Total War and the Europeans

Instructions:

After watching the YouTube videos and reading the assigned readings, please choose one of the topics below and discuss the topic accordingly. It is not necessary to respond to all of the questions in the thread topic; these questions are intended to help facilitate critical thinking about the topics and materials. The discussion should simply present a thoughtful response that addresses the main topic chosen.

Minimum word count: 300 words

Must include at least two direct quotations (with page numbers) from two different readings or other materials

YouTube lecture video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuX5LcrH7m4

President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp

Textbook link: https://b-ok.cc/book/21346061/1d82da (I used Adobe Digital Editions to open the download)

• Please use the following sections in the book for the assignment:
  • Page 97-120: Chapter 3: World War I and the Russian Revolution, 1914-22
  • Page 128-130: V.I. Lenin, April Theses
  • Page 135-139: “Picture Essay: The Home Front”

Topics (choose only 1 to discuss)

 1. Causes of War

What were the short-term and long-term causes of World War I? Both Wilson and Lenin blamed "imperialists" for causing the war, but did they both mean the same thing by this term? Who or what specifically were they each referring to? How are their conceptions of "imperialism" similar or different? What other causes might they have been overlooking?

2. Total War

What trends and ideas in modern European society made it possible for Europeans to carry out "total war" and deem it an acceptable way of resolving international conflicts? What was the experience of total war like for average Europeans both on the battlefield and the home front? How did that experience change the way people saw the world, their governments, and their willingness to engage in future wars?

 3. Solutions

What were the underlying problems in European society that led to the war, and how could they have been solved? What did Wilson and Lenin each identify as the main problem, and what solutions did they propose in order to prevent future wars? What actions did the United States and the Soviet Union each take to try to influence Europe and implement these ideas? How effective do you think these solutions would be and why?

4. Ideologies and Worldviews

How did the ideologies promoted by Wilson and Lenin compare? How did they each understand the modern world and the forces at work within it? How did they envision the future "progress" of human civilization what needed to be done to achieve that? How did Wilson and Trotsky each view the other's ideas?