The First World War Centenary:Has Mankind Learnt its Lessons yet?

2014 marks the 100th year of World War I- an international conflict that embroiled most of Europe along with Russia, the United States, the Middle east and other regions during the period 1914-1918. The war was one of the deadliest in human history. Around 8.5 million soldiers and 13 million civilians died as a result of the war. Not only was the war deadly, but also had serious political ramifications for the whole of Europe - it led to the fall of imperial dynasties in Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, also resulted in the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and the destabilization of European society in its wake, sowed the seeds for the Second World War.
The First World War centenary is the centenary of World War-I which starts this year and will last until 2018. To commemorate the centenary, events will be held across countries such as United Kingdom, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France and others which were involved in the war some way or the other.
Overview on the War
The resurgence of imperialism might have been the underlying reason for the war but the immediate trigger was the assassination of Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. The Serbs had been aiming for liberating the South Slavs of Austria-Hungary and they believed that the death of the archduke would serve their cause. Austria-Hungary decided to use the assassination as an excuse to settle its score with Serbia with Germany backing it. The war soon escalated into one involving all the World’s economic super powers assembled into two opposing forces, the Allies (the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire, later joined by Italy, Japan and the United States) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, later joined by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and Bulgaria).
The Paris Peace Conference to draft the treaties to end World War I opened in January 1919. All countries that had been at war with the Central Powers were represented. One of the first steps taken by the conference was the setting up of the League of Nations, the precursor of the United Nations, which was meant to reduce any chances of war in the future. At Versailles, a harsh treaty was imposed on Germany which they initially opposed, but later signed after some small concessions were made. Hitler’s rejection of the military restrictions imposed on Germany by the treaty would later lead to World War II. Similar treaties were imposed on other Central Powers.
After the war, Europe saw a period of major political changes. The Treaty of Sèvres which had reduced the size of the Ottoman Empire had to be replaced with the Treaty of Lausanne after Turkish aggression drove Greek troops from Asia Minor. The new treaty set the boundaries of the modern state of turkey. During the period 1918-1920, fierce fights took place between the communist Bolsheviks (Reds) and their anti-communist opponents. The civil war was won by the Reds. By the turn of the decade, imperial dynasties in Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey had fallen, the map of Europe had been redrawn with several new nations coming into existence and the League of Nations had been established with the aim of preventing future wars.
Lessons Learnt from the War
The effect of the first World War on human life and property was horrendous. What started off as an attempt by a territory to gain support for its cause by assassinating the archduke of a nation it was against, quickly escalated and spiralled out of control leading only to death and despair. When war had been announced people everywhere had celebrated. Little did they know that it would turn out to be a reason for their lamentation. It would take another war and the loss of another 60 million lives for people to understand that war is not the only solution and is definitely not the best solution to a problem.
The world doesn’t seem to have learnt its lessons fully yet. The World never seems to run out of problems and conflicts between nations and people never seem to cease. The humanitarian crisis in Syria where a struggle is on between President Assad and opposition groups, civilian casualties in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan which has been on since 2001 (troops may be withdrawn this year), the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka wherein Sri Lankan troops have been accused of serious human rights lapses and the Kashmir conflict are just a few of the examples demonstrating that despite living in the 21st century, we haven’t been able to comprehend the futility of wars.
Wars might be a quick fix to a problem, but a quick fix doesn’t guarantee a perfect and permanent solution to a problem. The World must learn important lessons from the Indian struggle for independence. The struggle during its initial years was violent but once Gandhiji was up on the screen and once people realised the merits of moving over to a struggle based on ideals rather than on guns, there was no stopping Gandhiji. The process may have been slow, a long drawn out process but was definitely worth it. India not only managed to gain independence, but it managed to do so without estranging the British.
Dialogues are the most effective tools in diplomacy. People with diverse views, bringing their ideas to the table, debating it out in search of a solution that would satisfy all quarters is perhaps the best way to resolve a problem. The process might be slow but once consensus is reached, the solution is bound to be permanent. The virtues of patience and tolerance are the only requirements in such a process. The investment in terms of time would then be worth it.
The world is facing problems which have the potential to endanger the survival of the human race. A Google Search for ‘challenges facing mankind’ would give you 1.34 million results in 0.44 seconds. Changing lifestyles and industrialisation is having a direct effect on the environment. There is shortage of water in many areas. People, in many places, are not getting the required amount of nutrition. Diseases such as HIV AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease and others still don’t have a cure. Challenges are many, but the time we have at hand may be too short.
So why not set the differences aside and work for the collective good of mankind? Because if it is not now that we are going to learn a lesson, then when are we? One can conclude by quoting Albert Camus,
“There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.”