In my opinion, World War One is still the most destructive war in history. WW II caused more damage, but WW One was the one that destroyed Christianity in Europe (which led to the inevitable brutality that happens when man loses his fear of God), that set up new borders that we're still fussing about today, that introduced new weapons that were so devastating that Armies still prepare for them (for example, a huge bulk of my time training when I was in Army boot camp and the National Guard was against Gas attack).
In World War One, Jews in Poland and Russia welcomed the Germans because they liberated them from Russian Pogroms, the Japanese were our allies and got great kudos for their excellent treatment of Prisoners Of War (many German POW's voluntarily stayed in Japan after the war to build new lives).
America's involvement in WW One was devastating to our psyche. While we only had 100,000 or so men killed in action, the bulk of it was in a 3 month period. We thought we were "making the world safe for democracy"- instead, we were just a pawn of the western European powers as they cynically got payback. This led to a strong anti-military feeling in America that lingered until Hitler invaded Russia (which caused Democrats and American Leftists to become gung ho pro-war, and the Jap Sneak Attack on Pearl Harbor (which pi$$ed off the rest of the nation).
Even then, while The Greatest Generation was quite patriotic, you never see letters or stories about "love of country" or "fighting for a cause" like you did during the American Revolution or the Civil War. This was because of the cynicism many WW I vets had about what they went through. This bled to their children, and their thoughts were more about getting the job done and going home, not letting down their buddies, etc. Ironically, all the bad things the Germans were accused of in WW I, they actually DID in WW II (American troops in WW II didn't believe the news about Germans slaughtering Jews and others, they thought it was just propaganda).
It’s important to note that Germans were ‘advisors’ to their Turk allies in the mass murder of Armenians and others. Training for the future.
“One hundred years ago today set things in motion that we’re still struggling with.”
I watched easily a dozen historical programs on WW1 recently. I was astonished at how popular the idea of going to war was with the various citizens. Amazing. Everybody had some sort of romantic notion of how noble war was. One documentary said that of every 9 men who went to war for the allies 5 became casualties. Yet, the treaty of Versailles set up circumstances that almost guaranteed a future war. (Although, I understand why the allies dictated terms their constituents wanted.)
Thanks for your post. I did not know this until I started reading Citizen Soldiers, by Stephen Ambrose. Just about all of the recounts he relays and the things he describes all point to getting the job done, rather than a love of country. I found that interesting and a little disappointing. It sort of puts the rebellion of the '60s in perspective and makes it more understandable, I guess.