Posted on 09/01/2024 9:07:12 AM PDT by hardspunned
The assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip in late June 1914 had one of the strongest ripple effects in modern history, setting off a series of war declarations across Europe and plunging the world into one of its deadliest conflicts.
World War I, however, didn’t officially begin until a month after Ferdinand’s assassination, and though tensions were high, the fight wasn’t inevitable, according to Ronald Spector, professor of history and international affairs.
George Washington Today sat down with Dr. Spector to discuss the assassination, the path to war and the new Europe it created.
Q: What was the mood in Europe in the summer of 1914, right around the time of the assassination? A: At the time, things actually seemed to be getting better. The Moroccan Crisis had been settled, the French and Germans had concluded an agreement about the Rhine River, and at the time of the assassination the German Navy was hosting the British Navy at Kiel Week, which is a huge bash with yacht and boat races. Of course, there were certain structural causes present, including the rise of nationalism in the Balkans, the alliance systems and the long-term arms race in naval and land weapons. But these things were in the background. It didn’t seem, in the summer of 1914, that there was much worry about a global war. The French and British newspapers, even for several weeks after the assassination, referred to it as “the Balkan crisis.” They didn’t think this would be a worldwide conflict.
(Excerpt) Read more at gwtoday.gwu.edu ...
There’s a big difference between pretext and cause.
I read that decades ago, but that's how I remember it.
Yes, and there is a wild card waiting in the wings: some of the archival documents concerning the outbreak of the Great War in the archives in London and Paris are still not released for inspection…
Neither are the reports of Poincaré‘s state visit to Russia in July 1914. Still, eyewitnesses reported a lot of fraternizing between French and Russian officers, and a toast was made: „next year in Berlin!“ to raucous applause.
You recalled it correctly.
“Then the Left crosses the line, and nothing happens.”
Think about the decades leading up to the US Civil War.
Lots of lines were crossed—year after year after year—and no war.
It does not matter—until it does—chaos theory in action.
(John Calhoun and John Quincy Adams—two of the most brilliant men of their time—were both convinced that war might well be unavoidable—and that was in the 1820s.)
That wouldn’t shock me.
Toward the end of the war, Japan and several South American countries also declared war on Germany. Getting in late once the outcome was obvious.
History moves in fits and starts: contradictions arise in cultural paradigms through the passage of time creating a tension which is almost always resolved in war or revolution. The beginning of the 20th Century was one such occasion. Industrialization, astonishing technological advances, a growing middle class, and the birth of the modern of a consumer society, all pushed Europe into a future in which its leaders were no longer competent govern. The Century began with kingdoms and colonial empires, which WW 1 swept away with the blod of tens of millions and it ended where we are now. To quote Tennessee Williams about the inter-war period from the '20's to the '40s, it was a world waiting for bombardment.
Part of the reason Japan turned against the US and Europe is they felt slighted after the war.
Turns out in hindsight, we could have used Imperial Japan as an ally against the Soviet Union.
The question is, would the war have started before a Revolution swept across Europe? Because had there not been a war, there certainly would have been Revolution to overthrow the old order.
Really?
I thought these vilification campaigns had been concocted in London 😮 (with apologies to all British Freepers).
Such detestable rubbish had been seen before - in the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. However, after the dreadful horror of the Thirty Years War, when the deleterious effects of such propaganda had been made plain to all, it was decided not to proceed with it.
And so it remained. The Cabinet Wars, which followed, were much less bloody because the atrocity propaganda had been shelved. Until the Great War came along…
“half the country seceding”
Independent city states might be set up for New York City, Los Angeles, and other big Blue cities and contiguous areas that want into ‘rat policies.
Sufficient taxes on corporations including on income and sales could be uniformly levied in the area that is now the US by Congress to deal with the national debt.
Thanks for that link.
That’s why I criticized Wilhelm II for being a weak-willed fool. The Army and Foreign Minister insisted on a war at that point, and the German government overall had decided on war at the first convenient time before then.
In Propaganda Technique in the World War, Harold Lasswell in 1927 stated: “But when all allowances have been made, and all extravagant estimates pared to the bone, the fact remains that propaganda is one of the most powerful instrumentalities in the modern world. It has arisen to its present eminence in response to a complex of changed circumstances which have altered the nature of society.... A newer and subtler instrument must weld thousands and even millions of human beings into one amalgamated mass of hate and will and hope. A new flame must burn out the canker of dissent and temper the steel of bellicose enthusiasm. The name of this new hammer and anvil of social solidarity is propaganda.”
Harold Lasswell was at least succinct in the intent: “So great are the psychological resistances to war in modern nations that every war must appear to be a war of defense against a menacing, murderous aggressor. There must be no ambiguity about who the public is to hate.” Well, there certainly wasn’t! But Lasswell was willing to share the laurels of hate when he stated of Woodrow Wilson:
“Such matchless skill as Wilson showed in propaganda has never been equalled in the world’s history.... From a propaganda point of view it was a matchless performance, for Wilson brewed the subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people, until the smashing powers of the Allied armies knocked them into submission. While he fomented discord abroad, Wilson fostered unity at home.” Now, there is a commendable accomplishment!
You are as cynical as I.
Read Holger Herwig’s books on the subject. The existence of dissent to a prior decision does not mean the absence of a prior decision.
XD.... I didn’t use to be, but over the last few years it’s been difficult NOT to see.
I talk to my buddies, we can’t understand how everyone can’t see it!
WW I..WWII....Korea.....Vietnam....Iraq....Afghanistan....what do they have in common? All contrived by the deep state to make money....PERIOD!
in 1913 when they gave us the federal reserve banking system that requires borrowing money fro them to be paid back with interest.....
What’s a countries biggest expenditure?
its military!
When you use that military what spent on it increases dramatically.
Make sense now?
Need proof?
Scour YouTube keywording with the right search and you’ll see.
Specifically the military pilots who delivered unused supplies to fuel a war that soon ended and were sent to pickup the supplies that went unused believing that they were to be brought back home. NO, they were sent years beforehand to the next war front.
We’ve been getting played for far too long!
Personally, while I joined for what seemed like the right reasons to serve in the military and had the best of times doing so. now that I know regret ever having been part of playing their game.
WW I..WWII....Korea.....Vietnam....Iraq....Afghanistan....what do they have in common? All contrived by the deep state to make money....PERIOD!
in 1913 when they gave us the federal reserve banking system that requires borrowing money fro them to be paid back with interest.....
What’s a countries biggest expenditure?
its military!
When you use that military what spent on it increases dramatically.
Make sense now?
Need proof?
Scour YouTube keywording with the right search and you’ll see.
Specifically the military pilots who delivered unused supplies to fuel a war that soon ended and were sent to pickup the supplies that went unused believing that they were to be brought back home. NO, they were sent years beforehand to the next war front.
We’ve been getting played for far too long!
Personally, while I joined for what seemed like the right reasons to serve in the military and had the best of times doing so. now that I know regret ever having been part of playing their game.
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