Why do they say that "Nothing Was Ever The Same" after 1914, the year when WWI started?

Answer 1

Ever since 1914, everybody conscious of trends in the world has been deeply troubled by what has seemed like a fated and predetermined march toward ever greater disaster. Many serious people have come to feel that nothing can be done to avert the plunge towards ruin.”—Bertrand Russell, The New York Times Magazine, September 27, 1953.

“The modern era . . . began in 1914, and no one knows when or how it will end. . . . It could end in mass annihilation.”—The Seattle Times, January 1, 1959



“The whole world really blew up about World War I and we still don’t know why. . . . Utopia was in sight. There was peace and prosperity. Then everything blew up. We’ve been in a state of suspended animation ever since.”—Dr. Walker Percy, American Medical News, November 21, 1977.

“In 1914 the world lost a coherence which it has not managed to recapture since. . . . This has been a time of extraordinary disorder and violence, both across national frontiers and within them.”—The Economist, London, August 4, 1979.

“Everything would get better and better. This was the world I was born in. . . . Suddenly, unexpectedly, one morning in 1914 the whole thing came to an end.”—British statesman Harold Macmillan, The New York Times, November 23, 1980.




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Answer 2

I think a lot of it can be seen in Europe from 1837-1914. With the reign of Queen Victoria and her marriage to Albert Duke of Saxe-Gotha they had a lot of children. These children married into other royal houses. Victoria was the grandmother of Tsar Nicholas II, Kaiser Wilhelm II, King George VI ,The King of Greece and others. The end of the war saw the death of the Tsar, the abdication and exile of the Kaiser eventually the Greek royal family would be deposed. The family of Europe was gone. And a war a huge war that was not simply one country pounding another but many nations pounding on each other. The redrawing of the map of Europe in 1918. Germany being paraded as the scapegoat and humiliated which led to the 2nd World War. So much ended, so many lives were irrevocably changed.

Answer 3

Prior to World War I, most warfare was extremely limited in nature, with peace being made when a short-term strategic goal was achieved. Then, everyone would get ready for the next war. When WWI broke out, all nations involved made their goal to be the total destruction of the enemy nations. Fighting became so total and so intense that a negotiated peace with limited consequences was no longer possible. Eight million dead soldiers would scream from their graves if a peace without punishment were agreed to by anyone!

Answer 4

The chances after the treaty ending WWI were dramatic and stupid for the most part.

Yugoslavia, for instance, was a created state which could not survive, or have survived for as long as it did, without Marshal Tito. After his death, it fell apart. That was the cause of the Balkan Wars fought during the Clinton years. Those areas, including Bosnia, Herzogovinia, Croatia, etc were all of different ethnic groups and the battling amonst themselves was caused by ethnic problems.

The Iraq/Iran/Israeli problems as well as most problems that have taken place in the middle east are directly related to the end of WWI. Again, without the realization of the different ethic groups that make up that they combined areas that had been separate, and basically under French and English control prior to WWI, the treaty combined many together that could never really exist because of the ethnic problems. Look up the Balfour Declaration and the Sikes-Picot Agreement for more information.

WWII was directly caused by the horrible punishment exacted on the Germans with the treaty. Germany was thrown into economic turmoil and Hitler was chosen to extricate them. For more information on how Hitler came into power, read ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM by Eric Fromm.

There are many after affects of the War and I can't go into all of them here, but suffice it to say that the treaty caused more problems than it solved and that many of those problems have caused problems during the 20th century and will continue to cause problems into the 21st.

Keep in mind that because of the punitive treaty, the US never ratified it.

Answer 5

I think every generation thinks their time is unique and in some ways it is. The last hundred years so many things were invented that has changed our world but I think it will always be that way if we are allowed to go forward and some terrible thing doesn't happen to this country that sets us back to the 1900's or an earlier period of time. Not a lot of people could survive because physically we have become lazy and use to everything being given to us and hard labor for most of us is a thing of the past. Just as in any terrible circumstance the strongest will survive.

Answer 6

"Nothing was ever the same" refers to the fact that nobody ever felt the same sence of security after the First World War. There was a great sence of security and peace in the world before the war started. Afterwards nobody could relax even in peace time, wondering what was going to happen next.

Answer 7

I kind of think of it as the end of an age.

World War I was, in a sense, the last war in which the Western concept of chivalry was practiced. Previous European conflicts had things like truces for holidays such as Christmas and the officers considered themselves to be gentlemen who were expected to behave to a higher standard of conduct.

This was war on a scale that had really never been seen, because the weapons were capable of inflicting death and injury on more of the enemy than ever before. The guns were bigger, there were airplanes, and the use of chemicals such as mustard gas.

It was also, I think, the last really idealistic war--many of the men who fought really believed that they were on a mission to save civilization. When the United States entered the conflict in 1917, it was under such slogans as "The War to End War" and "Making the World Safe for Democracy."

I also think of it as when the Western world really lost its innocence--and that's something that, once gone, can never be recaptured.

Answer 8

The aftermath of WWI had major impacts on world society.

Maps were changed, empires fell, class systems re-organized, wars became deadlier. etc...

Israel-Palestine, WWII, the communist revolution, the Cold War, the emergence of the US as a global superpower after WWII, air plane technology, tanks, I could go on and on.

So much came about as a result of WWI that we are still living with those outcomes today.

Answer 9

Think about it, after the great war what could be the same, most of france/eastern europe was practically laid waste, turkey and the balkans, the austro/empire in tatters,thats why it was called the great war. populations lost generations of adult males women had to work as men,children became a priority, the way of life in any country that suffered war,was dramatcally changed, a fresh approach to re building,diet,fashion,education,govermental changes brought on by war forced through parlimentary bills that affected the medical care of nations. nothing about the way of life was left untouched.from industry through to agriculture. regards LF

Answer 10

The advent of machine guns, aircraft & tanks meant that it's no longer possible to win battles with infantry or cavalry.

Also, the amount of lives lost have been unprecedented. For example, the battles of Verdun, Somme & Ypres took many lives.