“The war to end all wars” have been followed by a period of perpetual instability ...

The tragedy to end all tragedies?

by Gary L. Welton 

The Great War (sometimes in America it was termed the European War) was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, 100 years ago this week, on June 28, 1914. The war was a continuation of the fragile balancing of the European powers, when the closely related noble families sought to strengthen their positions on the European chess board. It was an extremely deadly and tragic conflict, as more than nine million combatants sacrificed their young lives. It was characterized by trench warfare and the use of mustard gas.

The idealists of the era referred to the conflict as “the war to end all wars.” Some Christians proclaimed that it represented the beginning of the fulfillment of the book of Revelation. As if the war were not tragedy enough, the next generation of teens and young adults would be fighting a larger conflict, which would require a renaming of the Great War.

There were many lessons to be learned from the conflict, and a generation later the allies showed great wisdom and forgiveness through the implementation of the Marshall Plan, used to rebuild the axis powers after World War II. The Marshall Plan realigned international alliances. Who would have ever predicted in 1945 that many of the countries of Europe would form a political union and a common currency by the turn of the millennium?

Alas, we now recognize, however, the audacity of the phrase, “the war to end all wars.” Instead, the two world wars have been followed by a period of perpetual instability, as the world has faced nuclear threats, international terrorism, and local violence, not to mention continuing territorial disputes.

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