A Positive Statement in regards to World War I

by CaptainSchmideo 7 Replies latest jw friends

  • CaptainSchmideo
    CaptainSchmideo

    All through my life as a JW, I have had it pounded to me that WWI was a negative turning point in history, and that "things were so much better

    prior to 1914" blah blah blah.

    I put it out there that there were some positive things about the War and it's aftermath.

    The disruption of the established Class system in Europe.

    The erosion of the powers of the different monarchical governments (particularly in Russia)

    The rise in the assertiveness of the working and middle classes demanding better conditions and better pay.

    When one ponders it, prior to all this, life was GREAT if you a White, upper middle class-or-higher male. Everybody else "knew their place" (which was second-place, or last-place).

    Yeah, their were a lot of horrors commited and witnessed in the Great War (big surprise! War is never as clean and bloodless as "The Empire Strikes Back"), but this time, the sides were a little more evenly matched, making the mayhem more distributed.

    A few lines from the final episode of "Black Adder Goes Forth" spring to mind about why WWI was considered so specifically "horrible":

    George: You know, that's the thing I don't really understand about you, Cap.
    You're a professional soldier, and yet, sometimes you sound as though
    you bally well haven't enjoyed soldiering at all.

    Edmund: Well, you see, George, I did like it, back in the old days when the
    prerequisite of a British campaign was that the enemy should under
    no circumstances carry guns -- even spears made us think twice. The
    kind of people we liked to fight were two feet tall and armed with
    dry grass.

    George: Now, come off it, sir -- what about Mboto Gorge, for heaven's sake?

    Edmund: Yes, that was a bit of a nasty one -- ten thousand Watusi warriors
    armed to the teeth with kiwi fruit and guava halves. After the battle,
    instead of taking prisoners, we simply made a huge fruit salad. No,
    when I joined up, I never imagined anything as awful as this war.
    I'd had fifteen years of military experience, perfecting the art of
    ordering a pink gin and saying "Do you do it doggy-doggy?" in
    Swahili, and then suddenly four-and-a-half million heavily armed
    Germans hoved into view. That was a shock, I can tell you.

    I am not saying that WWI was totally good or anything like that. The end results did give rise to people like Hitler and Stalin, unfortunately. But I believe that it also was the beginning of the end of a lot of negatives as well.

    Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong...

  • steve2
    steve2
    The disruption of the established Class system in Europe.
    The erosion of the powers of the different monarchical governments (particularly in Russia)
    The rise in the assertiveness of the working and middle classes demanding better conditions and better pay.

    The bitterly incalculable irony is that it took the wiping out of almost entire generations of young working class soldiers during WWI to effect these pitiful "improvements".

  • Broken Promises
    Broken Promises

    I wish my grandfathers were still alive to tell you that WW1 wasn't a positive thing for them, young boys who returned shattered men.

  • sir82
    sir82

    It's a bit of a stretch to say that World War I had a "positive effect", especially if you consider that World War II was essentially the same war fought after an "intermission" of 20 years.

    However, neither can you say, as the WTS often does, or at least did 3 or 4 "generation" definition changes ago, that it was THE watershed year in all of human history.

    It was A turning point in history - however, it was just 1 of dozens that can be pointed to.

  • steve2
    steve2
    However, neither can you say, as the WTS often does, or at least did 3 or 4 "generation" definition changes ago, that it was THE watershed year in all of human history.
    It was A turning point in history - however, it was just 1 of dozens that can be pointed to.

    A perceptive observation sir82. People are very prone to identifying events in their day as the most pivotal in history only to have subsequent events described by younger generations as even more pivotal. While WWI was undoubtedly a watershed "event" so too was the French Revolution, the American Civil War and (some commentators believe) the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. Since 9/11, every second person talks on and on about how that event has changed the world. We see events from our limited perspectives. Much of the talking up of WWI was bolstered by the articulate and chronically narcissistic Winston Churchill.

    I repeat what I said earlier: Refering to positives coming out of WWI is amazingly ironic given that the tragic fodder was primarily working class males.

  • james_woods
    james_woods

    Congratulations on 1000 posts, CaptainShmideo.

  • undercover
    undercover

    We see events from our limited perspectives.

    Even God's so-called Earthly Organization is guilty of that.

    So ole Charlie Taze got lucky in a sense when he predicted big things were to happen in 1914. Too bad it wasn't what he actually predicted, but hey! it's still big shit. It's gotta mean sumthin. So the WTS from that time forward always looked back on 1914 as the most momentous time period of all of man's history. Sure it was a world war, but like's been pointed out, an even bigger one came along a little later.

    As each generation comes along and experiences new historical milestones, those of the past generations fade to just pages in a history book. The WTS put all its eggs in the WWI/1914 basket and didn't really count on history to erode our memory of WWI/1914. Now they're so linked to that time period...and what it meant in our lifetime (that didn't happen) that it has also eroded their respectability and reputation.

  • CaptainSchmideo
    CaptainSchmideo

    Wow, James, I didn't even notice! Where's my light saber? Or are they doing that on this board anymore?

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