The 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War deserves to be marked in many ways. Centeneries don't come around very often and when they do they're usually worth a second thought.
But what should commemorations of the first conflict that took on global proportions and slaughtered millions of men look like? Do we need big official ceremonies or small localized initiatives? Should we look at the winners or the losers?
Arguably it was the Great War which crystallized the modern concept of the nation. The idea that your only loyalty should be to your nation, and that other nations may be well and good, but they are no match for yours.
So it is no surprise then that the commemorations this year will have a distinctly national touch. Britain, France and Germany will all go their own way about doing it.
Meanwhile, the European Union has avoided organizing anything at all.
A spokesman for the Commission told news source Euractiv that this is because "... 2014 means very
different things to different countries but... the
President and Commissioners may attend specific events, if invited.”
It is sad that 100 years after the first major modern conflagration in Europe there can be no common drive to understand this history and learn from it.
Further reading:
Historian Richard J Evans looks at compelling parallels between 1914 and today
Journalist Simon Jenkins laments the glorification of the war in Britain
Further reading:
Historian Richard J Evans looks at compelling parallels between 1914 and today
Journalist Simon Jenkins laments the glorification of the war in Britain
On the other hand, it could be argued that for the emergence of the modern concept of the nation, earlier events were more important - at least for Germany, namely the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian War. Therefore it makes sense to say that WWI means different things in different countries.
ReplyDeleteThen again, one could view this research project as a European commemorative effort: http://www.cendari.eu/research/first-world-war-studies/
1. Sure the concept of the nation emerged much earlier and their were earlier wars that tested that concept out. But WWI was a total war in which entire 'nations' were pitted against each other. After WWI national borders and distinctions became much more important.
ReplyDeleteAlthough President Woodrow Wilson's push for every nation to have a right to self-determination after the war was seemingly egalitarian, it made the borders within Europe far more rigid and unforgiving. From then on, ethnically diverse societies have been seen as unnatural and weak.
2. That is indeed an interesting research project funded by European money. However, it doesn't exactly cater for the European public. Linking Europe's academic ivory towers is certainly commendable, but the results of this research need to be better publicised.