World War I, “The Great War," is the supreme historical exemplar of the law of unintended consequences, its doleful echoes very much affecting us to this day. Three empires were dissolved and new nations created from the ruins. A treaty to end the war and create an international organization to protect the peace served only to set the stage for another, far worse conflict two decades later, widely considered to be but an extension of the first. But the Great War’s primary legacy was that it broke the West’s heart, and we are yet to recover. I am a retired soldier and amateur historian and this is an attempt to review the drastic political, geo-political, cultural, social and ideological changes that swept the world as a result of what many historians regard as the seminal catastrophe of the modern era. ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH 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 now 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. Wilfred Owen, 1917 Some Interesting Links: First World War: 15 Legacies Still With Us Today (Guardian) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/15/firstworldwar The Great War: A 100-Year Legacy of World War I (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/27/world/legacy-of-world-war-i.html?_r=0 How did the First World War affect the future world? http://case1worker.hubpages.com/hub/How-did-the-Great-War-effect-the-future-world Effects of WWI http://www.slideshare.net/rpeppard/effects-of-wwi West Point Campaign Atlas to the Great War http://www.westpoint.edu/history/SitePages/WWI.aspx Faces of War (Reconstructive Surgery) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/faces-of-war-145799854/?no-ist Bolshevik Propaganda http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/prop/inv/prop_inv_ins.htm Effect on African Americans http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-world-war-i.html The Balfour Declaration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration Suggested Reading: Keegan, John The First World War New York: Random House, 1998 An excellent single volume treatment of the entire war covering its political, military, economic, and social aspects, written by a gifted historian and keen student of the human dimension of military history Tuchman, Barbara W. The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 New York: Random House, 2004 The world destroyed by the Great War is beautifully described by one of the most gifted writers of our time. The Art Nouveau Paris Metro station entrances are still there but the spirit that animated them died in the mud of Verdun, the Somme and Passchendaele. Reynolds, David The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014 This is a thorough and scholarly treatment of the many “gifts” bestowed on the world by the Great War, some of which may surprise you. It is written from the Anglo-Saxon perspective. Tuchman, Barbara W. The Guns of August New York: Random House, 1962 The tragic tale of Europe’s helpless slide into the abyss has never been better told. Ms. Tuchman is a proponent of the “accidental” explanation for the start of the war, much disputed by other historians. Barthas, Louis Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker 1914-1918 New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014 (English Translation) A French barrel maker and dedicated socialist is swept into the war and keeps a careful, at times funny, and always insightful journal of his experiences as a common French soldier, a “Poilu” or “hairy one.” Only just recently translated. Hastings, Max Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War New York: Random House, 2013 An accessible treatment of the start of the Great War, completed recently and reflecting the current prevailing view that the Central Powers hold much of the responsibility for the war, not so much for starting it, but not stopping it when they could easily have done so. Credits: Music: Di Evantile: One Hour Before Di Evantile: Still Here Di Evantile: The Spirit of Mine Film: History of World War II: Hiroshima (BBC Documentaries) Stephen Spielburg Archives (Public Domain): Lost German Girl

• published: 06 Nov 2015
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