What Have We Learned, If Anything?
In the US, at least, we have forgotten the meaning of war
In much of continental Europe, Asia, and Africa the twentieth century was experienced as a cycle of wars
War in the last century signified invasion, occupation, displacement, deprivation, destruction, and mass murder. Countries that lost wars often lost population, territory, resources, security, and independence
those countries that emerged formally victorious had comparable experiences and usually remembered war much as the losers did
war in the twentieth century frequently meant civil war: often under the cover of occupation or "liberation."
Civil war played a significant role in the widespread "ethnic cleansing"
World War I led to an unprecedented militarization of society, the worship of violence, and a cult of death that long outlasted the war itself and prepared the ground for the political disasters that followed
Dissent or opposition was stifled by universal fear
clipped from: www.nybooks.com 