Jay Winter, Dean of World War I studies, presents the following conclusion: "The war solved no problems. Its effects, both immediate and indirect, were either negative or disastrous. Morally subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading, confused in its course, futile in its result, it is the outstanding example in European history of meaningless conflict."
Meaningless from a practical point of view. But perhaps the war occurred as a testimonial to demonstrate the existence of nation-states. Crosses like the ones below were began to be erected well before the war ended. Perhaps the desire to create memorials was the cause of the war, not the result. |
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From Chapter III: "As the Soldier Dies, So the Nation Comes Alive."
So pervasive is the ideology of nationalism that when speaking of "France" or "Germany" or "America," we must remind ourselves that these words refer to concepts created by human beings rather than to concrete objects or entities that substantially exist.
A statement like "The individual must die so that the nation might live" suggests that nations have a life of their own; as if a country is a living creature, the preservation of which is more significant or valuable than the preservation of the life of an actual human being.
In war, human bodies are sacrificed in the name of perpetuating a magical entity, the body politic. Sacrificial acts affirm the reality or existence of this sacred object, the nation. Entering into battle may be characterized as a devotional act, with death in war constituting the supreme act of devotion.
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| Our last promotion for Nations Have the Right to Kill. Participate in this revolution in human thought. For the next day, you may obtain a copy of this groundbreaking book at the extraordinary price of $2.99 (list $39.99). To order please click through to Amazon now (available through "One & Only Books"). |
From Chapter III: "As the Soldier Dies, So the Nation Comes Alive."
The parents of a French soldier received a letter from their son before he died on December 11, 1914. He asked his parents to speak of him from time to time as one of those men who have "given their blood that France may live and who has died gladly. What matters the life of individuals if France is saved?"
"What matters the life of individuals if France is saved" contains the essence of the ideology that generated the First World War. People imagined that they were fighting to rescue the life of their nation. The French soldier speaks of the French nation as if it were a concrete entity whose "life" is more valuable than his own.
He proclaims that he wishes to be remembered as one of those men who has "given their blood that France might live." This image evokes a blood transfusion—where the life-sustaining substance of an individual body passes into a collective body, acting to keep it alive. What is the nature of this structure of thought that gives rise to the belief that the death of the soldier—his offering of blood—functions to keep one's nation alive? |
