WWI: The Lie to End All Lies
Contra Johnson’s thesis. Let’s consider Johnson’s absurd thesis that WWI (and II!) had nothing to do with petty nationalistic competition between European nation states, but instead was due to “empires.” I will now consider this , excerpts follow (emphasis added) with some comments: The early years of the 20th century saw tremendous growth in Europe of both population and prosperity. With arts and culture flourishing, few believed a general war possible due to the peaceful cooperation required to maintain increased levels of trade as well as technologies such as the telegraph and railroad. Despite this, numerous social, military, and nationalistic tensions ran beneath the surface. As the great European empires struggled to expand their territory, they were confronted with increasing social unrest at home as new political forces began to emerge. Nationalistic tensions. Well, everyone seems to recognize this reality except Johnson and his band of liars. The idea that “empire” was a ...