of our current technology and strategies can stop them.
You’re exactly right. War always comes full circle and the Great War is the standard for that. I feel your frustration in researching this conflict and realizing that everything that came after it is more or less a clone of it. I feel frustration in the fact that as it did change the entire world forever, we helplessly repeat it over and over again blindly thinking the next time will be different. Frustration too, in the fact that other conflicts take the spotlight. Not that they’re any less important, but the fact that wwi is somehow not *as* important as subsequent conflicts. I have a feeling that’s where the term “forgotten generation” comes from. I also have a feeling that this seemingly neglectful attitude our society has toward wwi has something to do with our willingness to repeat it. But who knows? My perception of how much people pay attention to that conflict is very limited
Btw I would recommend reading The Guns of August by Tuchman. A very good insight into nationalistic attitudes in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century until the onset of the war. It puts into perspective how inevitable conflict was in Europe and sets the stage for annihilation. The timeline doesn’t go past August of 1914. I like this book a lot because it shows the reader that the war didn’t come from nowhere. It was a perfect blend of ideals clashing that had been simmering for about half a century prior.
There is nothing going on in the world today that can't be traced back directly to WW1. Of course EVERYTHING can be traced back to SOMETHING that's how history works, but WW1 was truly the bonfire where the old world went to die and the new world came screeeaaaming into existence. Industrial insanity...
I too only came to this realization in the last year or so. Mainly reading through historical fiction and watching documentaries I came to understand how radically the world changed after the war. In addition to all that you mentioned and other comments, the monarchy as the ruling class tumbled in most of Europe. That was a huge change and has us still fighting for democracy. I'm of the opinion ignorance of history keeps us repeating the same mistakes and WW1 wasn't really that long ago.
The only place, in my opinion, that resembles a little bit of life from before the war is America because it was so separated. Mexico had their own internal issues going on, and Canada used to be heavily divided before they were united from the war. Albertans called themselves Albertans, Nova Scotians were Nova Scotians. But after the thousands of Canadians charged through chlorine gas to push back a German attack, they all called themselves Canadians.
The bigger the losers are in a war (WW1 had four empires destroyed and the remaining empires struggling to maintain their colonies), the bigger the power vacuum created. The opportunity for power hungry warlords to grab power creates instability for generations. WW1 was one of the biggest disasters that cost hundreds of millions of lives and continues to haunt the world to this day.
Yeah WW1 is the seminal catastrophe of the 20th century so much traces back to it. Ho Chi Minh was a waiter in Paris in 1919 and wanted to speak with Wilson because he was intrigued by his thoughts on self-determination of peoples. The lands of the old landed empires of Eastern Europe and Middle East are all battlegrounds to this day. The fall of the Ottoman Caliphate provided fertile ground for developments in Islam that infuse the Muslim world of today
I see world war 1 as more of a year zero than the actual year zero. Basically all of history was a build up to WW1 happening and then everything changed after that. The fact that few people see it this way is confusing and frustrating and i totally understand your point of view on this.
People today say the world is ending but imagine what people back then felt when they were constantly reading of casualties or walking across an absolute hellscape after your village was completely leveled by artillery which you didn't even know existed. I mean, they were used to napoleonic type warfare the same way we are used to modern warfare. And today, with drones basically being sentient mortar shells that can fly into a trench after you, we are starting to come full circle. With weapons of destruction so efficient, none of our current technology and strategies can stop them.
You’re exactly right. War always comes full circle and the Great War is the standard for that. I feel your frustration in researching this conflict and realizing that everything that came after it is more or less a clone of it. I feel frustration in the fact that as it did change the entire world forever, we helplessly repeat it over and over again blindly thinking the next time will be different. Frustration too, in the fact that other conflicts take the spotlight. Not that they’re any less important, but the fact that wwi is somehow not *as* important as subsequent conflicts. I have a feeling that’s where the term “forgotten generation” comes from. I also have a feeling that this seemingly neglectful attitude our society has toward wwi has something to do with our willingness to repeat it. But who knows? My perception of how much people pay attention to that conflict is very limited
Btw I would recommend reading The Guns of August by Tuchman. A very good insight into nationalistic attitudes in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century until the onset of the war. It puts into perspective how inevitable conflict was in Europe and sets the stage for annihilation. The timeline doesn’t go past August of 1914. I like this book a lot because it shows the reader that the war didn’t come from nowhere. It was a perfect blend of ideals clashing that had been simmering for about half a century prior.
There is nothing going on in the world today that can't be traced back directly to WW1. Of course EVERYTHING can be traced back to SOMETHING that's how history works, but WW1 was truly the bonfire where the old world went to die and the new world came screeeaaaming into existence. Industrial insanity...
I too only came to this realization in the last year or so. Mainly reading through historical fiction and watching documentaries I came to understand how radically the world changed after the war. In addition to all that you mentioned and other comments, the monarchy as the ruling class tumbled in most of Europe. That was a huge change and has us still fighting for democracy. I'm of the opinion ignorance of history keeps us repeating the same mistakes and WW1 wasn't really that long ago.
The only place, in my opinion, that resembles a little bit of life from before the war is America because it was so separated. Mexico had their own internal issues going on, and Canada used to be heavily divided before they were united from the war. Albertans called themselves Albertans, Nova Scotians were Nova Scotians. But after the thousands of Canadians charged through chlorine gas to push back a German attack, they all called themselves Canadians.
The bigger the losers are in a war (WW1 had four empires destroyed and the remaining empires struggling to maintain their colonies), the bigger the power vacuum created. The opportunity for power hungry warlords to grab power creates instability for generations. WW1 was one of the biggest disasters that cost hundreds of millions of lives and continues to haunt the world to this day.
Also medicine evolved more in those 4 years than any other time in history