November 11 marks Veteran’s Day weekend and the 100th anniversary of what was called “the war to end all wars.” While this phrase may have seemed true at the time, significant problems still exist in our modern world.
Woodrow Wilson entered the war with rather lofty goals. His “Fourteen Points” speech was a list of noble ideals that collapsed in post-war Europe. For example, Wilson’s goal for national sovereignty in Eastern European states hopelessly ignored the patchwork of competing states and ethnicities in the region. Poland became an independent state, but significant parts of the country included Russian and German minorities. They gained access to the sea, which left a part of East Prussia without a territorial connection to the rest of Germany. The new country of Czechoslovakia had significant numbers of Germans in the Sudentland. At present, there are still problems in the region. That territory became one of the first areas in which Hitler demanded territorial concessions. The late 1990s witnessed a civil war in the same Bosnian territory that sparked World War I, and the Dayton Peace accords created a nation divided 51 to 49 percent and simmering with ethnic tension. One of the former members of the Austrian- Hungarian Empire, Macedonia, is still in conflict with Greece over its name.
Wilson’s desire for a League of Nations was grounded in lofty goals yet resulted in utter failure—in part due to his stroke, but also because the United States did not enter the league due to American isolationism. The league was rather toothless in the face of aggression from what later became the Axis powers. Theodore Roosevelt correctly labelled this “collective insecurity.” The inability of multinational organizations to prevent war and punish bad actors continues to dominate discussions over the contribution of NATO members today.
Both Germany and Russia were left in a position that contained the seeds of future conflict. The Russians dropped out of World War I after the Communist revolution. The Allied powers joined the white (non-Communist) Russians to deny the use of allied war goods for the Communist government, and to help tip the scales in the Russian Civil War. This deepened the mistrust that Russia had with the West. Being the victims of a German invasion changed that for a little. During World War II at the Yalta conference, delay in starting a second front and failure to inform them of atomic testing strained the relationship (even in victory). The fall of the Soviet Union and rise of Putin’s aggressive Russia has recalled cold war tensions and the original fears of allies from World War I.
Germany was left weak and impotent, but even though the war ended with the German army defeated, the allies had not yet penetrated German territory. This led to pernicious myths that Germany wasn’t defeated. Their economic isolation led to conditions that allowed Hitler to rise. The harsh peace after World War I produced a certain amount of guilt in Western leaders. Once Hitler and Germany started to break the terms of the treaty, many of the same leaders responded with a light touch and reasoned they shouldn’t punish Germany for reversing the trends of a harsh treaty. Germany also took advantage of Russian isolation to secretly test new weapons like airplanes and tanks in Russian territory. Hitler took advantage of the many weak successor states to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and exploited the discontent of those that suddenly found themselves a minority in a new nation.
After the war, Germany remained divided for years, and those divisions remain in a number of ways today. Germany is the bulwark of Europe in the European Union, but Angela Merkel’s resignation leads to a number of inquiries. Though overstated by the fear-mongering media, the rise of right-wing parties does lead to questions about the unity of the party and the future of Germany and the EU.
The former colonies and territories of France, Britain, and the Ottoman Empire were lost in these World Wars. In particular, France and Britain drew lines to divide the territory of the Ottoman Empire that defied traditional ethnic, religious, and cultural boundaries. The countries of Iraq and Jordan were formed from British territory; Syria and Lebanon from French territory. The British also released the Balfour Declaration, which eventually led to the creation of Israel. This led to friction that continues today, such as members of the minority tribe in Iraq ruling brutally for much of the century and a patchwork of tribes battling in Syria. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group without their own country. Claims that Israel is just a Zionist occupier is also among a few of the issues. This continues to involve America and gives room for the rise of ISIS, among other things.
Noble and idealistic sounding ideas are often used to sell wars to the people. Some of these are sincere, but many are often positive spin. The actual conduct of war and its results are often just the opposite. Even the victories in wars produce unintended consequences and sometimes have unresolved issues. For example, British victory in the Seven Years War produced a host of issues, such as taxation and settlement on Indian lands that led to the Revolutionary War. As a lesson on this 100-year anniversary, American citizens should carefully assess any politician that starts to promote lofty ideals in support of military operations and carefully consider the consequences of both action and inaction.
