This is exactly why WWI is so interesting to me. All over the world (mostly Europe) we had these notions about honor and glory in war. Then after a bunch of people got fed to machine gun fire the collective consciousness of humanity shifts. Obviously there were folks ahead of the curve and already knew this.
But in general for western civilization WWI is the inflection point.
I feel like I hear a lot more about how Desert Storm was the massive shift to the general public getting to see the horror of war. It’s absolutely true that there was a step change! I think it’s valuable to include WWI in this discussion because adding to your point about the machine gun the change in war technology fundamentally changed who was surviving the war and how, and what stories and life changing injuries they brought home.
It’s tragic and world changing if your loved one goes off to war and dies, but that’s also very abstract. Having them come back and either:
re-enter society with visible bodily damage
require constant care for the rest of their lives
seem to be okay in body but come hope deeply changed by the trauma
really change how the people who weren’t there view the reality of war. Even for myself, it was hearing my grandmother sobbing as she recalled atrocities in WWII (she was a child) that really shaped how I view war.
I find it hard to digest that people in north america appear to have become less opposed to wars (specifically the wars of the US) than they did in the 2000s (which are the first wars I have adult memory of). If I had to guess I would say it’s a mix of overwhelm with everything else and that war is back to being more remote. I’m sure the people who are being droned still think it’s horrific.
Also US centric but I went to the Atlanta History Center a few years back. I am not from the states. The way the US Civil war was presented was so different from what I had learned. This makes sense, especially as canada uses the US as a shield for their own atrocities, and likes to emphasize how chattel slavery was outlawed here sooner. What I didn’t expect was the exhibit on how the horror of war left such a mark on the population. It was very enlightening!
Good point about Desert Storm. Because North America has been so insulated from war/ major conflicts we have grown to be more tolerable of waging it. Every 20ish years we have to be reminded that it is something to be avoided.
Also, I hadn’t even thought about how much medicine had changed and that allowed more people to survive but with injuries.
Another thing to point out is that Canada and the USA have only seen imperialist/ asymmetric warfare in my lifetime and this colors how we view the seriousness of it. How many d-bag Seals have podcasts or books glorifying themselves and how their rugged manliness got them through war? In reality they just had better equipment, logistics, and training on their side. But again it feeds into the propaganda machine pushing these societies to go to war.
This is exactly why WWI is so interesting to me. All over the world (mostly Europe) we had these notions about honor and glory in war. Then after a bunch of people got fed to machine gun fire the collective consciousness of humanity shifts. Obviously there were folks ahead of the curve and already knew this.
But in general for western civilization WWI is the inflection point.
It’s so interesting!
I feel like I hear a lot more about how Desert Storm was the massive shift to the general public getting to see the horror of war. It’s absolutely true that there was a step change! I think it’s valuable to include WWI in this discussion because adding to your point about the machine gun the change in war technology fundamentally changed who was surviving the war and how, and what stories and life changing injuries they brought home.
It’s tragic and world changing if your loved one goes off to war and dies, but that’s also very abstract. Having them come back and either:
really change how the people who weren’t there view the reality of war. Even for myself, it was hearing my grandmother sobbing as she recalled atrocities in WWII (she was a child) that really shaped how I view war.
I find it hard to digest that people in north america appear to have become less opposed to wars (specifically the wars of the US) than they did in the 2000s (which are the first wars I have adult memory of). If I had to guess I would say it’s a mix of overwhelm with everything else and that war is back to being more remote. I’m sure the people who are being droned still think it’s horrific.
Also US centric but I went to the Atlanta History Center a few years back. I am not from the states. The way the US Civil war was presented was so different from what I had learned. This makes sense, especially as canada uses the US as a shield for their own atrocities, and likes to emphasize how chattel slavery was outlawed here sooner. What I didn’t expect was the exhibit on how the horror of war left such a mark on the population. It was very enlightening!
Good point about Desert Storm. Because North America has been so insulated from war/ major conflicts we have grown to be more tolerable of waging it. Every 20ish years we have to be reminded that it is something to be avoided.
Also, I hadn’t even thought about how much medicine had changed and that allowed more people to survive but with injuries.
Another thing to point out is that Canada and the USA have only seen imperialist/ asymmetric warfare in my lifetime and this colors how we view the seriousness of it. How many d-bag Seals have podcasts or books glorifying themselves and how their rugged manliness got them through war? In reality they just had better equipment, logistics, and training on their side. But again it feeds into the propaganda machine pushing these societies to go to war.