First Period:
The idea for this class began as a request for a study of the Holocaust. As this is an eight week course, I struggled with covering the material in such a short span of time that would do the topic any sort of justice. When thinking of historical events and how to teach them, I start with the question: Where to start? You don't get to Hitler, World War II, and the Holocaust by thinking Hitler woke up one day as an antisemitic megalomaniac intent on the destruction of all of all but the Aryan race. His views were set firmly in the history of his experiences, specifically his role in the first world war. But then to understand those experiences, we must study World War I to understand why the experiences of this war led the next war. So why did the first war happen? What was the global worldview? What were the views of the nation states involved? Where were these nations (Great Britain, France, Russia, and Germany) in their specifics histories? How did the world, seemingly peaceful at the time, explode into total war? This eight week course suddenly became a two semester, 16 week course, as I tried to answer my own question of where to start.
The answer is 1850. That's were we start. It's a bit of a random date and not based off of any real event. This age was progress and modernization. It was the age of industrialization and imperialism, two major factors in the lead up to the first world war and how destructive this war would be remembered for. Great Britain was the mother of industrialization. What is industrialization? Coal, Steam, and the Industrial Revolution: Crash Course World History is best summation I've found. And it's John Green. A double win.
Industrialization and Great Britain as a global leader lead to the Great Exhibition in London, 1851. Britain, as host of this event, was determined to show off her industries. The building itself was built of steel and glass, two unheard of building materials until this time. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was proof to the world that Great Britain was all things shiny and new; they were enlightened, and leading the future as never before seen in the history of all time past.
Yay for Great Britain. That wonder of modernization. The first to industrialize and lead the globe to a modernized world. While much was made of the wonders of world at the Great Exhibition (think Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne and the 2004 movie with Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan), there was the seedier side of industrialization; the poor conditions, child labor, destitution, the growing division between the social classes and their financial statuses that were expressed in the works of Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist (1838), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1855), Great Expectations (1861), and others that crafted the life of Great Britain, from its illustriousness to the sordid. (This video gives more information on Charles Dickens and how his writing made an impact on British society and politics.)
British industrialization spurred on other nations in a race to modernize, but these nations did so at a much slower pace. The Turkish Ottoman Empire resisted modernization and was labeled the "sick man of Europe." This resistance eventually led to its downfall (from 1908-1922) as they met armies with technological advancements. France plodded slowly on, and the nation-state of Germany was non-existent until 1871, exceptionally late to the game of governance and industrialization in Europe.
The unification of Germany in 1871 was the culmination of the rapid rise of Prussia and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 which saw Prussia as the victor and the glue that put the nation-state of Germany together. It also irritated the French just enough to hold a grudge for a few decades when France ceded Alsace-Lorraine to Germany for having lost that war. Later on, you will see the French have a long memory and made sure Alsace-Lorraine did not stay a German province.
In this video, Europe Prior to World War I: Alliances and Enemies (tiny note here: for younger audiences, he uses one word that can be muted at 4:39), Indiana Nidell (get used to watching his videos because he has a wealth of information to offer in his The Great War series) details the struggle for global power among European nations many technological advancements at a time and a brief bit on the alliance system in place across Europe that put the nations in place for war. Germany (Berlin, specifically) was the cultural center of Europe and its industries had finally surpassed the abilities of Great Britain. The problem came from the precarious, sometimes non-active governance of Austro-Hungary. The Slavic countries, the Ottomans, and the the area of the Balkans were accustomed to unrest, and most of Europe and Russia kept tabs on the upheaval, generally brushing the Balkan issues of as regular occurrences and not something to worry too much about. This video, not used in today's class, but a nice extra tidbit gives details on the frequent problems of the Balkans leading up to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the tinderbox that brought the First World War. Not much attention will be given to the Ottoman or African fronts of the First War period, as the focus in primarily Europe.
Second Period:
For industrialized nations like Great Britain, the need for raw materials grew as rapidly as production. Falling back on their age old colonial standard, Great Britain utilized their brand of imperialism to expand their business of power. John Green's Crash Course: Imperialism video states "Industrialized nations push economic integration upon developing nations, and then extract value from those developing nations, just as you would from a mine or a field owned." As other nations began their journey toward modernization, they followed the pattern set forth by Great Britain: industrialization then imperialism.
According to wikipedia, imperialism is "a policy that involves a nation extending its power by the acquisition of lands by purchase, diplomacy, or military force. This new era of technology and enlightened thinking (think back to John Green's questioning of Eurocentrism), conquest of lesser nations was a right. Germany had industrialized and modernized, and now needed something to flex its muscle and gain territory. Berlin's status in Europe had gained substantial influence in the few years from the Unification (1871) to 1884, when a European get-together was called. The Berlin Conference of 1884 set off the "Scramble for Africa," the partitioning of African territories to be colonized by European countries. This period of colonization was known as New Imperialism.
For this second period, the text we will be using is A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Loconte. I always set out to utilize some form of literature from whatever time period I'm studying/teaching. Using the works of people who lived during a given period of time brings the story and the struggle of that history to something be something real, tangible, and relatable. The literature that proceeds from this particular era can be such a drudgery. I could't do that. So we have this lovely selection that details the experiences, lives, and friendship of J.R.R. Tolkien (brief biography from The Great War here) and C.S. Lewis and their use of fiction and myth to find a way to make sense of the World War I. In November, this book will be airing as a five part documentary in remembrance of Armistice Day (the end of the war) 100 years ago. The trailer for that is here and well worth watching.
As today's lesson was primarily on industrialization and modernization, it may seem a bizarre way to begin studying the First World War. However, it is everything that made the war unlike any war the world had ever seen. Where technology and machines have little concern for life or the world around us. J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were acutely aware of how industry changes a landscape. They watched their idyllic, English countryside fill with factories, rapid urbanization, the destruction of the natural environment, and recognized that even in the face of "progress" there was an evil that came with it. If you have seen The Lord of Rings Trilogy, you will recall instances where Tolkien mourned the desolation left in the wake of progress. He specifically uses Treebeard and the Ents. As we wrap up the first lesson, here are three links to scenes from The Two Towers, that when watched from the view of the downside of industrialization and technology, take on more meaning than just a bit of entertainment.
*Next week is the Alliance System, the outbreak of war, and the first few months for first period. The second period delves into Social Darwinism, Eugenics, and propaganda.
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