I could not let today pass by without noting that it is the 100th anniversary of the event which is commonly accepted as the impetus for World War I. One hundred years ago today, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian separatist. That assassination led to threats, claims and more threats by first Austria-Hungary and Serbia and then by their allies Germany and Russia along with France, the UK, and Italy. A month later, war broke out and World War I was underway.
For almost a century before the war, a structure of world order had been created that had kept most of Europe at peace during that entire time. There were colonial wars on occasion, and there were even short lived conflicts like the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, but for the most part the world great powers endured in peace. From the start of World War I, however, there has been little peace in the world. Just over a decade after the end of the war, new major conflicts arose in Africa and Asia. These spread to Europe a few years later. Twenty years after the end of World War I, the start of World War II arrived. After that second major war, the world endured 45 years of the Cold War when the existence of man was threatened with nuclear annihilation. Even after the end of the Cold War, we only got a few years respite until the scourge of Islamic terrorism grew to the point where it put peace at risk on a rather constant basis.
It would be great if the world could return to the basically peaceful existence of the century prior to World War I. (No, before you write, I do not mean all the social and political structures of that era, just the widespread peace.) I doubt, however, if I will ever see that in my lifetime.
For almost a century before the war, a structure of world order had been created that had kept most of Europe at peace during that entire time. There were colonial wars on occasion, and there were even short lived conflicts like the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, but for the most part the world great powers endured in peace. From the start of World War I, however, there has been little peace in the world. Just over a decade after the end of the war, new major conflicts arose in Africa and Asia. These spread to Europe a few years later. Twenty years after the end of World War I, the start of World War II arrived. After that second major war, the world endured 45 years of the Cold War when the existence of man was threatened with nuclear annihilation. Even after the end of the Cold War, we only got a few years respite until the scourge of Islamic terrorism grew to the point where it put peace at risk on a rather constant basis.
It would be great if the world could return to the basically peaceful existence of the century prior to World War I. (No, before you write, I do not mean all the social and political structures of that era, just the widespread peace.) I doubt, however, if I will ever see that in my lifetime.
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