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War Reshapes the World Once Again War Reshapes the World Once Again
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LONDON — There are no lines of eager young men at the recruitment offices as there were 100 years ago, no hot-off-the-press newspapers proclaiming the advent of war. LONDON — There are no lines of eager young men at the recruitment offices as there were 100 years ago, no hot-off-the-press newspapers proclaiming the advent of war.
But, as commemorations marked the opening salvos of World War I this week, it was tempting to ask whether global conflict is reborn, not in the sense of warfare on an industrial scale, but in other, insidious ways that are redrawing notions of sovereignty and legitimacy as surely as the victors did after the Great War ended in 1918.But, as commemorations marked the opening salvos of World War I this week, it was tempting to ask whether global conflict is reborn, not in the sense of warfare on an industrial scale, but in other, insidious ways that are redrawing notions of sovereignty and legitimacy as surely as the victors did after the Great War ended in 1918.
From Aleppo to Tikrit to Kabul, from Tripoli, Gaza and Donetsk to Juba and Bangui, conflict spreads pain and terror. A bomb rocks Mogadishu. Christians, threatened with death, are chased from Mosul. An American general dies in Afghanistan.From Aleppo to Tikrit to Kabul, from Tripoli, Gaza and Donetsk to Juba and Bangui, conflict spreads pain and terror. A bomb rocks Mogadishu. Christians, threatened with death, are chased from Mosul. An American general dies in Afghanistan.
The checklist of conflict almost outpaces the memory of its forerunners: Two days after Britons marked their entry into World War I on Aug. 4, 1914, Japan commemorated the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.The checklist of conflict almost outpaces the memory of its forerunners: Two days after Britons marked their entry into World War I on Aug. 4, 1914, Japan commemorated the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
“So what exactly are we learning from these anniversaries?” Geoffrey Durham, a prominent Quaker who made his name as a comedian, asked rhetorically in a radio broadcast, counting eight wars unfolding as he spoke. “Is it that militarism works? Is it that war solves problems?”“So what exactly are we learning from these anniversaries?” Geoffrey Durham, a prominent Quaker who made his name as a comedian, asked rhetorically in a radio broadcast, counting eight wars unfolding as he spoke. “Is it that militarism works? Is it that war solves problems?”
Another answer came from the columnist Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. “The truth,” he wrote, “ is that ‘drawing lessons’ has become code for celebrating victory.” Glory, in other words, is exclusive to the winner.Another answer came from the columnist Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. “The truth,” he wrote, “ is that ‘drawing lessons’ has become code for celebrating victory.” Glory, in other words, is exclusive to the winner.
In 1914, European soldiers on both sides marched into campaigns that would lock their nations into total war, stretching from farms and factories to the front lines. Young Britons, suffused with patriotism, clamored for the right to go to war, much as, in far lower numbers, young Europeans 100 years later slip across borders of faith to join militant Islamists in Syria and Iraq.In 1914, European soldiers on both sides marched into campaigns that would lock their nations into total war, stretching from farms and factories to the front lines. Young Britons, suffused with patriotism, clamored for the right to go to war, much as, in far lower numbers, young Europeans 100 years later slip across borders of faith to join militant Islamists in Syria and Iraq.
By comparison with the huge conflagration of World War I, today’s flash points may seem like just so many extended brush fires next to Ypres or the Somme. But, as The Times of London said in a recent editorial, these same conflicts “are shaping our world and making it more dangerous than it has been for decades.”By comparison with the huge conflagration of World War I, today’s flash points may seem like just so many extended brush fires next to Ypres or the Somme. But, as The Times of London said in a recent editorial, these same conflicts “are shaping our world and making it more dangerous than it has been for decades.”
After World War I, the victors recast the economic and political cartography, reallocating the resources and the lands of the defeated. These days, the map is being redrawn willy-nilly by events on the ground, defying the cornerstones of history set down in the 20th century as the combatants strive for a newer order.After World War I, the victors recast the economic and political cartography, reallocating the resources and the lands of the defeated. These days, the map is being redrawn willy-nilly by events on the ground, defying the cornerstones of history set down in the 20th century as the combatants strive for a newer order.
Russia has simply annexed Crimea and stands accused by the West of fomenting upheaval on Ukraine’s eastern border. In Gaza, Hamas militants tunneling into Israel seek to undermine the promise of a Jewish homeland enshrined in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.Russia has simply annexed Crimea and stands accused by the West of fomenting upheaval on Ukraine’s eastern border. In Gaza, Hamas militants tunneling into Israel seek to undermine the promise of a Jewish homeland enshrined in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
When Islamist fighters spilled from Syria into Iraq to declare an Islamic state, they defied the geography of imperial and postimperial sovereignty that flowed from the Sykes-Picot Agreement, struck between British and French officials in 1916 to carve up the Ottoman Empire.When Islamist fighters spilled from Syria into Iraq to declare an Islamic state, they defied the geography of imperial and postimperial sovereignty that flowed from the Sykes-Picot Agreement, struck between British and French officials in 1916 to carve up the Ottoman Empire.
The militants’ aim? To restore the Islamic caliphate whose Ottoman predecessor finally crumbled after the battle of empires between 1914 and 1918.The militants’ aim? To restore the Islamic caliphate whose Ottoman predecessor finally crumbled after the battle of empires between 1914 and 1918.
The precursors to World War I began innocuously enough with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, punctuating an era sometimes likened to modern perceptions of what The Times of London called “a connected world that would never risk armed conflict because it would jeopardize shared prosperity.”The precursors to World War I began innocuously enough with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, punctuating an era sometimes likened to modern perceptions of what The Times of London called “a connected world that would never risk armed conflict because it would jeopardize shared prosperity.”
A century on, as conflicts spread from the Atlantic seaboard of Africa to the distant reaches of the Hindu Kush, the parallels with 1914 may not end there.A century on, as conflicts spread from the Atlantic seaboard of Africa to the distant reaches of the Hindu Kush, the parallels with 1914 may not end there.
Europeans cannot be “certain that we are not picnicking on the same volcano that consumed our forebears,” the columnist Matthew Engel wrote in The Financial Times. “The assassination in Sarajevo, seen as a minor event at the time, was the embodiment of chaos theory: the flutter of a butterfly wing that set off a hurricane.”Europeans cannot be “certain that we are not picnicking on the same volcano that consumed our forebears,” the columnist Matthew Engel wrote in The Financial Times. “The assassination in Sarajevo, seen as a minor event at the time, was the embodiment of chaos theory: the flutter of a butterfly wing that set off a hurricane.”