Wars and ConflictsΜύ permalink
stop and wondered
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Message 1.Μύ
Posted by ritajoh (U10855204) on Thursday, 1st May 2008
If there had been no 1914/18 and 1939/45 war and all those millions and millions of people hadnt been killed, what would the worlds population be like, would we have been standing shoulder to shoulder on this earth. -
Message 2
Posted by Philip25 (U11566626) on Thursday, 1st May 2008
Pointless speculation, in my view.
The two wars shaped the C20th so completely that it is impossible to say what the alternative might be.
Maybe without the wars and the associated technological change, and with the survival of empires and conservative monarchies for longer, the population might not have increased as it has.
Less medical development to comabt disease...
Who can say?
Phil -
Message 3
Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Thursday, 1st May 2008
now this is a very interesting question - not so much re population tho
after all - whats a 100 million people here or there (although maybe the quality would have been better)
but what would the WORLD have been like
we would still have been a world power surely
- would germany and russia ?
would the us, without the industrial impetus ww2 provided still be a world power
would we be living in peace ??
no i dont think so either
st -
Message 4
Posted by Richie (U1238064) on Friday, 2nd May 2008
we would still have been a world power surely
- would germany and russia ?
Μύ
No loss of prestige, manpower, the "cream" of societies leaders. No loss of Imperial mission. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Rule for Ireland though?
Germany still ruled by the Hollenzollens
Russia by the Romanovs. An industrial Russia with capitalist investors driving an early dominant Russian economy.
Lenin having died in exile in Switzerland, no communism in Europe
would the us, without the industrial impetus ww2 provided still be a world power
Μύ
Economically I think that would still be a given. Militarilly and politically? Different case. WW1 shook the American political elite to look beyond Monroe'ism
would we be living in peace
Μύ
A dangerous peace I dare say. No LoN, no UN, only a handfull of European nations, Germany still locked in different rivalries with both France and the UK. Would the late 20th still have seen a gradual break up of Empires and the ensuing "third" world race amoung the leading nations for power and influence. Without the impetus of war would we be living in a nuclear age?
Nine years that have irrevocably changed the face of the planet forever -
Message 5
Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Friday, 2nd May 2008
Hi Ritchie,
its not just the cream of societies leaders that suffered.
The losses among the working classes deprived the trade union and labour movement of some of its potential leaders as well. We finished the war with all levels of society basically fielding the b team.
Would the British world have been dramatically different? I dont think so my gut feeling is probably not. theres an arguement that it might have been worse.
I think the real damage is, or was the loss of their potential.
They were young, patriotic optomistic and enthusiastic. With them the world would have been different but probably not too much different from now. -
Message 6
Posted by Richie (U1238064) on Friday, 2nd May 2008
think the real damage is, or was the loss of their potential.
Μύ
Agreed
The 20th I feel would have continued along the same sort of path as the late Edwardian era had started. Whilst the young and impetuous would not have now died in Flanders and later in WW2 without the war they also wouldn't have had the horror of war as a spectre on their shoulders, the hardships and trials that moulded the survivors.
The great war inparticulary did a lot to break down the traditional class distinctions in the UK. It would take many years (and some will say it is still not complete) but that break was decisive, no more doffing the cap to our betters. There's nothing to say that this still wouldn't have happened, but it would have taken much longer to start. Would the Great Depression and its trials have occured. Without such things would society have wanted or felt a need for something like the Welfare State and the NHS in general? I think that the 1st WW did more to break down the old order than the 2nd did. The 2nd was a continuation of a theme, the 1st set the tone of that theme -
Message 7
Posted by Sabre-Wulf (U2142937) on Friday, 2nd May 2008
I may be going off on a tangent here, but was there a link between WW1 and the influenza epidemic in 1918-1919?
If not, would it have happened anyway and would the death toll have been higher (with more people to infect/spread the disease) or lower (more fitter, healthier people around to fight off the effects)
Is there a possibility that even without WW1 the population in Europe might not have been radically different, with more flu fatalities? -
Message 8
Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Friday, 2nd May 2008
hi ritchie
to my (small) mind
unless there was a war the us industrial power would not have expanded so much
the gb wouldnt have been economically bankrupt and would have continued as a major world power
but the major war of ww1 had to happen - and the later in the century it did happen - the more damage and dead was inevitable (imagine vietnam worldwide )
st -
Message 9
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Saturday, 3rd May 2008
It's my understanding the influenza epidemic actually hit young fit people hardest for some odd reason. At least in NZ anyway.
I often wonder what on earth people would have written about - so many novels based on the war, and in NZ every Anzac Day the shops are inundated with new books on Gallipoli or the Somme or Monte Cassino or wherever we went. Maybe our earlier history would be better known without them - men would have to concentrate more on the earlier wars between the settlers and the Maori.
And what on earth would you talk about on the history boards!
It's very hard to say what effect taking out so many bright young men would have done to the world. It only takes one person to come up with the World Wide Web for instance; if that one person is not around, does it still happen. Medical and scientific advances probably do now, with people building on each other's knowledge.
Individually many of us would have been affected. Different circumstances bringing different parents together.
Cheers, Caro.
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