fandomhigh | World Wars in the Media, Tuesday

"War," Mitchell started, once everyone had pooled into the class. "This week, we're not going to get to any of the good bits just yet, so buckle up. Rather, we're going to talk about the First World War, or as it was known in the early 20th century, the Great War, which began the cycle of conflicts that ravaged the century. It started rather inauspiciously with alliances, an attempt to keep nations from war. Except tied into these alliances was a growing sense of pride in countries that were finally solid, and united. A powderkeg, as historians like to call it. I prefer 'massive executive bollocksing', myself." He pulled a face, like it had been a personal slight to himself, but brushed that off quickly. "A massive cobweb of alliances was formed during the late 19th century. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia on one end, although Russia dropped out, and Italy took its place. Italy, for their part, secretly got involved with France in case Austria-Hungary decided to throw a fit about some territorial issues."

He took a breath. "Are you following this so far? Good. It gets a little complicated." He gestured in two directions to get that point across. "France also allied themselves with Russia, and Britain, only just emerging out of isolation, decided it wanted more assurance against the giant that had become Germany - so they sought alliances with France, and with Japan. These were the major lines in the web, but there were any number of smaller ones as well: Serbia, for example, found themselves under Russia's protection..."

He mimed a gun with one hand. "All that tension, all those alliances, everyone fearing each other's growth while praising their own, nations looking for revenge or a reason to reassert the dominance of a fading empire-- it was a miracle they had as few war as it was-- all that was needed in the end was one bullet, shattering that peace - and two poor heads." He pressed a button on the laptop in front of him, playing a short video. "Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting Serbia with his wife for a formal visit of state. Probably glad to get away from the tensions of home, the poor bastard, he hadn't made the other rulers back home very happy with any of his plans. He's sitting there, in his car, minding his own business, when suddenly his wife collapses on him. Turns out he's bleeding from the mouth, a messy, slow death - his friend von Harrach said he kept talking as he died. A political assassination on Serbian ground, by a Serbian nationalist, pissed off that the Austrians had been barging all over Serbia as of recently."

He was gesturing as he talked. "You can see where this is going," he said, "Austria-Hungary decided to attack Serbia to reassert their dominance, using Ferdinand's death as a pretext. Russia jumped in to defend Serbia, Germany decided to take that as an assault on Austria-Hungary, France decided to take that as an assault on Russia, Britain went in to help France and save Belgium, which had just been invaded by the Germans, which meant the British colonies got involved..." He mimed a collapsing cardhouse. "It's actually kind of beautiful in its simplicity and its complication - like tipping dominoes of history." ...But anyway. "The United States declared neutrality until the Germans pushed their luck, and the Italians kept their bottoms to themselves by claiming they had only ever signed up for a defensive war - and then promptly dropped the ball by joining the opposite side instead."

His mouth curled up. "And while the British were involved in the war, the Irish toiled away on their independence," he said, "Although that didn't keep some of us from enlisting anyway. We had our own regiments in the New British Army... Like most parts of the First World War, that wound up being a letdown and altogether dirtier and less glorious than anyone had anticipated..." He looked thoughtful. "But we'll be talking about that last week. Anyway, I've been talking more than enough," he segued. "Here, you'll find a handout of who declared war on whom. There's been lots of speculation of how far back the roots of this war went, and I couldn't tell you for certain if I tried. Instead, I'd like you to look at how the war was reported in the British newspapers at the time. What kind of slant do you see? What kind of information do they pick up on? What seemed to be the British approach to the First World War when they went to pick up arms?" He tapped the couch under his feet. "Pair up!"

[[ and OCD is a go! ]]

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This was going to be an interesting exercise. Eleanor looked around for someone to pair up with.

"None of these articles are surprising."

"How so?" Eleanor asked, curious to know Leda's view on it would be.

"Well of course they're gonna take the side of Britain right? I mean what're they gonna do, defend Germany's position?"

"Well, but of course. That would be obvious. But I think what Professor Mitchell was looking for is about how they're written to get people to think favorably of Britian's actions."

"You should see some of the later ones that came out as the war progressed. It was all how well the war effort was going and victory was soon on the horizon. I wonder if they thought they were really fooling anyway."

Eleanor was rather opinionated on the subject, yes.

Leda couldn't remember if she already knew what time period Eleanor was from or not. "You're from that time?"

She couldn't recall if she had mentioned it either. "Yes. 1917, to be exact. Most often, the newspapers didn't line up with what was really going on. Of course, it was hard to get any real news unless you knew someone who was involved."

"It'll all be over by Christmas." Leda said. It was a line she'd heard in a few of the war movies she'd seen.

Eleanor actually snorted. "I've heard that one before. Then Christmas comes and you get a letter..." she trailed off, then rallied herself. "It's always next week, or next month, or just a few more days. All of it is just a pack of lies."

"Sometimes I wonder if the leaders are actually as enthusiastic as they pretend. I mean, are they lying to themselves as much as to the people?"

She considered this. While she couldn't speak for the leaders of the war, she could compare them to the members of the guild. The same ones who had been certain that Reggie could work things out on his own, that Alison was so sweet and innocent as she'd led them to believe...

"Actually, I think they do believe it. As if they can't accept that things are going badly so there is no alternative but to deny it. 'Surely, just one more day is all we need' and 'those front line reports must be overexaggerating'. Reggie gave me some ideas of how the higher ups think."

"I wonder why people can't seem to learn from their mistakes. The last war wasn't over by Christmas, why do you think this one will be?"

"I'm not certain it's a case of not learning from mistakes. I've heard it contemplated that conflict is a basic part of human nature. As if we wouldn't be human without it. Though who can say for sure that really is the case?"

"But there's other kinds of conflict."

"True," she agreed. "I suppose it all depends upon how one handles it."

"I mean, if you think about it, trying to solve a mystery or something is a kind of conflict."

"I suppose," she nodded, then smirked. "But are we possibly getting a little off topic now?"

"Pooooosibly. So what's your take on the whole British slant?"

"Oh, it was definitely skewed," she answered. "They were trying desperately to keep the public spirit as things became more scarce and less men returned home. Any bit of good news was overly exaggerated since there was usually not a lot of it."

"Did people even realize what was happening? I mean, the soldiers, did they just think 'ours is not to reason why'?"

"I'm certain they did. Despite newspapers' assurances that all was going well, it was abundantly clear that it wasn't with each supply run that carried less and less goods. Then there was also the lack of men. In my village alone, the postmaster's role was taken over by his wife, the butcher was a maimed dark-skinned man from a land very far away and the constable was old enough to be everyone's great-grandfather."

She let out a sigh. "I don't know what the soldiers thought, but I'm sure their primary concerns were just to try to survive."

Leda felt just a bit nauseus. "All because someone who wouldn't fight themselves needed to prove his cock was bigger than everyone else's."

"Well, I suppose that's one way to look at it. Of course, back home women were thought of as either too fragile or simply not intelligent enough to understand war." She snorted. "As if our anatomy inhibits our ability to realize that war meant lots of men killing other men. And sometimes women," she added. "But of course, no one reports on the loss of VAC nurses when a medical center is attacked."

"Of course not. That would make war seem too dirty and not glorious."

~~Mun once read a book in which the main character says near the beginning: "War was a lark! An adventure made for men." He learns better.~~

"Yes, exactly."

World Wars in the Media, Tuesday

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