Weekly Summary Six

So...WWI. Kinda awkward. As Cas has put it, the beginning of the period where Europe "lost its marbles." Jonathan's post about the "ingrained conservatism of the military leaders of the time" and Declan's post about the war's surreality complement each other nicely and are two different ways of exploring the war's effect on the European psyche. Europe basically could not cope with something so strange, new, and horrible, thus hindering the attempts of both sides to achieve victory and permanently changing the face of European politics as old monarchies fell and new totalitarian regimes rose. A former teacher of mine described the war as a pyrrhic victory for the British because it ruined their economy and hastened the demise of their empire. World War One defeated not just the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, but all of Europe.