I love history. I love how events of the past which were so important to the people of the past, as soon as they are over, begin to fade from popular consciousness until they are resurrected and studied by the historians of a future time. It is as if there are these secrets that were buried in the past and only those who make the effort will uncover them, appreciate them, recognize ourselves in them. One day even the awful events of September 11th, 2001 will be forgotten and all the subsequent events in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will in their turn be examined by historians of our future in the light of subsequent events we know nothing of. That assumes, of course, we are lucky enough to survive as a species.
This is my third foray into anniversary history study. The first was when I happened to find a copy of "The Log of Christopher Colombus, translated by Robert H Fuson" in one of my many bookstore shopping trips back around 1992 and thought to myself, "Isn't this a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience vicariously the events of the original voyage to America exactly 500 years to the day after they actually occurred?" Of course there was a calendar revision to take into account, but I found many rewards in doing just that, opening my copy each night in bed before sleep and letting my imagination roam back in time to try, in even a limited way, to be with them on their journey beyond the edge of the world.
Next, being a devoted fan of the Beatles, I decided to follow the career of the Beatles 50 years after. I blogged from their first gigs using that name, up to the appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, where they first entered the consciousness of an impressionable 12 year old boy in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Again, the rewards were many and various. The time factor, waiting as it were for each familiar event (and many unfamiliar ones) to occur in due time adds another dimension to the study of events of the past. My guide on that journey was Mark Lewisohn to whom eternal thanks are due.
So now I turn my attention to World War I. Of course, the events that we know as WWI had their antecedents, but a strong case can be made the catastrophe of the Great War was a turning point in the history of humanity whose importance cannot be overestimated. Before that war, government was largely the business of a few families, a legacy of the dead age of fudalism that shaped the continent of Europe and the world beyond. Afterward it became the concern of people not born to it but who, by hook or crook, achieved it. That is the epoch that we are still in 100 years later and which is likely to continue to evolve slowly, as generations pass on and new ones take their place on the stage, for yet more centuries.
It is my intention to provide links in each post, especially to Wikipedia. I encourage you to use and support that wonderful resource of the new world of the World Wide Web. This approach will allow readers to obtain more detail when desired, but to keep my posts more concise. Those with a passing interest can quickly read and move on.
So, come with me on a real time journey. Empty your mind of all of the history of that time that you know (if any) and let events happen to you as they happened to the participants, winners and losers, exactly 100 years after the fact. You may recognize yourself in the mirror of history. The effort will be well worth it.
