100 years later, remembering the crucible called World War I

la times ^ | 6-28-14 | Henry Chu

[TurboZamboni]

The shot that changed the world rang out on a sunny summer's morning in Southeastern Europe. No one knew then that the assassin's bullet would spell the death not just of an Austrian aristocrat but the entire global order, with four empires and millions of lives lost in a conflict on a scale never before seen..

Exactly 100 years ago Saturday, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and his wife, Sophie, were shot at close range by a young Serbian nationalist on the streets of Sarajevo.

The assassination set off a chain reaction that, barely a month later, culminated in a continent at war.

[TurboZamboni]

One hundred years ago we started down our path of becoming the world's policemen.

[virgil283]

"The assassination set off a chain reaction that, barely a month later, culminated in a continent at war."

In the U.S., history books always say something like that but don't specify exactly what was the cause.

However some English historians link the cause of the war to the rejection of monarchies, Seeing that the battle lines were between those with and those without, I would say that's right.

So why is this seldom mentioned in U.S. history books ?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Seeing that the battle lines were between those with and those without, I would say that's right.

Britain (monarchy), Italy (monarchy) and Russia (monarchy) joined by France and eventually the United States against Germany (monarchy) and Austria-Hungary (monarchy). Not quite following you here.

[Bigg Red]

MARK

[Don Corleone]

However some English historians link the cause of the war to the rejection of monarchies,

Not entirely true. There were multiple mutual defense treaties. Once one country began to observe its treaty obligations then others followed suit. Soon the cross purposes of the treaties became the catalyst of a global conflict. Monarchies tumbled but the treaties IMHO were the driving force.

[henkster]

There has been as many books written on the causes of World War 1 as the war itself. There were forces at work for decades before Princip fired his shots. Was it inevitable with or without Princip? Nobody can answer that. We do know his shots lit the powder keg.

Some very good books on the origin of the war:

Dreadnought by Robert Massie
The Arming of Europe and the Making of the First World War by by David Herrmann
Europe’s Last Summer by David Fromkin
Catyclysm, The First World War as Political Tragedy by David Stevenson
Twilight of the Hapsburgs by Alan Palmer
and the standard reference, The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

If there is blame to be placed on any one person, the current weight of historical opinion seems to place it squarely on the shoulders of Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the German General Staff. He was the one person determined to take a local conflict and deliberately turn it into a world war.

[virgil283]

The monarchies were hated all across Europe and they were blamed for the war and continuing it for so long.

When it was over ' Four monarchies were destroyed: the Hohenzollers (Germany), the Romanovs (Russia), the Hapsburgs (Austria-Hungary), and the Ottomans (Turkey); '

So my question is why do U.S. historians not mention this ?

[virgil283]

"Some very good books on the origin of the war:"

Thanks I'll look these up....

[onedoug]

...and brought freedom to millions of otherwise oppressed people.

[Maine Mariner]

I believe the BBC or PBS did a series called the Fall of Eagles in the early or mid 1970’s It is on Youtube.
Patrick Steward (Captain Picard) performance as Lenin was
quite good. It cover the period 1870-1918 rather nicely.

[virgil283]

thank you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-PSJuSvxOs

[real saxophonist]

Teufelhunden.

[call meVeronica]

Because the communists don’t want our kids to have the ability to discern those issues as a catalyst for uprising. They have been manipulating our school books since before WW2.

[bert]

The 20th century was about chucking monarchies.

The outcome of the chucking was not uniform nor all good. The Russian chucking was hijacked as was the Chinese. The hijackers are out of power.

The Arabian chucking was stolen by the Brits and the Frogs. The current events are the reversion to an idealized, older more primitive rule. It will not be tolerated and will not prevail

[chessplayer]

And U.S. troops thinking they were off to some kind of picnic.

[TurboZamboni]

The Illusion Of Victory: America In World War I

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0465024696/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3K2KPMYKA33LW&coliid=I30CDPOYAZZU77

true

[upcountryhorseman]

This was a war that we never, never should have gotten involved in! If we had not gotten involved, the European powers would have been forced to negotiate with each other
on less horrific terms: possibly preventing the second world war.

[KosmicKitty]

Dan Carlin's hardcore History - How WWI started. ,p. It's a 3 hour podcast, but I highly recommend it. I highly recommend anything from Dan Carlin

http://www.dancarlin.com//disp.php/hharchive/Show-50---Blueprint-for-Armageddon-I/First%20World%20War-World%20War%20One-Great%20War