War and Romanticism of Conflict

I am always astonished when reading about the tinderbox that was Europe just before WWI and the naiveté of the peoples on all sides believing they would be engaged in some type of 5-6 month frolic of battle instead of the long engagement that was the grinding machine of modern war at the turn of the last century. Citizens of nations in conflict believing that warfare is a simple, fun or an adventurous experience (liking war to  a video game is the modern equivalent) is, unfortunately, nothing new. For our part, both combatants in the United States Civil War had similar romantic and exciting notions about the beginning of our “War of Secession.” Our forgotten protracted conflict in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War saw the betrayal of Aguinaldo and the deaths of 225,000 Pinoy at American hands.  The Spanish-American War was largely romanticized in the beginning, but proved a foreshadowing jungle conflict to the Viet Nam War. I have firsthand knowledge that the damage done to the human body by war removes all reference and application to romanticism.

False and Forced Borders Within the Global South

I found Stayer’s thoughts on the changes of former colonies in the Global South quite challenging. The imposition of artificial borders by Europeans across African nations and peoples leaves the Global South in a state of tumult likely unresolved for several generations. Such is the legacy of adventurism and colonialism. While there are still hard feelings about similar circumstances unresolved in South America, the problems there the past 100 years appear as skirmishes compared to Africa, especially the nations centered around Lake Victoria. Certainly there was conflict in many places before white men, but this imposition of political borders joining groups suspicious of each other for hundreds of years lends itself to problems like those erupting in Rwanda every other generation. The generation in this region that can negotiate a lasting peace will have diplomatic skills never seen before.