Gilad Nilo
Professor Todd Shepard
Occidental Civilization
5 April 2014
The Great War and Rise of Industrialism
Europe in the early 20th century was a cesspool of jingoistic nationalism, industrial development, and imperialistic conquests, but this fusion of new concepts in the era arose seemingly distinct from previous thoughts; however, this amalgamation of ideals acted as a natural development of the beliefs of previous generations, if seemingly split from prior thinking. Beginning starkly with industrialization of Europe, past philosophies were overlooked for more realistic ideologies stemming from the competition arising from military and economic intimidation. The novel thinking emerging on the self, the state, and the world climaxed with the outbreak of the Great War. From industrialization, the velocity and volume of violence increased dramatically with numerous military advancements that spawned a war the likes of which was never seen on Earth prior, and from nationalism, the production and logistics to create violence allowed for the upkeep of colossal conflicts. Total war, a new form of complete mobilization, was only made possible through the principles and relationships developed in the century prior.
Romanticism acted as a distinct backbone of political and social rhetoric for theorists throughout the 19th and 20th century across Europe. Through artistic mediums, people created a cultural basis for nationalistic thought, and these literary, illustrated, and musical productions planted the seed of national and often ethnocentric pride of the people in various states. Simultaneously, rapid industrialization occurred, and cities grew immensely; to support the expansion, the developing industries assembled flocks of pe...
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...nuity of developments of the past century by not only overthrowing the previous government but also establishing an entirely distinct regime; however, the influences of preceding ideals definitely remain intact.
The industrial revolution marks a distinct period in human history when the destructive and productive capability of humans became unprecedented. Technological advances allowed the world to be inherently more connected through railways, telegraphs, and telephones. The increase in scope and interconnectedness permitted ideologies and movements to be intrinsically more unified, organized, and widespread. The nation-state was able to develop itself as a personal identity because the scope of the world expanded. Individuals recognize their insignificance in their world, and thereby believe that their nation represents themselves in their ever-increasing sphere.
Clausewitz emphasizes that “war is a branch of political activity, that it is in no sense autonomous” (Clausewitz, 605). This principle is especially applicable to the post-war period of World War II. The political struggle between the ideologies of democracy and communism would entail global focus for the next 50 years, and the events that brought about the defeat of Germany shaped the landscape of this political struggle.
disease and famine. While today most people are more inclined towards pacifism than belligerency, in the past war was seen as normal and necessary for progress and perseverance. Europe in particular saw war as tool for supremacy inspired by the wars and conquest of their Greek, Roman, and Anglo Saxon ancestors. Heinrich von Treitschke’s Place of Warfare in the State published sometime after 1896 and The Young People of Today published in 1912 by Henri Massis and Alfred de Tarde emphasize war as a means of progression and the zeitgeist of the times. At the turn of the 19th Century, an already war torn Europe romanticized the idea of war and saw it essential
World War I is marked by its extraordinary brutality and violence due to the technological advancement in the late 18th century and early 19th century that made killing easier, more methodical and inhumane. It was a war that saw a transition from traditional warfare to a “modern” warfare. Calvary charges were replaced with tanks; swords were replaced with machine guns; strategic and decisive battles were r...
Cultures had been flourishing thousands of years before the Europeans arrived to the New World. Great empires such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas inhabited the vast lands of Central and South America. These three major powers controlled the land before Columbus or Cortez were even born. Although the Pre-Columbian civilizations and the Europeans shared some similar ideas, life was very different in the New World compared with that of Middle Age Europe.
“The Bushmen are primitive and naturally so, but we are primitive in an artificial sense, and by virtue of the utmost effort” (274). This quote written by Erich Maria Remarque in All Quiet on the Western Front calls attention to the division and inhumanity of the masses in the first World War. Ordinary people hated others that were across a non-physical border because they were convinced that they were the enemy. However, Paul argues that the people who the soldiers are killing are not the enemies. The enemies are the people who don’t risk their lives on the battlefield yet think they can make decisions about a war where thousands are brutally killed everyday. The concept of nationalism is a prime example of the values and misconceptions of European people at the start of the 20th century.
The warfare before World War I was that of chivalry and heroic ideals, in which soldiers gave their lives for noble causes and, by doing so, went down in history as honourable heroes. The high recruitment rate at the beginning of the Great War shows that in 1914 a whole generation of young men wanted to fight because they believed in the just cause of it. However, the soldiers quickly discard and outgrow this simplistic view and become aware that “the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it” (Sassoon). The tragedy of World War I lies in the fact that so many people lost their lives, either as soldiers or as collateral damage, simply because of rival imperialism, which once more shows that humanity’s greatest enemy is man himself.
Although the Industrial Revolution contributed to life in Great Britain in both positive and negative ways, the origin of the industrialized society bestowed the foundation for the modern world. Contributing to life in Britain by making products and goods more affordable to common citizens and boosting the national economy, the growth of industrialization had an overall upbeat effect on the historical past. Equally, the renovated social class divisions altered the existing layout of ancient civilizations. Seeing that industrialization was benefiting Great Britain, many other countries soon began to replicate the prosperous routine. Industrial developments in the United States and continental Europe were inspired by the booming success of industrialization in relationship to Great Britain’s economy, political state, and social class divisions.
This was the first truly global conflict in a century that the world had plunged into since the Napoleonic wars with the invasion of Egypt. From India to Argentina had the world been swept by one single conflagration. This war that started in Europe went global because was a conflict between global empires, which locked in a fratricidal conflict with each other, are going to h...
It is interesting and even surprising that the two major strategies regarding war were developed by European contemporaries of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. Antoine Henri de Jomini (1779-1869) approached his philosophy of war in a structured, scientific manner. Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) took a more fluid, open-ended approach to his philosophy of war. The fact that they lived during the same time period in Europe is also fascinating in that they likely knew of each others’ writings as well as potentially influenced and were influenced by the philosophy of the other. Jomini’s scientific approach is more applicable to the tactical and operational levels of war while Clausewitz approaches war as more of an art or interaction between people that is more appropriate to the strategic and political levels of war. Although their two war strategies are presented as opposing strategies, by comparing concepts from each of the theorists to the other theorist’s work shows that they are actually more complementary than competing in that they are addressing different levels of war. The concepts to be evaluated are Clausewitz’s “Trinity of War”, “war as a continuation of politics”, and the “unpredictability of war” as well as Jomini’s definition of strategy and his “Fundamental Principle of War”.
The rise of European nationalism in the 19th Century brought with it an overabundance amount of change that would definitively modify the course of history. The rise of nationalism in one country would rouse greater nationalism in another, which would in turn, motivate even greater nationalism in the first, progressively intensifying the cycle that eventually concluded in a World War. Nationalism as an ideology produced international competition which inspired absolute allegiance to an individual’s nation state. The ideology was fueled by industrial commerce and imperialistic developments which led to nation-states pursuits of outcompeting rival nations.
The European Romantic movement was a reaction to rationalism and the Enlightenment movement of the 18th century. With this new wave of Romantics, young thinkers and writers began to stress the inner and unique experiences of the individual. The young German Romantics of the time revered the artistic genius of Goethe, but criticized Goethe’s Faust as well for, “settling into the secure, privileged life he led in provincial Weimar and betraying the Faustian spirit that drives toward greater knowledge at all costs” (Lesson 8). The Romantics wanted to embark on a collective journey of the mind inward to the darkest recesses of the soul, and outward to the farthest and most exotic reaches of the imagination.
Once engaged in a war, a country’s militarism will produce fine soldiers ready to drop like dominos on the battlefield, while the nationalism works as fuel providing the naive determination to fight the war. This nave determination and soldier production is why World War One, like every other war, continued with such persistence. But what started World War One? Was it militarism that trained young men since they were kids to become soldiers, nationalism propelling a nation's pride forward, or was it neither? While both of those aspects could be potential reasons, they’re still not the main pillars of cause.
World War I was a conflict that claimed over 10 million peoples’ lives, ravaged all of Europe and engineered modern warfare, as it is know today. The Great War has been scrutinized and examined through many complex theories in order to understand how such a conflict escalated to one of the most epic wars in history. This essay, like many works before it, looks to examine WWI and determine its causes through two distinct levels of analysis, individual and systemic. The individual level of analysis locates the cause of conflicts in individual leaders or decision makers within a particular country, focusing on the characteristics of human decision-making. The systemic level of analysis explains the causation of a conflict from a system wide level that includes all states, taking in to account the distribution of power and the interaction of states in the international system.
Throughout the course of history societal, organizational and technological advances have been made. Whether these advances are always for the best is controversial, especially, in the setting of wartime. This essay focuses on the these three changes and how they effected both the Napoleonic Wars and World War I. Technological advances were made in terms of weaponry, but were not probably utilized which ultimately ended up being problematic. Many new organizational schemes came about during both of these time periods, but they focused on aggressive offensive strategy, which did not prove to be beneficial. And finally, within society the idea of nationalism was circulating through different countries, however, this nationalism came about through different occurrences creating a war filled with different motivations. Overall, these changes proved to create a great deal of instability within the Napoleonic Wars and World War I.
Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. "1989." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1874-1880. World History in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.