THE WORLD WAR

Author: Various
Year: 1938-1939
Publisher: Världskrigets förlag A.B.
Language: Swedish

Imagine that you are a tourist standing on one of the signal towers of the Great Wall of China and looking into the distance following the stretch of the seemingly endless structure as it whirls and turns across hills and valleys, lakes and rivers, forests and plains relentlessly pursuing the horizon. You see the trenches, turrets, gates, edges and fortifications and the further you try to see, the more you have to strain your eyes.

A few kilometres down the wall, a different viator is standing in a different tower but looking in the same direction as you are. His tower is on a different altitude, angle and relative distance from the sector of the wall you were trying to see. To this person, the tower is equally winding and equally endless, but he sees the items that you see from a different perspective. Maybe he can see something that is too far away for you to properly identify. Maybe you can see something that is blocked from his view. You are looking back to the same wall, and see the same portions of it, and yet your observations would differ.

Looking back into the history of mankind is no different. We know things today that those before us did not know. Our preferences and tastes change. Our expectations evolve. And when we are faced with accounts of events from eras that came and went, we are aghast to learn about developments that seemed so easily avoidable and yet crashed down on our forefathers without mercy or recourse. We see things they did not see, and they saw things that are out of view for us.

It is, therefore, a useful exercise to read historical accounts written before our era as seen by observers on a different point on the timeline. Voltaire’s book about Charles XII of Sweden is one such example. “Världskriget” (not available in English but the title translates to “The World War”) is another. In and by itself, it is already a fascinating read, but there is one fact in particular that makes this compilation particularly fascinating. The clue is in the title: it was published in 1938 and 1939, i.e. before they knew that there was going to be a second world war, even ghastlier than the previous one.

I have read the 14 volumes of Världskriget on and off over the course of the last five years and finally finished it in time to celebrate the centenary of the end of the war. It is a comprehensive collection of essays on the most diverse aspects of the First World War. The essays cover all sorts of perspectives on the Great War. They certainly cover the mandatory chapters on the political alliances, the shots in Sarajevo, the mobilisation across Europe and beyond, the diplomatic efforts to stave off the disaster, the troop movements and the battles, and the final capitulation of the defeated Central Powers. But apart from that, they also include more specialised titles such as “The Exploits of the German destroyer S.M.S.‘Emden’”, “Mines and the Use Thereof During the War”, “The Horse During the World War”, “The Irish Uprising of 1916”, “Sanitary Services”, “The Press and the War”, “German/French/British Marching Songs”, “The Rise and Success of National Socialism”, “The New Italy”, “Military Expenses”, “Russian Generals”, “Tetanus”, and “War humour”. Surprisingly, despite several articles on blimps, aviation, and individual feats of valour, not once was Manfred von Richthofen (a.k.a. the Red Baron), the most celebrated fighter pilot of the era, mentioned.

It is, without a doubt, both chilling and awe-inspiring to read the accounts, thoughts, analyses, and arguments of people who had no way of knowing what horrors stood before them. The heroic introduction to the Nazi movement in Germany and the apotheosis of Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini are particularly horrifying.

What saddened me the most was how pundits, politicians, historians, and the general public until the night before the war refused to fully accept the impending calamity. The efforts to downplay, devalue, or ignore the threat and even ridicule those who called for attention to the matter sounds familiar to my 21st-century ears. I am reminded of the myopic misunderstanding that material wealth, trade, and economic development will trump pride and nationalism. I see the naïve hope that rational thought and education will conquer emotions and fear. I recognise the disastrous equation of justice with revenge. Our forefathers did it, and we are doing it again.

Which ultimately leaves me with the disturbing hunch that this is the hamartia that repeatedly prevents us from ever really saying ”farewell” to the past and compels us to repeatedly part with “until we meet again.”