Old Europe's Suicide; or, The Building of a Pyramid of Errors: An Account of Certain Events in Europe During the Period 1912–1919Thomson, Christopher Birdwood, Baron
History
Old Europe's Suicide; or, The Building of a Pyramid of Errors: An Account of Certain Events in Europe During the Period 1912–1919
Thomson, Christopher Birdwood, Baron
Balkan Peninsula -- History -- War of 1912-1913; Eastern question (Balkan); World War, 1914-1918
Rumania, once she became our ally, was treated as a dependency of
Russia, although the most superficial student of the past history of
these two States could have foreseen her fate. But she, like Servia
and Greece, was only a little country and counted as small dust in the
balance. She could be over-run and devastated, once she had played
her part; that was a little country’s lot. The frame of mind which,
subconsciously perhaps, possessed the French and British Governments
was not so unlike that of the actively vicious autocratic Empires;
they, too, relied on experts and officials, to whom Small States and
helpless peoples were negligible factors, who respected only force and
wealth, who viewed human affairs exclusively from those standpoints,
and, wrapped in a mantle of self-satisfaction, as ignorant of
psychology as of true statesmanship, could not perceive the portents of
the times.
It is possible that historians of the future will select three events
as the outstanding features of the “Great World War”: the participation
of the United States of America, the Russian Revolution, and the
collapse of the German Military System. The first of these was,
undoubtedly, an expression of idealism. Cynics may say that America
was influenced by self-interest, but they invariably judge humanity
by their own worldly standards. The “plain people” of America were
inspired by nobler sentiments; the measure of their sincerity in the
cause of liberty is their present disillusionment, caused by the
failure of democratic Governments to make a democratic peace. The
intervention of America undoubtedly ensured and accelerated the final
triumph of the Allies; but it did more than that, it solidarized
democracy for a brief period, and demonstrated the willingness of free
people to sacrifice their lives and money for an unworldly cause. It
was, to a great extent, an Anglo-Saxon movement, and opened up, till
then, undreamt of vistas; it was a light which, although a transient
gleam, lit up the way for the regeneration of the world.
The Russian Revolution was the outcome of misgovernment by a corrupt
bureaucracy, and the passionate desire of an exhausted, suffering
population for a return to peace. Misconceived by the rest of Europe
and misdirected by Kerensky, it degenerated into civil war; yet it did
prove that even the most down-trodden people possess the power and
instinct of self-liberation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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