Friday's Test: Study Guide on World War I and the Russian Revolution

Question: How should we begin to rewrite the history of World War I to help us make sense of its diplomatic failures that continue to haunt statesmen and generals (and pacifists) on the international stage today as they consider a disintegrating European Union, conflict with Russia, and chaos in the Middle East?  Consider the internal dynamic within Europe, the withdrawal of Russia and the entry of the United States, and the impact on the Middle East, not to mention the entire imperialized zone.  

An easy way to think about this essay is to consider what acronym you could create for the international lessons or legacy of WWI.  If MANIA (militarism, alliances, nationalism, imperialism, and assassination) describes the causes of WWI, what acronym would describe its international lessons or legacy?

We began with the story of the war itself, considering whether it was inevitable or changeable.  (Marshall and Section 81)

We then looked at the events of the war (Gopnik's New Yorker article that discusses "lessons" of the war and the Craig article/Gerst lecture on strategic and diplomatic failures).

Ms. Gerst's classes looked at the war from the kaleidoscopes of the colonies, institutional racism in war policy, and the interactions of colonial soldiers and laborers with Western soldiers (Maguire).  

We then looked at the treaties that ended the war, focusing on the Versailles treaty consequences for Germany as well as the breakup of the Ottoman Empire (Section 86 and the reading entitled "Settlement of the Middle East Question").

We transitioned to a revolution partially caused by the war, namely the Russian Revolution (Perry handout), noticing how Lenin and the Bolsheviks emerge as the extreme faction after the Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky failed to pull Russia out of the war.

Our final discussion was of Lev Kopelev's memoir of his participation in the liquidation of the kulaks, which by some estimates terrorized 5 million people, which in turn led to famine in 1932 and 1933, killing additional millions (Kopelev and Stalin primary sources).