The British Empire possibly caused the world more grief during its decline as during its reign:
nypress.com
Top Drawer-Le Maitre
Taki
What If?
Michael Howard, or Sir Michael Howard to give him his due, is one of
Britain’s best living military historians. He is also a strategic thinker who
writes wittily and in a concise manner. His latest work, The First World
War, due in July, is an introduction to the Great War–as World War I is
known in Europe–designed for those with no previous knowledge of the
subject. At 176 pages it is an easy and pleasurable read, if one agrees
with the premise. Which I certainly don’t. Keeping in mind that history is
written by the victors, I was nevertheless shocked to see that a double
standard where the British Empire is concerned is doing very well, thank
you.
About five years ago I had the idea to write a "What If" history about that
great disaster, and contacted my friend George Szamuely. I needed a
collaborator, as the high life does at times intrude where hard work is
concerned. I also rang another friend, Lewis Lapham of Harper’s, and
asked whether he was interested in running a segment or two. He told
me to go ahead. Well, you know how these things are. George and I are
not known for burning the midnight oil, and while we kicked the idea
around, still another friend, Niall Ferguson, beat us to it. (Ferguson
knocked it off while in the middle of writing a two-volume history of the
Rothschilds; talk about industry.) With the publication of Michael
Howard’s opus, however, I can finally have my say.
According to Howard, the first great catastrophe of the 20th century was
Germany’s international ambition. "German unification had created a
nation that combined the most dynamic economy in Europe with a
regime that in many respects had hardly emerged from feudalism."
Shock, horror! The Kaiser sought for his nation the status "not only of a
Great Power, but of a World Power." Now I ask you: Isn’t it the most
natural of things that a nation with the most dynamic economy in Europe
would seek an equivalent status internationally? England enjoyed such a
status, lording it over half the world through its empire, but what was
good enough for the English bulldog was apparently not good for the
German shepherd.
Ten million lives later, the Franco-British had prevailed, but only once the
American Expeditionary Force had come to the rescue. The fact that the
Germans threw in the towel with their army intact and in France is still
argued by historians. Some insist that the British blockade on the
German people was the turning point. Others attribute the collapse to
military prowess. I am of both minds. The internal moral collapse of the
Kaiser’s society had a lot to do with it. The British, as always, were
propagandists par excellence. The Kaiser’s soldiers did no more
barbecue Belgian babies–as contemporary propaganda claimed–than
the Brits, but it was the German army that got the credit for barbarism.
Which brings me to the point I wish to make.
What would have happened had Germany won the war? For starters,
the most philo-Semitic nation in Europe, Germany, would have remained
so. Six million Jews would not have disappeared, as Hitler would have
remained a failed artist and nothing more. The dynasties would have
survived, which means there would have been no communism with its
20 to possibly 100 million victims. Hungary would not have been
chopped up by Romania and Slovakia and Yugoslavia would not have
become the unnatural federation it became. The Ottoman Empire would
have lumbered along, Iraq would not have been created, nor would’ve
Israel, Lebanon or Jordan. Russia would have joined the modern
world–eventually. The world would have been led by England, Germany,
France and the United States, and Africa would have never become the
slaughterhouse it is today.
Despite all its horrors, the Brits insist there was a moral case for fighting
WWI, but they would say that, wouldn’t they? Britannia did not wish
Germany to spread her wings. But that was manifest destiny, pure and
simple. So Hitler came to power because of the Versailles Treaty, and I
guess you know the rest. Woodrow Wilson, a well-meaning man but
criminally responsible for Jimmy Carter-like naivete, has a lot to answer
for. Oh yes, I almost forgot, there would never have been a man called
Mussolini lording it over the most pleasant land of Europe. Finally,
socialism, the great cancer that has befallen us, would have remained a
dream among hirsute intellectuals on the Left Bank of Paris. The
struggle between good and evil that was WWII would never have taken
place.
Even in the far Orient, things would have been for the better. Japan was
the only combatant nation that achieved its aims by joining the Entente. It
gave her a free hand to pursue her ambitions in Asia. Hundreds of
thousands of Chinese would not have been slaughtered, and Mao would
have remained a chainsmoking peasant, unknown outside his village.
There never would have been a Vietnam War. Sure, Churchill said the
Germans are either at your throat or at your feet, but that was just war
rhetoric. The Kaiser was a civilized man, as were the Germans, and had
the Allies humored him and allowed Germany to pursue her destiny, we
would today be living in a far, far better place. |
