It was a somber close to one of the longest wars in U.S. history as President Barack Obama declared the end of combat operations in Iraq last month.
There was no “Mission Accomplished” banner draped above the president’s podium. No national holidays were declared.
Across the nation, the announcement was met with cynical chuckles rather than excitement and exultation. After seven long years of combat, most Americans realize “victory” is nothing but a distant mirage.
There are plenty of reasons why people should criticize our nation’s recent military ventures.
But perhaps the greatest example of the unintended consequences of foreign intervention came during western civilization’s most monumental event nearly a century ago.
The year was 1914, and the seeds of the First World War were rapidly being sown across the entire European landscape. Within months, the “Great War” had become one of history’s most gruesome slaughters. Outmoded combat strategies of the 19th century were combined with the technologically advanced weaponry of the 20th century, resulting in a staggering loss of life.
Yet by 1917, Allied and Central powers found themselves stuck in a peculiar stalemate. With neither side truly advancing and thousands lying dead for no apparent reason, citizens were growing weary. Government propaganda had lost its appeal. The lofty patriotism that helped fuel Europe’s sudden “war fever” was fading quickly.
But political leaders knew they couldn’t settle for anything short of victory after coaxing their citizenry into war and squandering virtually all of their nation’s wealth.
Germany was in a particularly vexing spot. Exhaustion was setting in on both the eastern and western warfronts. Moreover, British blockades had wreaked havoc on their innocent civilians. Continuing to fight a two-front war was clearly unsustainable.
So with battles still raging on the western front and the United States’ potential entry into the war looming, Germany sought out a desperate plan to eliminate Russia’s already beleaguered forces on the eastern front.
Their solution for getting Russia out of the war was simple. And it involved something much more potent than any bomb: It was an idea. The seed of that revolutionary idea came in the form of an exiled Russian revolutionary named Vladimir Lenin.
Tragically, the Germans’ plan to incite a revolution in Russia worked. The October Revolution swept through St. Petersburg. Bolsheviks quickly deposed the czar and withdrew Russian forces from the eastern warfront.
In the next few decades, Marxist ideas would spread across the globe like a swift plague, infecting the minds of the young and traumatized, prompting the systematic slaughter of around 120 million civilians.
The only thing more tragic than Lenin’s transport to Russia and the ensuing Bolshevik Revolution — largely a result of Germany’s fear of the United States’ potential entry into the war — was the actual result of the United States’ unwarranted intervention.
By unloading tens of thousands of fresh troops in the midst of a waning war on the path towards diplomacy, the U.S. tipped the scales in the Allied powers’ favor. The Central powers’ fate was sealed. Rather than settling for compromise, Germany was forced to accept an unconditional surrender under the stringent terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
The sanctions were so disastrous for Germany that French military theorist Ferdinand Foch observed, “This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.” His prediction was hauntingly accurate.
Within the next decade, Germans endured starvation, isolation and hyperinflation. This desperation and sense of being exploited inevitably drove them into the waiting arms of the 20th century’s most notorious villain: Adolf Hitler.
In a very real way, England and the United States’ unjust intervention into World War I helped set the stage for radical ideologies like communism and fascism to emerge. World War II was not a chance event. It was an inevitable consequence of the First War’s tragic conclusion.
Sadly, Americans never accepted the fact that imperialism only breeds war and — invariably — financial collapse.
The final chapter is far from being written in the Middle East. But with our spiraling debt and lingering economic uncertainty, we’re already feeling the effects of this war.
Today’s troops deserve much more than our unquestioning praise and support. They deserve to serve a nation that will never blindly send them off to fight another unnecessary war.
It may be too late to reverse history, but we’ll only be able to create a more peaceful and sustainable future once we learn from the mistakes of our past.
Scott Burns is a 21-year-old economics and history senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_sburns.