World War I: What We Should Have Learned

World War I (also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars) was fought between the Entente Powers (initially consisting of France, the UK, and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and their associated empires. By the conclusion of the war, only the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, and the Scandinavian nations remained officially neutral among the European countries.

The chain of events that set off the war was a case of “one thing led to another,” due to the treaty alliance system. The match to the fuse was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Ferdinand’s death was at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, which set into motion a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated the world’s first global war.

Austria-Hungary’s reaction to the death of their heir was three weeks in coming. They opted to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia, which, in the extent of its demand that the assassins be brought to justice effectively nullified Serbia’s sovereignty. Austria-Hungary sought the help of their ally, Germany, that she would come to her aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria Hungary.

A summary of the main countries and the part they played in the sequence of events that led to World War I.

Austria-Hungary- unsatisfied with Serbia’s response to her ultimatum, declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.
Russia- bound by a treaty to Serbia, announced mobilization of its vast army in her defense, a slow process that took about six weeks to complete.
Germany- allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilization as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after scant warning declared war on Russia on August 1.
France- bound by treaty to Russia, found itself at war against Germany, and by extension on Austria-Hungary, following a German declaration on August 3. Germany was swift in invading neutral country Belgium, so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.
Britain- allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a “moral obligation” upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on August 4. However, Britain was obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year old treaty. Britain committed herself to Belgium’s defense later that day. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.
United States- Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, which would last until 1917 when Germany’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare- which threatened America’s commercial shipping- forced the U.S. to enter the war on April 6, 1917.
Japan- Honoring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany August 23, 1914. Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan.
Italy- Was allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to avoid entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both countries.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this war, which should have been a disagreement between two countries, was turned into a World War by old treaties and obligations. What did it get us? They estimate that over 40 million people died because of this War.

So what’s the lesson to be learned here? When two countries have a disagreement, sometimes it’s better to leave it to them to figure it out.

~Mer

The American Civil War: What we should remember

Well, the American Civil war kicks off the weeklong series on Wars: What We Need To Know So We Don't Keep Making the Same Friggin Mistakes. I'm fairly sure that most of you know the saying, "History repeats itself." Well, unfortunately for us, most politicians seem to be absent when you should have learned that. (Actually, most seem to have missed history all together, and simply live in their little fantasy worlds where the world revolves around them. So, I decided to put together this series so that hopefully, if any one that reads this blog ever becomes a politician, they won't screw up the world so badly.

The American Civil War- while most people think the war started on the issue of freeing the slaves, it actually started as a dispute about the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired territories.

I have to admit, that this war is the hardest for me to wrap my head around. This war put a straight-line split between pro-slavery Americans, and anti-slavery Americans. This war was fought over a difference of opinion. A difference of opinion was strong enough to rip the country apart down to the family level. Brothers, fathers, and neighbors fought against each other, and even killed each other.

The sad thing is, there are fault lines almost as deep as those during the Civil War which divide this country today. Between the political party lines, the controversial wars, as well as the issues of race and gender that still divide this country; we must remember something in order to prevent the lines from going deeper. We are all Americans.

This country was founded on the belief that all men are created equal. If we focus on the things that we have in common, rather than the differences, we can overcome the final boundaries, to become the country that our founding fathers intended.

We will be truly, the land of the free.



~Mer

Contest Update and Writer's Block+ Anti-Valentines Day *UPDATED*

Well, you know how the DVD contest was supposed to end today? Well, I have two problems- the DVD hasn't arrived yet, and I didn't get any entries. Therefore, I'm turing the contest into a raffle. All you have to do is drop me an e-mail @ purplepineappletown@hotmail.com with your name (or nickname or whatever). When I recieve the DVD, I'll stick pieces of paper with the names on them into a bowl, and randomly choose one. If you win, I'll contact you for your address, and ship the DVD as soon as I recieve it. So please, enter. It'll take 1 minute of your time, and you can win a DVD.

And you know that "big thing" i'm working on? Well, I have writer's block on it. It's about Major Wars in America's history and what we should have learned from them. So hopefully the writer's block will go away soon.

GAH!!! You know those days that never seem to go right? I'm having one of those days. First the laptop conks out on me, my older sister is pissed off at me for something that happened three years ago that I didn't cause, and the world map I added that tracks hits all around the world isn't working AND I was only two continents away from having readers from every continent!!! (I needed South America and Antartica.)

Plus, my least favorite holiday is tomorrow, Valentines Day. It's the one holiday that really makes me angry. It gives those oh-so precious couples a day to make us singles feel bad, and rub our noses in it. You go from getting lots of (albit required) Valentines in elementary school to getting little to NONE as the couples develop in junior high and beyond.

Well, my little rant is done now. Hopefully starting next Monday will be the 7-part series on wars and what you should remember. It'll include: the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Veitnam War, Cold War, and the current War on Terror. If you want to see one covered drop me a line through the e-mail.

~Mer
Questions, Comments, or Angry Rants? E-mail Mer at purplepineappletown@hotmail.com