What would the world be like without WW1

[Gith]

It being the 90th anniversary of the armistice today it got me thinking how the world would have turned out without WW1.

Obviously on a humanitarian level it was a disaster. A massive waste of life, a whole generation of men being slaughtered - at least in Europe and the British sovereign states. It was the inevetable conclusion of 19th century imperialism and led to the second world war, which in turn allowed the USA to take up it's current position as the dominant global power.

Anway, what are your thoughts on how society would be different today had the first world war not happened?

[vladthepaler]

We would have called World War II World War I, which would have totally fucked up the joke from "Time After Time" when Malcom McDowell is in the pawn shop talking to the elderly Jew.

Hitler would never have been blinded by Mustard Gas, and would likely have become a mildly successful landscape artist.

"Blackadder Goes Forth" would have been set in the Crimean war or Boer War, perhaps.

The novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" would have been called "No, seriously, it's Quiet out here, because there is no war."

Alvin York would have faded into obscurity in Tennessee, and Gary Cooper would have missed a real opportunity to portray him.

[23]

Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, Waldo Peirce, and John Dos Passos would be nobodies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation

[Mantikore]

my teacher always ranted about how WW1 was the most important event in recent history.

WW1 was the reason Germany was stricken by poverty, contributing to Nazism's rise, and eventually the holocaust. This in turn contributed to the middle east conflict we still have today

It was a driving factor in Russia's conversion to communism and thus all of the implications of that.

it removed many monarchies, and tilted power all over the place.

and a few more that i cant think of at the moment

though i reckon that some of the stuff would have happened eventually anyway, but a little differently, or maybe at a different time

[BSK]

Originally Posted by vladthepaler

We would have called World War II World War I

in fact many historians consider the thirty years´war to be the real first world war. it involved every nation in europe and guess where it took place, yes germany ..

[lostmyface]

Originally Posted by BSK

in fact many historians consider the thirty years´war to be the real first world war. it involved every nation in europe and guess where it took place, yes germany ..

if we really want to go down this route then i would call the seven years war the first world war, as it involved conflicts all across the world an not just europe.


and if world war 1 never happened, well it would have eventually. europe was a tinder box for most of that time period. if it was not the arch duke getting killed it would have been someting else. the world powers were itching for war an they would have made it happen one way or another i think.

[BSK]

seven years´ war was after thirty years´ war ..

[CreamOfWarholSoup]

An epic war would've just occurred later on an even more catastrophic scale as technology developed.

[ArmsMerchant]

I agree that without WW I, WW II would not have happened in anyway like it did, since Hitler largely came to power by manipulating the resentment over the way Germany was screwed by the Treaty of Versailles.

[ReclaimPublicSpace]

Wasn't the armistice signed on November 11th, hence why November 11th used to be called "Armistice Day", in hopes that WWI would be the last war ever fought? Then after WWII and a few more, it got its name changed to "Veteran's Day." At least that's what I have been taught.