Europe before World War I: poverty was uncontrollable, people voted with their feet, and nationalism was more fierce than Nazism.

Numerous wars have broken out in human history, and the only wars that can really be called catastrophe are the recognized world war 1 and World War II. All the tactics, strategies, technologies and weapons used by mankind in the war serve only one purpose-to kill the most people in the least time. Before the two world wars, the war was not worth the loss. But there are always some speculators (especially some European countries) who will benefit from the war, such as France in the Thirty Years' War and Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War. 1 the causes of the world war can be said to be inextricably linked, but in the final analysis, politicians and ultra-nationalists in western Europe hoped to solve problems and win benefits through a big war. 1 World War II, the total number of allied soldiers killed was about 5.5 million, and the allied soldiers killed about 3.38 million. Add in the number of civilians and unknown deaths, and 1 the total number of soldiers killed in the world war may reach an astonishing100000. This figure means that nearly 7000 people are killed every day on average. Before that, no war in human history could be compared with the killing efficiency of World War I, and there was no comparability at all, and the difference was too far. A premonition of disaster1965438+On August 3, 2004, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey said meaningfully: "The lights in all parts of Europe have been extinguished one after another, and we will never see them rekindled in this life. I see the irresistible shadow of manpower hanging over Europe and our own people. " As early as 19 1 1, Obst, a German socialist, gave a speech in parliament, vehemently refuting and cursing, pointing out that the threat of war in Europe is increasing day by day, and war will bring great disasters to Europe. He said bluntly: "The twilight of the gods of the capitalist world is coming." It is true that the war did not lead to the collapse of the capitalist world as Auguste thought. But he accurately foresaw that war was coming. George Kennan once described the First World War as a disaster with great influence. It's true. 1 the world war is really a disaster. It is countless times more terrible than the Thirty Years' War, the Hundred Years' War and the Great Plague combined, and Europe almost came to its own destruction. Golden age? After the end of World War I 1, most people, especially senior officials, thought that Europe before World War I was prosperous, stable, peaceful and brilliant. Unfortunately, it was gone forever because of a series of accidents. Americans call the pre-war period the "Gilded Age". France calls it "the good times". Germany, as a defeated country, is called the "William era" before World War I, and the whole of Europe has fallen into a wrong cognition that Europe before World War I was a big Europe with subsidiary security. People think that in that era, unified Germany got its due position, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire reached its glorious peak. Munich, Prague, Budapest and St. Petersburg are all bathed in the glory of civilization-but these are wishful thinking. The Paris World Expo opened in 1900. The Expo is intended to show the thriving civilization with Europe as the core and celebrate the progress. All the exhibits at the meeting represented the peak of science and technology at that time, and the power and speed displayed by giant machines were amazing. The "Palace of Electricity" illuminated by 5000 light bulbs really dazzles visitors. There are not only 24 European countries, but also some countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America and even the United States. Over the past six months since the opening of the World Expo, the number of visitors has reached 50 million, which often makes people dazzled and amazed. Eastern European countries also have a huge exhibition lineup, especially Russia, which has set up nine exhibition halls in only one country. The theme of Expo 1900 is "the mission of education". Commercial prosperity and hypocritical peace seem to ensure that Europe's dominant position will be maintained for generations to come, and the future seems bright. General poverty, citizens who vote with their feet, but no matter how gorgeous the curtain is, it is just a cover-up for an empty dark stage. At that time, many European countries achieved rapid and profound industrialization, but there were still large areas dominated by agricultural production. It can even be said that there was only primitive agriculture at that time. Until 19 13, about 4/5 people in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania still live with their backs to the loess. The number of farmers in Europe exceeds 2/5 of the total working population. Only in Britain has the number of farmers dropped to a little more than110 of the total working population. Only the vast majority of workers in Britain, Belgium and Switzerland belong to urban residents and industrial workers. This level has not even reached Germany. In rural areas, although living standards are indeed improving, the lives of most Europeans are still very difficult, whether they are citizens living in rapidly expanding metropolises such as Berlin, Vienna or St. Petersburg, or farmers living on land in rural areas. Many European residents left their motherland because of poverty and no way out. Millions of Europeans have been completely deprived of any benefits of prosperity and civilization. They can't wait to travel abroad-the number of European immigrants to the United States peaked in 1907, and more than10 million Europeans immigrated to the United States in a year. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of immigrants has tripled compared with the previous year's 10. No matter how gorgeous and dazzling the Paris World Expo is, no matter how powerful the imperial army is and how vast the land is, this bloody fact cannot be concealed. Fake parliament, hereditary monopoly power 1 Before the outbreak of the world war, the political power in Europe was still in the hands of a few nobles. In most European countries, the land elites represented by ancient aristocratic families continue to hold political and military power, and some of them have established a complex and stable relationship network with wealthy businessmen through marriage. At the same time, hereditary monarchy was still the main political situation in Europe at that time, except Switzerland, France and Portugal. The emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was Flantz Joseph. As early as 1848, he ascended the throne and became Emperor Habsburg. His empire is vast, with over 50 million subjects of different nationalities. At that time, Emperor Joseph was also a symbol of the permanence and rationality of the monarchy. Even in Britain, which is regarded as the birthplace of parliament, most citizens still have no right to vote. Many countries have long established a system of popularizing all adult male citizens' right to vote. The imperial constitution of Germany 187 1 stipulates that all men over the age of 25 have the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Although Italy established the male voting right later than Germany, in 19 12, all Italian adult men also had the legal voting right. But for women, only in Finland and Norway can they vote. Crazy nationalism At that time, European powers exercised autocratic power from top to bottom and relied heavily on strong means. The power of the state machine has expanded unprecedentedly, the phenomenon of corrupt officials is very serious, and the representative system is weak or even non-existent. In many areas, there is not even any intermediary organization to disperse and adjust the contradiction between * * * and the people. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were large-scale riots in Catalonia and Basque country of Spain, and even local uprisings intensified. Tenants in Andalusia believe in non-ism and often form violent groups to wreak havoc. In southern Italy, corrupt officials are obedient to the owners of big estates, and there are countless violent organizations. It is difficult to distinguish the criminal behavior of rural gangs from the violent behavior of poor peasants and tenants. 1905 tsarist Russia was almost overthrown because of these problems. Russian soldiers killed 200 workers and injured hundreds in St. Petersburg. Although the royal family made some concessions on parliamentary representation, it was only superficial, and the actual power was still in the hands of the czar. At that time, European countries wanted to suppress the violence of the poor and win the support of the people, so nationalism came into being. Politicians, big businessmen or landlords often directly or indirectly finance such movements with the intention of introducing potential social opposition into more controllable channels. They hope to nationalize the masses and instill strong nationalism, chauvinism and racism in them, which is conducive to maintaining the political status quo. Their efforts have achieved great success, and populism and anti-semitism have spread widely among the people. With the popularization of primary education and the improvement of literacy rate, cheap tabloids have also played a great role in promoting it. It can be said that this kind of behavior is a self-destructive "mass mobilization". Gustave Le Pen, a French psychologist, wrote in his book Mob: A Study of Popular Psychology: "Under the influence of irrational emotional impulses of groups, individuals will throw rationality out of the clouds. The book was reprinted 45 times and translated into 17 languages. Le Pen believes that emotional impulse is a feature of the public. In all parts of Europe, nationalism is the easiest means to incite people's feelings. On the other hand, European politicians enjoy it. The difference between World War I 1 and World War II is that the nationalist fanaticism before the outbreak of World War I and the dangers involved can be effectively contained. But no one wants to do so. Extremely bad consequences In most countries, the fierce rhetoric of exaggerating domestic troubles and foreign invasion has reached a new height. The mass media incites sadness and undisguised racial hostility, and * * * is also willing to add fuel to the flames. Britain's war against the Zulu people in Africa added fuel to the fire of extreme nationalism in Britain. As a result, Prime Minister disraeli stepped down. During his tenure, he carried out a series of reforms to help the poor and workers. He was an excellent politician and made his competitors respect him. German conservatives tried their best to incite nationalism in the parliamentary election of 1907. It is unpatriotic for them to directly attack the Social Democratic Party. 1898 Spain's war against the United States was initially supported by a large number of people. Later, after Spain suffered a fiasco and the colony was seized by the United States, this short-lived reunification vanished. Spain fell into chaos, and the royalists and Republicans argued endlessly, which also laid the seeds for the later Spanish civil war. The German-French crisis broke out many times, the Balkan wars continued, and conflicts broke out between Italy and France in the Mediterranean. The jihadist fanaticism of European nationalists will eventually bring disastrous consequences to the whole of Europe and themselves. Conclusion After Russia suppressed the fierce resistance of the people in 1905, the angry workers organized countless violent groups, and they slaughtered Jews crazily. 1905, there were 690 massacres and more than 3,000 Jews died. The massacre in Odessa killed 800 Jews, injured 5,000 and left more than 654.38 million homeless. Please note that this is not Nazi in World War II, but Europe before World War I. References: German intellectuals' interpretation of the causes of the war in the context of World War I, research on the origin of World War I from the perspective of international relations theory, and re-exploration of the origin of World War I.