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On the surface, European society at the turn of the century had never seemed so peaceful, prosperous, and stable, as seen at the Great Exhibition in Paris in 1900…. …. & Kaiser Wilhelm II’s annual birthday celebration in Berlin in 1913.
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On the surface, European society at the turn of the century had never seemed so peaceful, prosperous, and stable, as seen at the Great Exhibition in Paris in 1900….
…. & Kaiser Wilhelm II’s annual birthday celebration in Berlin in 1913
Franz Josef attends a ball in Vienna (c.1900). Despite mounting tensions in the years leading up to World War I, Europe’s elite continued living in a fantasy world of such high society events.
Nothing better symbolized Europe’s apparent power and stability than this group portrait of Queen Victoria and her descendants (1894), including her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II (seated l.) & nephew, Nicholas II (behind Wilhelm in the derby). But behind the façade of normalcy not all was well...
Emily Davison’s fatal attempt to publicize the suffrage issue by throwing herself in front of the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby (6/4/1913) reflects the deeper social unrest underlying European society in the early 20th century.
The appeal of socialism to the working classes was growing. Left & below: Jean Jaures & Rosa Luxembourg, popular socialist and anti-war leaders. Juares was murdered at the beginning of the war. Luxembourg would be brutally murdered in its turbulent aftermath.
Unfortunately, the mindset of much of Europe was one of rampant militarism…
19th century views on war and history • “War is the great purifier, making for...the ethical health of peoples corrupted by a long peace, as the blowing of the winds preserves the sea from the foulness which would be the result of a prolonged calm.”--Georg Wilhelm Hegel
19th century views on war and history “War is the great purifier, making for...the ethical health of peoples corrupted by a long peace, as the blowing of the winds preserves the sea from the foulness which would be the result of a prolonged calm.”--Georg Wilhelm Hegel “Ye shall love peace as a means to new war, and the short peace more than the long. You I advise not to work, but to fight. You I advise not to peace but to victory…Ye say it is the good cause which halloweth every war. I say unto you it is the good war which halloweth every cause. War and courage have done more great things than charity.”--Freidrich Nietzsche.
Selected quotations from Germany and the Next War by General von Bernhardi (1911) "War is not only a practical necessity, it is a theoretical necessity, an exigency of logic. The concept of the State implies the concept of war, for the essence of the State is power...That war should ever be banished from the world is a hope not only absurd, but profoundly immoral. It would involve the atrophy of many of the essential and sublime forces of the human soul...A people which become attached to the chimerical hope of perpetual peace finishes irremediably by decaying in its proud isolation....martial glory is the basis of all the political virtues; in the rich treasure of Germany's glories the Prussian military glory is a jewel as precious as the masterpieces of our poets and thinkers.”
Selected quotations from Germany and the Next War by General von Bernhardi (1911) "War is not only a practical necessity, it is a theoretical necessity, an exigency of logic. The concept of the State implies the concept of war, for the essence of the State is power...That war should ever be banished from the world is a hope not only absurd, but profoundly immoral. It would involve the atrophy of many of the essential and sublime forces of the human soul...A people which become attached to the chimerical hope of perpetual peace finishes irremediably by decaying in its proud isolation....martial glory is the basis of all the political virtues; in the rich treasure of Germany's glories the Prussian military glory is a jewel as precious as the masterpieces of our poets and thinkers.” "...to play blindly with peace...has become the shame of the thought and morality of our age."
Selected quotations from Germany and the Next War by General von Bernhardi (1911) "War is not only a practical necessity, it is a theoretical necessity, an exigency of logic. The concept of the State implies the concept of war, for the essence of the State is power...That war should ever be banished from the world is a hope not only absurd, but profoundly immoral. It would involve the atrophy of many of the essential and sublime forces of the human soul...A people which become attached to the chimerical hope of perpetual peace finishes irremediably by decaying in its proud isolation....martial glory is the basis of all the political virtues; in the rich treasure of Germany's glories the Prussian military glory is a jewel as precious as the masterpieces of our poets and thinkers.” "...to play blindly with peace...has become the shame of the thought and morality of our age." “It does not matter what you think as long as you obey.”
Selected quotations from Germany and the Next War by General von Bernhardi (1911) "War is not only a practical necessity, it is a theoretical necessity, an exigency of logic. The concept of the State implies the concept of war, for the essence of the State is power...That war should ever be banished from the world is a hope not only absurd, but profoundly immoral. It would involve the atrophy of many of the essential and sublime forces of the human soul...A people which become attached to the chimerical hope of perpetual peace finishes irremediably by decaying in its proud isolation....martial glory is the basis of all the political virtues; in the rich treasure of Germany's glories the Prussian military glory is a jewel as precious as the masterpieces of our poets and thinkers.” "...to play blindly with peace...has become the shame of the thought and morality of our age." “It does not matter what you think as long as you obey.” “It is incumbent on us ….to act on the offensive and strike the first blow.”
Selected quotations from Germany and the Next War by General von Bernhardi (1911) "War is not only a practical necessity, it is a theoretical necessity, an exigency of logic. The concept of the State implies the concept of war, for the essence of the State is power...That war should ever be banished from the world is a hope not only absurd, but profoundly immoral. It would involve the atrophy of many of the essential and sublime forces of the human soul...A people which become attached to the chimerical hope of perpetual peace finishes irremediably by decaying in its proud isolation....martial glory is the basis of all the political virtues; in the rich treasure of Germany's glories the Prussian military glory is a jewel as precious as the masterpieces of our poets and thinkers.” "...to play blindly with peace...has become the shame of the thought and morality of our age." “It does not matter what you think as long as you obey.” “It is incumbent on us ….to act on the offensive and strike the first blow.” “[France] must be annihilated once and for all as a great power.”
Not that the Germans were the only ones who glorified war and demonized the enemy “Yes, this delightful land which we inhabit and which nature caresses with love is made to be the domain of liberty and happiness...I am French, I am one of thy representatives!...Oh, sublime people! Accept the sacrifices of my whole being. Happy is the man who is born in your midst; happier is he who can die for your happiness."--Robespierre
"France will have but one thought, to reconstitute her forces, gather her energy, nourish her sacred anger, raise her young generation to form an army of the whole people, to work without cease, to study the methods and skills of our enemies, to become again a great France, the France of 1792, the France of an idea with a sword. Then one day she will be irresistible. Then she will take back Alsace-Lorraine."--Victor Hugo
The history of the early 1900s (1914-45) can largely be summed up as 19th century mentalities running up against 20th century realities.
It’s as if our civilization had entered its adolescence, gotten its driver’s license, & set off behind the wheel with an incredible sense of power….
...but having no idea of how to find the brakes. Cantigny, France
…. and after Esnes, France, before the Great War
Grodno,East Prussia Peronne, France after the Battle of the Somme, 1916
Vaux St. Quentin
But the Great War destroyed more than buildings…. Malines, France
….as did many animals... Nature paid a heavy price...
And it wasn’t only soldiers who paid the price. Armenians massacred by Turks in the century’s first major case of genocide
…such as this French veteran who was fitted with a mask to cover a face horribly disfigured by an artillery shell.
And for many of those who returned physically healthy, the horrors of modern war had left deep & permanent psychological wounds… …for some of whom there was only one way out. Trench suicide by Otto Dix
Civilization as a whole also suffered a collective psychological wound, as seen in Otto Dix’s Pragerstrasse....
Otto Dix, Flanders (1934-6). His last painting with its strong anti-war message was strongly disapproved of by Hitler’s new Nazi regime then ruling Germany and preparing its people to launch the next big war…
FC.1 BIOLOGICAL, CULTURAL & TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IN HISTORY CULTURAL EVOLUTION People adapt behavior to envir. Much faster than biol. evol. TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION People adapt envir. to their needs progressively the fastest evol. “RUBBER BAND” THEORY If 1 part of a culture changes it affects the rest of the culture Mobile H & G soc’sLittle or no surplus Little conflict Fairly egalitarian society Settled agr. soc’s More surplus More wars & soc. stratification Lower status for women Pre-indust. civ’s Much more wealth Much more war & soc. stratific. Women lose status Indus. soc’sw/rapidly accelerating tech Much more destr. warfare, but higher status for women Biol. & cult. evol. can’t keep up with spiraling tech. growth Society & culture can’t change as quickly Environment can’t support unltd. growth Tech. of destruction grows even faster than tech. of production Total war is obsolete BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION Where nature very slowly adapts us to changing environment Humans distinguished by 5 major biological features: Binocular & color vision Upright posture frees hands Hands with opposable thumbs Large well organized brain Speech share ideas New tech’s Surpluses Wars & conflict Much more wealth, but also major problems:
Serbian nationalist murders heir to Hapsburg throne Ger. activates Schlieffen Plan to avoid 2-front war by knocking out Fr. before Rus. can mobilize Russia, as a dipl. move to show it is serious, mobilizes its army Nationalist rivalries: New Balkan states vs. Hapsburgs & each other France vs. Germany Hapsburgs vs Russia War b/w any 2 powers drags all others in Two rival alliances of Eur. powers Mutual fear of each others’ milit. strength All raise milit. spending Drains econ’s Competition for mkts & colonies Fewer mkts & colonies to exploit Military/diplomatic rivalries: Politicians blame other nations Ger. declares war on Fr. as well as Russia & invades neutral Belgium to get to Fr. Ind. Rev faster milit. mobiliz. in Fr than Rus Ger’s geog. pos. b/w hostile Fr. & Russia Protective tariffs ruin trade & econ. Ger. assures Austria of its total support vs. Russia Britain declares war on Germany Rising international tensions Austria blames Serbia Harsh ultimatum Combination of the two main driving forces of 1800s: Economic rivalries: Rising international tensions FC.126 THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I (1870-1914) Fr. Rev Nat’lism (FC.105) Spread of Ind. Rev. (FC.116) Serbia unable to comply Gets Russian support Eur’s colonies also get drawn in, making it a global war (FC.127)
Combination of the two main driving forces of 1800s: FC.126 THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I (1870-1914) Fr. Rev Nat’lism (FC.105) Fr. Rev Nat’lism (FC.105) Spread of Ind. Rev. (FC.116)
