The First World War Contribution on Forming World States - Term Paper Example

i. Introduction This paper looks into the well-known works of David Fromlin and Hew Francis Anthony Strachan in order to understand how the first world war contributed to the formation of world states as we see them today and also how it has been the cause of much of the tension that we see today in different parts of the world. ii. About the First World War The First World War, (also known as 'The Great War' and 'The War to End All War') occurred in 1914 and last till 1918. The two opposing sides of the war were the Allied Powers which comprise of countries France, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, (later countries Italy and the United States came into the war as the Russian revolution changed the face of Russia) and the Central Powers comprising of Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The war was won by the Allied Powers and the results of the defeat of the Central Powers resulted in their dismantling. Germany had a particular bad shape after the war with the controversial Versailles treaty. It lost is overseas empire and new states such as Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Hungary and Yugoslavia were created in Europe. The war was fought on land, sea and fir the first time in air. This war resulted in great devastation resulting in the deaths of more that nine million soldiers in the various battlefields, much more millions in the civilians who perished. As a result of the war people's life changed dramatically as the optimism which came with the many changes in the early 1900's was completely lost. Those who had fought in the war became what is known as "the Lost Generation" as they never fully recovered from the effects of the war and their experiences in the war was unlike any thing anyone had thus far experienced. The years after the war saw Europe mourning with memorials being erected in thousands of villages and towns Though many think that the outcomes of the Second World War, contributed to the present world situation, it is the events which happened as a result of the First World War, which give the real answer to many of the tension existing in today's political scenario. These events have been expertly analyzed and set forth in the works of David Fromlin and Hew Francis Anthony Strachan . iii. David Fromkin David Fromkin is well-know for his book A Peace to End All Peace (1989). In this book, he brings out the role played by European policy in the Middle East between the years, 1914 ad 1922. This book traces the event which led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. When this empire broke down, tremendous changes took place in the Middle East. Most people think that the border around the Middle eastern states of Iraq, Syria, Jordan were always there, but according to David Fromkin this notion is wrong because these states were created primarily out of the European policy (made by the joint hands of countries Britain, France, Russia, Greece, and in a way America. in 1922). He brings out the key events which were part of this policy in the book. This policy sought to find new expansions for the European powers of the time and to carve up the fallen Ottoman Empire after the First World War. They wanted to establish their influence in the Middle East as they had done with other countries with which they had fought and won over. Events in the Middle east at that time, led Britain to get into the ottoman empire, but they made a series of mistakes, which led them to endure an long-drawn out war in this region. A new government in the meantime had come into Britain and it's decided that once they had got through the war in the Middle East, they would carve it up as they always did with spoils of a wars. At this point not only Britain but also European leader felt that the Jewish community had the power to control events in several countries. They wanted an alliance with the Jews and wanted to use their influence to their advantage. The result of this saw Britain making overtures to Jewish Zionism by issuing the Balfour Declaration in which they advocated a Jewish national home in Palestine. This offer not only includes the area inhabited by the Palestinians, it also included Jordan. Implementing such schemes was very difficult because for one thing the Arabs were not all to happy to have Jews in their territory and the second problem was that British governors in Arab lands promoted Arab uprisings. Ultimately, Britain never intended to satisfy any of the agreement it made with either the Jews or the Arabs. What David Fromkin tries to bring out is that European powers partitioned the former Ottoman Empire into states for the purpose of establishing their influence in the Middle East. In doing so, they setup puppet regimes, drew boundaries and ignored all the times the actual wishes of the people who lived there. Since this is how the formation of present day Middle East began, it is important to understand how it happened to comprehend the situation as it exist in the Middle east today. Hew Francis Anthony Strachan - The First World War: Volume 1 Hew Francis Anthony Strachan, DL, FRSE is a military historian. He is well-known for his administrative work in the British Army and his presentations on the history of the First World War. He completed his work 'The First World War: Volume 1: To arms' in 2001 and it received much acclaim on the way it dealt with the events and the results of the war. This work is also acknowledged as one of the world's authorities on the subject of the First World War. The First World War is an event which shaped world history even more than the Second World War. This was seen particularly in the countries of the Middle East and the Balkans. Hew Francis Anthony Strachan sees the First World War as one which was a race among generals on all sides which fought the war. The war was battled using new weapons and new war tactics which work in a faster way than what was used in earlier wars. So, according to the author, this war was also a race among soldiers who fought each other using new weapons and tactics, rather than the traditional way of using raw courage and numbers wherever possible. In the end, the war was won by the Allied Forces. The reason why the Central Powers failed in the war was because; Russia and the Dual Monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were not prepared to fight a modern war on a large scale. This made Germany's position weak and eventually led to a bad defeat for the country, which eventually led to the Second World War. Hew Francis Anthony Strachan states from his study that the First World War, redrew the map of the world and also is responsible for setting into motion the most dangerous conflicts that we see in the world today. What this means is that the legacy of the war to end all wars is with the world till this very day. In his book Hew Francis Anthony Strachan examines all the military, political and social aspects of the conflict, the new methods of warfare which were introduced and the events which set in motion the history of the rest of the 20th century. He explore the reasons which led to the war and the unhappy consequences of this war and also traces its continuing reverberations and impact in world history almost a century later. iV. Conclusion The First World War resulted in the humiliation of the Central Powers and as a result it caused the disintegration of the empires of Austro-Hungary, Germany, Ottoman, and Russia. New states such as Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Hungary and Yugoslavia emerged in Europe. New states were also created in the Middle East territories under the mandates of Britain and France. The break-up of the Ottoman Empire eventually led to the Turkish Independence War. This war led to a decisive break in the old world order which was established after the Napoleonic Wars and also led to the Second World War twenty five later. Much of the world as we see it today is the result or outcome of this war, which led unfortunately to another greater and more devastating war. Writers David Fromlin and Hew Francis Anthony Strachan seek to establish this fact through their works and their works bring out many interesting historical facts and events, which most of us are unaware in the times that we live in today. Mistakes which were made a century ago are the seeds for the hatred and disruption in people' lives in today's world also and much of these mistakes as caused by ego, misinterpretation and blatant ignorance of what the actually people who lived in many parts of the world wanted. References: David fromkin., A peace to end all peace (1989) Hew Strachan., The First World War: Volume I: To Arms (2001) The first world war., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_world_war Read More