U.S. Cavalrymen, probably detailed as a transportation company, in World War One. Contrary to the popular myth, every combatant fielded, and used, cavalry in World War One, although of the major combatants, the American Army fielded the least, in part due to international logistics concerns. Of the Allies, the Imperial Russians, and then the British, fielded the most cavalry.
2014 has arrived, and with it the passing of 100 years, starting in August, of the commencement of World War One.
I doubt that this will be noticed much in the United States. For us World War One started in 1917, not 1914 and we're generally too self absorbed to note historical anniversaries unless they are simply unavoidable. We did commemorate the Bicentennial of the American Revolution all around the country, as folks around in 1976 undoubtedly recall, but we let the bicentennial of the "Second American Revolution", the War of 1812, pass without a whimper for the most part, marked only by the dedication of a few historically minded, and by those who have a particular interest in that war. Of course, as mentioned in our historical myth post, we started forgetting the War of 1812 by the Mexican War anyway, and have a semi-intentional historical amnesia about it even occurring (which is also true of the Mexican War, which we won but which we've been glad to forget).
My predication is that World War One won't be as forgotten as the War of 1812, but it's not going to get much attention here. For us, World War Two is the big war of the 20th Century, and its the one we really remember. Indeed, it's dominates our recollection of 20th Century wars. The Great War was the Big One at first, but after September 1939 that quit being true for us, and it definitely ceased to be the big war on December 7, 1941. And that's not surprising, really, given that for us World War Two was by far the bigger war, and it changed our relationship with the globe. It's the war we look back on justifiably, and its the war we even believe had impacts that it really didn't completely have. Indeed, its dominance is so much the case that it continues to be "the War" to the extent that it even now continues to crowd out, a bit, our memory of other 20th Century wars. The Korean War was only really prominent in our minds during the war. Vietnam certainly became a major concern, and remains something we are in some ways haunted with, and by, but even during the Vietnam War, World War Two loomed large in our collective memories. During the Vietnam War, while we were actively at war, we watched Combat! (1962-67), The Rat Patrol (1966-68), McHale's Navy (1962-1966), and Hogan's Heroes (1965-1971) on television. At the movies, we went to see Patton (1970) and Kelly's Heroes (1970). We never watched a series about World War One, and while there are a few movies about World War One, after 1945 they were very few indeed.
If I'm correct, and that the century anniversary of World War One is pretty much a near non event in the United States, that will be a shame. The war shaped the entire century in ways as significant as World War Two, and while the second war is not a sequel to the first, as sometimes claimed, they do form a history together that we still are seeing play out, and which we still do not know even now what the result will be. The First World War had the impact of destroying forever, the ancient regime in Europe, and indeed in some ways the world. Numerous combatants went into the war with a strong traditional imperial, monarchical, aristocratic retaining power. None of them would come out of it with that class intact. Where democracy had not strongly taken root prior to the war, a vacuum was left that was filled by political extremes. Had the war not occurred just when it did the fall of that class would have played out much differently, and the great political murderous political philosophies that made a blood bath of the middle of the century likely would have never have taken hold anywhere.
And the history of the era is simply interesting in its own right. A fully modern era, much more recognizable to us looking back after a century than the War of 1812 or the Napoleonic Wars would have been looking back the same distance for the combatants of the Great War, the war still had one foot in the late 19th Century and, while we can hardly appreciate it now, one foot looking forward to the 21st. We should recall it, particularly, perhaps, because the world of 1914 is more recognizable now than at any time since 1918, and therefore its lessons more applicable.
If I'm correct, and that the century anniversary of World War One is pretty much a near non event in the United States, that will be a shame. The war shaped the entire century in ways as significant as World War Two, and while the second war is not a sequel to the first, as sometimes claimed, they do form a history together that we still are seeing play out, and which we still do not know even now what the result will be. The First World War had the impact of destroying forever, the ancient regime in Europe, and indeed in some ways the world. Numerous combatants went into the war with a strong traditional imperial, monarchical, aristocratic retaining power. None of them would come out of it with that class intact. Where democracy had not strongly taken root prior to the war, a vacuum was left that was filled by political extremes. Had the war not occurred just when it did the fall of that class would have played out much differently, and the great political murderous political philosophies that made a blood bath of the middle of the century likely would have never have taken hold anywhere.
And the history of the era is simply interesting in its own right. A fully modern era, much more recognizable to us looking back after a century than the War of 1812 or the Napoleonic Wars would have been looking back the same distance for the combatants of the Great War, the war still had one foot in the late 19th Century and, while we can hardly appreciate it now, one foot looking forward to the 21st. We should recall it, particularly, perhaps, because the world of 1914 is more recognizable now than at any time since 1918, and therefore its lessons more applicable.
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