1. World War I “The nations were caught in a trap.. there was no looking back.” General Joffre, on the eve of the Battle of the Marne, August, 1914 “What do nations care about the cost of war, if by spending a few millions in steel and gunpowder they can gain a thousand millions in diamonds and cocoa?” W.E.B. du Bois, 1915

2. The “Great War” First “total war” First world war First fully industrialized war First war of annihilation and genocide

3. War is Impossible "Nothing could have been more obvious to the people of the early twentieth century than the rapidity with which war was becoming impossible. And as certainly they did not see it. They did not see it until the atomic bombs burst in their fumbling hands." H G Wells, The World Set Free, 1914 First World War.com: http://www.firstworldwar.com/index.htmhttp://www.firstworldwar.com/index.htm BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/

4. How was Europe in 1900 like the Titanic? “La belle epoque”

5. Britain and France - Europe’s liberal powers “What spoiled children we are” Germany and Italy - The new nations “We demand our place in the sun” Austria and Russia - Dying dynasties “Hard times make for hard lines” Central Europe - The Balkan “tinderbox” “We wanna be free!” Europe in 1900

6. The World in 1900 United States – the new great power of the West China - weak, 1911 revolution Japan - the new great power in the East India - England’s “jewel in the crown” Latin America - political Independence, economic dependence Africa - partition and resistance Middle East - Ottoman decline, “the sick man”

7. WWI and Iraq? “The strongest military power in sight (Germany) is made to feel insecure by a terrorist outrage. Instead of confining its response to the known source of the terrorism (Serbia), it lashed out at one country, which it suspected of abetting the terrorists (Russia), and then at another country (France), which was linked to the first. Then it lost the plot. Worst of all, it calculated that the war would be won by Christmas.” Norman Davies, Oxford, 2003.

8. “Deep, Underlying Developments” Imperialism Economic Competition and Rivalry Nationalism Militarism – the Schlieffen Plan, 1905 Standing armies Arms races Alliances –Triple Alliance – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy –Triple Entente – France, England, Russia Role of Public Opinion – “War Fever”

10. World War I Alliance System Central Powers Triple Entente

13. WAR FEVER NOTED WRITERS AND THINKERS ADVOCATED WAR William James (American) “The plain truth is that people want war” (1912) Winston Churchill (British) “...in the field of battle life is at its best and healthiest while one awaits the caprice of the bullet.” (1900) von Treitschke (German) “War, with all its bruitality and sterness, weaves a bond of love between man and man, linking them together to face death, creating a bond that will last forever. He who knows history knows also that to banish war from the world would be to mutilate human nature.”

14. Schiller (German) Man is stunted by peaceful days, In idle repose his courage dercays... But in war man’s strength is seen, War enobles all that is mean. Belloc (British) “How I long for the Great War. It will sweep Europe clean like a broom!” Stravinsky (Russian) “War is necessary for human progress.” (1907) Holmes (American) “...man’s warlike nature and his destiny is battle. Civilization has not changed human nature...armed strife will not disappear from the earth until human nature changes.” (1895) Driant (member of the French assembly) “the outcome of the next war will be decided in less than a month.” (1906)

15. The Schliffen Plan, 1905 Paris Belgium Germany Marne River “Paris in six weeks, Christmas in Berlin”

16. Battle of the Marne, August 1914

18. “The Lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” Sir Edward Grey, August 1914.

19. (RGH # 62, p. 258)

20. “Mutual Butchery” Stalemate – War of Attrition (See RGH #43, p. 176-178) Why were there NO victories in World War I? Machine Gun Trenches “No Man’s Land” Barbed Wire Poison Gas Advantage to the Defense German trenches, 1917

21. TRENCHES – 400 MILE LINE FROM NORTH SEA TO SWITZERLAND

23. TOTAL WAR – “the killing machine” All in the name of national survival Unrestrained, mass warfare Draft and Civilian war-related work. Blurred distinction between the battlefront and the homefront. Mobilization of vast amounts of human and material resources Science was mobilized to develop more deadly weapons to break the stalemate. Homefront attacks, espionage, propaganda, restricting civil liberties Sacrifices - rationing, bond drives, blood donations, civil defense.

24. The industrialization of war British munitions factory

25. The Great War was a world war Combatants from sixty nations Mobilized soldiers from colonies

26. Mass mobilization 70 million fought in WWI 13 million Germans 15 million Russians 5.25 million British 8 million French 1 million Indians 1 million Africans

27. Indians fighting for Britain

28. Propaganda of World War I

29. Come you masters of war You that build all the guns You that build the death planes You that build the big bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your mask You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy You put a gun in my hand And you hide from my eyes And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly Like Judas of old You lie and deceive A world war can be won You want me to believe But I see through your eyes And I see through your brain Like I see through the water That runs down my drain You fasten the triggers For the others to fire Then you set back and watch When the death count gets higher You hide in your mansion As young people's blood Flows out of their bodies And is buried in the mud You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world For threatening my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins How much do I know To talk out of turn You might say that I'm young You might say I'm unlearned But there's one thing I know Though I'm younger than you Even Jesus would never Forgive what you do Let me ask you one question Is your money that good Will it buy you forgiveness Do you think that it could I think you will find When your death takes its toll All the money you made Will never buy back your soul And I hope that you die And your death'll come soon I will follow your casket In the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand o'er your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead Masters of War Bob Dylan Video

30. “In himself, man is essentially a beast, only he butters it over like a slice of bread with a little decorum.” “There is no escape anywhere...I open my eyes—my fingers grasp a sleeve, an arm...a dead man.” “We have all lost feeling for each other...we are insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run and to kill...” “I am young, I am 20 years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow.” “Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us?” From All Quiet on the Western Front, (RGH #63, pp. 261-266) Definition of War changed

31. The War Sonnets: V. The Soldier Rupert Brooke, d. 1915 If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

32. What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -- The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Anthem for Doomed Youth Wilfred Owen, d. Nov. 4, 1918

33. Children's Crusade Sting, Dream of the Blue Turtles, 1984 Young men, soldiers, nineteen fourteen Marching through countries they'd never seen Virgins with rifles, a game of charades All for a children's crusade Pawns in the game are not victims of chance Strewn on the fields of Belgium and France Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade All of these young lives betrayed The children of England would never be slaves They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves The flower of England face down in the mud And stained in the blood of a whole generation Corpulent generals safe behind lines History's lessons drowned in red wine Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade All of those young lives betrayed All for a children's crusade The children of England would never be slaves They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves The flower of England face down in the mud And stained in the blood of a whole generation Midnight in Soho nineteen eighty four Fixing in doorways, opium slaves Poppies for young men, such bitter trade All of those young lives betrayed All for a children's crusade

35. IMPACT OF WORLD WAR I [John Lukacs—“The Short Century”—1914-1989 (or 1991)] Military Technology—machine gun, barbed wire, gas, flame thrower, tank, airplane, submarine The end of courage—trench warfare, massed assaults, artillery, attrition—Verdun, Somme Total war—civilians’ role (background for totalitarianism) Fear of total war in post-war era—disarmament and appeasement World War I and World War II—cause and effect?

36. Political – A New World Order Old states and New states End of four empires: German, Russian, Austrian and Ottoman New states: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary German and Russian losses (Nazi-Soviet pact, 1939) and appeasement Russian revolution—Lenin and the party state (beginning of Cold War?) --the ideologically based state The Middle East: New countries—Iraq, Syria, Palestine-Jordan Within states Political centralization—suspension of democracy Propaganda—dehumanization of the enemy End of aristocracy—many died in war Democracy to dictatorship in 20’s and 30’s (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Yugoslavia, Spain, Italy, Germany) Appeal of ideologies—Koestler and conversion to communism Genocide—Turkey and the Armenians

37. Economic Economic regimentation during the war—“war socialism” and the growth of government Break up of empires causes economic chaos German reparations and allied war debts USA: debtor to creditor contributes to the depression

38. International law, etc. Treaty of Versailles Idea of an international forum—League of Nations, UN Idea of arms control—Washington Naval Conference, etc. U.S. emerges as a reluctant world power—Wilson—self-determination USSR—Lenin and global ambitions Revolt against Europe—decline of imperialism (eg. of India)

41. Cultural (See RGH #65) End of Enlightenment values—irrationalism (Nietzsche, Bergson, Freud) “Age of Anxiety”—Eliot, Yeats, y Gasset, Sartre and existentialism Art—Dada, Surrealism, Futurism, abstract expressionism, etc. Literature—war novels, the “Lost Generation,” Kafka History—Spengler Religion—original sin—Barth Psychology—Human nature (Inge); behaviorism, instinctualism Science—the end of exact science: Planck, Heisenberg