One hundred years ago, World War I began when German armies invaded Belgium. Numerous recent ceremonies, writings, and broadcasts attest to the enduring interest of what writer H.G. Wells called “the war to end war.” IU is scheduling a series of programs during the coming academic year to foster campus reflection on this conflict.
World War I had a profound impact on modern history, ending a relatively long period of prosperity and peace, and redrawing maps in Europe, as well as in other parts of the world, most notably, the Middle East.
It also had a big effect on the United States, beginning an era of American involvement and leadership in international affairs that continues to the present. In little more than a year of fighting, over 300,000 Americans died or were wounded, more than in any other conflict until then except the Civil War. The Indiana Memorial Union is one of many monuments to these casualties.
For some, the lesson of this war is that it was unnecessary, the result chiefly of the vanity, greed and folly of European leaders at the time. Perhaps so, but a more important and often neglected lesson is that how wars end matters more than how they start. The treaty concluding World War I stopped the battles, but resolved nothing and planted the seeds for further and larger conflicts, World War II and the Cold War.
This is the lesson worth remembering as conflicts rage around the world today. The anniversary of the start of World War I should remind us that creating the conditions for a lasting peace is not the same as stopping the hostilities, and much more difficult.
For Speak Your Mind, this is Leslie Lenkowsky.
