History /
Today is the 1st of September (WWII start in Poland) [138]
Now that's a bit of stretch? It was a century of peace, unparalleled in history. Development of arts and sciences etc. I can see the Clausewitz's professional point of view, but not everybody is supposed to think military, huh?
Well, it was a century that politically was born out of Revolution (the French Revolution) and was maintained by revolutions as well: the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 shaped it. Of course until 1871, there was always the threat of France renewing her aspirations again. The entire concert was built around that effort. Metternich did a great job in juggling to keep the balance.
But nevertheless there were plenty of minor wars and two great wars - perhaps not in Western Europe, but for certain with the participation of at least one of the Great Powers: first of course the Napoleontic wars up until 1815, the Crimean War of 1854 which was pretty huge and the 1877/78 war between Russia and Turkey. There were a couple of wars in which Spain was involved, the German unification wars and a few others on the fringes of Europe. But in all, I agree that it was a relatively peaceful century - in which perhaps the reason also lie for the huge outburst with which the century finally came to an end in 1914. And in 1914 it was shown that the system maintained for such a long time was rotten to the core.
Russia was changing, fast.
That was perhaps the biggest shock of the Summer of 1914: the speed with which Russia was able to mobilize. All participants expected it to be ready only by early 1915. That turned out to be a bit different :)
Why do you say it was only the Axis that was so stiff?
They were autocratic régimes. Power mainly revolved around the Kaiser or Czar. Parliaments were mainly mere tools to act on his will. And when you have an incompetent individual on tht position, you probably can imagine that the decisions made were not always in pace with the times. In GB parliament had much more power.
A good example of the difference in approach would be this: in 1916/1917 there was quite some unrest in the diverse populations of the Allied countries: ppl were tired of war and wanted better conditions in return for their efforts. In GB, Lloyd George ordered his negociators to give the protesters everything they wanted and so happened. The workers went back to work and the unrest was curbed. In Russia however, when ppl demonstrated for better conditions and food, the Czar ordered to shoot them as they destabilized the nation. With this order he unwillingly set off the chain of events that led eventually to his own demise and the creation of the Soviet Union. These are just examples, but it shows most definitively the difference in approach and the characteristics of the régime.
And thus responsible for the war, presumably?
Oh, I pertinent disagree with the statement made that the Central Powers were responsible for the war. Each and every belligerent of WW1 carries responsibility. They all had the opportunity to stop the whole thing and yet they did nothing to that effect. They all went into battle with their own agenda and that agenda was in every case not that noble as has been proclaimed. Actually, the only sovereign country that was totally innocent and victim of the war was Belgium. Belgium was not part of any alliance nor did it provoke any of the belligerent parties. It just had the bad luck to be in the path of the von Schlieffen Plan.
creating 1914 caesura
Of course, a caesura is always arteficial. According to Eckstein the breaking point in the heads of the population was the realisation that all the new technology wasn't infallible as they had been thinking in the two decades previous. A major milestone to that effect would be, how trivial it may seem, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Although romanticized, this event caused a huge shock in the consciense of the average ppl as it showed that the "unsinkable ship" sank on her maiden voyage. There are more examples, but for that I would suggest you get a copy of "The Rites of Spring - the First World War and the Birth of the Modern Age" by Eckstein. It's a good read.
But politically speaking there are too much cracks and lines in the surface to speak of one clear caesura.
What about the promiscuous nature then? Face (let's say it was) that launches 1000 ships? Didn't it start from food and women? Or maybe the vision of a happier smile of My Kids? Isn't it always about that?
The blanket of civilisation always keeps us from killing our neighbour because he has a bigger car than we have and it would make us and our kids feel better if we had such a car :)
Shouldn't we shut up, then. Out of the the respect for principles.
It's my thread :) But besides, this discussion does imo have some relevance.
After Kazimir the Great died, Polish nobility sent a delegation to France, to bring a newly elected king. They were appalled with the French barbarism. Dirt, lice, nobody speaking Latin.
Yeah, the French always spoke French and refused to speak Latin and the main achievements of their efforts to retrieve hegemony was that from the 18th century on, the diplomatic language in all countries was French.
Some ppl say they would like to travel in time back to those days to see what it was like, but if they would, they probably would be vomiting from the smell as soon as they entered a pub or a house or a city: ppl didn't wash themselves until Victoria introduced it in the 1850's, feces and other nasty stuff were thrown just out of the window into the street (if you were unlucky to pass at that moment...well...:) On the other hand, the approach to getting laid was also somewhat different back then; let's say, it was a bit more direct :)
NB: While I do believe that the Versailles Treaty (which was deliberately held in the Mirror Hall - little idea from the French to get back at the Germans for 1871) is co-responsible for the emergence of Hitler cs, I see it only as part of the conglomerate of events, in this case being both the effect of previous events and the cause of events to follow in the future. But WW2 was caused by much more than just that piece of paper.
>^..^<
M-G (time for a drink)
