Week #7 Post (Chapters 21 & 22)

I thought it was quite interesting that the competing states feature of Europe, which was a driving force in its rise to prominence, was also a significant contributor to its collapse. Strayer states, "Europe's modern transformation and its global ascendancy were certainly not accompanied by a growing unity or stability among its own peoples---quite the opposite."

In the category of "What would have happened if...?," I wonder what would have happened if Italy and Germany had been unified states earlier in history. It seems the fact that their governments were relatively new and unestablished heavily contributed to the receptive environment to a new form of government (fascism) in both countries. Would fascism have been relegated to a footnote in history ("small movements...that had little political impact")? Would WWII have been averted? Would the Holocaust have happened? I realize there were a multitude of factors involved in WWII, but it seems that fascism (in varying forms) was the unifying force behind the Axis powers. As for Japan, Strayer states that, "Like Italy and Germany, Japan had a rather limited experience with democratic politics."

This chapter really drove home the immense influence of nationalism, and its prominent role in both world wars. The extreme nationalism in Germany was especially frightening: "the Nazi Party under Hitler's leadership proclaimed a message of intense German nationalism cast in terms of racial superiority, bitter hatred for Jews as an alien presence..."

The far-ranging and history-altering effects of the Great Depression were also driven home in this chapter. Strayer states, "Much as Europe's worldwide empires had globalized the war, so too its economic linkages globalized the Great Depression." Also, the Great Depression's impact on the politics of many countries, and the backlash towards capitalism and democracy were eye opening. Strayer says, "...people had lost faith in the capacity of liberal democracy and capitalism to create a good society and to protect their interests."

Finally, I especially liked the 'Reflections' piece at the end of the chapter. It talks about how history is generally far too complex and subjective to be summed up by sayings such as, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." As a society we like to draw parallels and make issues as clean and black and white as possible. Unfortunately, I believe history is full of gray area. This is not to say that we can't learn valuable lessons from history, just that we need to be cognizant of all aspects of historical events before drawing any conclusions.