Lecture Notes 15 - Professor Chang PDF

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Lecture 1: 8/07/17 Monday - World War I and its Aftermath I. MMW 15 as Culmination of a Thematic Sequence A. Emphasis on the “Beyond” 1. Did history “end” in 1989? a) no 2. Clash of “isms” as they matured during the “short 20th century” 1914-1989 a) Imperialism, fascism, liberalism (1) Fascism v liberal; ultra national v liberal ideas b) Marxism and leninism and free market capitalism 3. Unsettled debates post-1989 a) Liberalism vs. different forms of fundamentalisms b) Debates inherited from 19th century liberalism c) Still view grassroots protests all over the world d) Domestic debates about climate change, womens righs, lgbtq, refuge, religion v state II. The Assumptions of Historical Liberalism A. What is historical Liberalism? What did it stand for? 1. Individual rights of citizens 2. Right of self determination of nation states a) Should have right to determine their own destiny or identity 3. Politically a) An assumption: notion of the social contract (1) Enlightenment political philosophy (2) Citizens come to an agreement with their govt, give up these rights for protection of property and life b) Society should not be governed by demands of dictator, but rules of law 4. Economically a) Generally favors laissez faire b) No taxation without representation (1) American revolution inspired by enlightenment ideas c) Taxation should be as minimal as necessary to maintain govt 5. Socially a) Now: liberals like to spend, and conservatives like low taxes b) Historical liberalism ≠ contemporary liberals c) Right to private property d) Freedom to worship, should not impose or restrict e) Freedom of expression f) Liberal society (democratic, open) relies on educated people to make informed decisions III. Liberalism and the Outbreak of the War

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A. Liberalism’s championing of national self-determination 1. Sounds good, bc individuals can determine their own life, sends signal to states to let individuals, dif religious groups, linguistic affiliation, etc. to do their own thing 2. E.g. Balkan nationalism against the Austro-Hungarian Empire a) Early 20th c. have slavic tongued people in balkans (1) Sought to break away from the habsburgs and ottomans and join serbia? (2) Inspired serbian nationalists to assassinate Franz Ferdinand b) Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (“crown prince”)on June 28, 1914 (1) Initiated snowball to WWI c) Austrian suspicion of Serbian state’s role in planning the assassination (1) Immediately blamed serbia (technically still conspiracy?) (2) Austria looked to germany (ally), called for punitive attack on serbia (a) Serbia no match for germany, but had russia behind them (3) Britain and france got involved bc entangling alliances (a) Back then believed alliances were good bc they can defend you, but history says alliances can be a dangerous entanglement 3. Dual Alliance vs. Triple Entente a) Austria and germany b) Serbia pulled in russia who pulled in britain and france B. Role of the Liberal Free Press 1. Fueled the public’s pro-war sentiment a) Newspapers crucial in war mongering etc (mobilization) b) Created national fervor that prompted statesmen to think it may be too far, heavier consequences to war than they realized (1) Couldnt pull back bc the public was too crazy c) Public sentiment could not slow down effects of war 2. Popular media hyped up war to a fevered pitch a) = dangerous effect of free pres 3. E.g. German public incensed when Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg hesitated to mobilize forces a) Germans considered pulling back bc it would cause britain to get involved, but the german public was already too fired up bc the newspapers so they couldnt C. Liberalism’s faith in European civilization’s sense of its own progress and

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rationality 1. General naïve, blasé attitude toward war a) War as catharsis (1) Necessary overhaul for euro to realign itself in the right direction (2) Means of improving society (3) Way of securing imperial/ colonial interests globally (4) Thought it would be a short and limited war, which could bring about good things b) Restore greater stability and balance after this “minor adjustment” (1) Last major war was the napoleonic wars that people barely remembered (2) Forgot the devastation and catastrophe of war (3) No one had a grasp on the possibility of destruction from new technology (a) Machine guns and gas, trench warfare 2. False sense of security a) Assumption that Western Civilization possessed unassailable good sense (1) “How could a great civ succumb to a brutal and devastating war?” 3. Ideal of noble sacrifice for country and empire a) E.g. Rupert Brooke’s 1914 poem “The Soldier” (1) “If i should die, think forever this of me… corner of me is england..” (a) Even if i end up dying in some far corner of the world on behalf of the brit empire, its a noble sacrifice for the empire and the people of the world (i) “In that richer earth a richer dust concealed” (2) V noble to die for ones country in the early days and months of the war The Realities of Total War A. Paradoxical power to produce both profound delusion and disillusionment 1. Wilfred Owen’s 1917 poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” a) “If in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind a wagon that we flung him in and watched the wide eyes breathing in his face...hear every jolt.. Gargling from lungs...my friend you would not tell with such high zest to children with such high glory” (1) Refers to gassing (2) If you were able tos ee what i had seen on the battlefield

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you would never utter this lie to anyone b) No glorification of sacrifice, no romantic notion of empire c) War presented at its most visceral, horrific level (1) Lets you see exactly the horrors of war (a) “How can anyone whos seen this continue to tell that old lie of how sweet and noble it is to die for ones country” d) Wilfred owen, died 4 days before armistice called, dedicated officer and worldly poet B. Casualties on the Western Front 1. 15 million dead and 20 million wounded a) E.g. of Verdun and Somme (1) Verdun- 1 mil; somme- .5 mil in offensive (60,000 in one day) b) Germany and france suffered worst casualties c) Comparatively- 150,000 dead in franco-prussian war in 19th c 2. Advancement in the technology of destruction a) Gatling gun- first used in africa in zulu wars to kill zulu warriors b) Steamships 50k tons to control oceans c) Tech they created to control colonized peoples came back to haunt europeans C. Hobsbawm’s Theory of War as “Zero-sum game” 1. 1914 inaugurated an “age of total war” a) Not a war between armies like in the past, but a war between societies (1) Each side threw everything to win for their people 2. Success now an “either/or” equation for all sides a) Total victory or total defeat b) Germany: unless it achieved total victory- it will forever concede naval supremacy to britain c) Britain: if no total victory- will forever concede europe to germany d) France: if not prevail- forever in shadow of germany e) If compromise- defer peace to future? f) Allowed war to drag on for 3 years until america enters g) By then germany was already near its end bc exhausting resources, stretched thin righting war on two fronts (1) Enlisting men as old as 60 3. Stalemate in the trenches The Aftermath of the War A. Psychological Impact 1. Survivors of the war usually fell into two mindsets

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a) Attitude of dark cynicism and savage sense of superiority\ (1) Survivors felt superior to women, socialists, etc (a) Ended up filling up ranks of the ultra reich (i) Ex. Hitler b) For most people, war left lingering sense of futility and disillusionment in Europe (1) Shell shocked by idea that civilization that prided itself on rationality, humanity, and progressed succumbed to such disillusioned barbarism (2) Whatever you do in this world is futile 2. William Butler Yeats’s “The Second Coming” 1920 (two years after the war) a) “Turning and turning in a widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ Things fall apart, the center cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/ The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/ The ceremony of innocence is drowned./ The best lack all conviction, while the worst/ Are full of passionate intensity.” (1) Those with noble intent and moral character, lack all conviction, bc the war, theyve lost all resolve for faith, while the cynical self interested ruthless are full of passionate intensity (a) The worst dominate with their voice (hitler, stalin) b) Sensed the type of men that withdrew from shaping the world, and the type of men who stepped up 3. Impact of war on the tradition of Liberalism Wilson’s “Peace Without Victors” vs. European Realpolitik A. American Prominence After the War 1. America as a major arbiter of the peace process 2. U.S.—the only major industrial power aside from Japan still intact 3. Lucrative wartime role as arms supplier to the Allies B. Ideal vs. Pragmatic Agenda 1. Woodrow Wilson: “Make the world safe for democracy” 2. “Fourteen Points” (January 1918) a) Justification for sending american troops into europe b) Pronounced US intention to come out of its traditional isolationism (1) Used to worry about self and own backyard, let euros become a shit show (2) Program of world peace is our program- wilson c) Real, expedient reasons for entering the war (1) “Violations of rights…made the life of our own people

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impossible” (a) The ill-fated “Zimmerman Telegram” (i) Intercepted by americans, some german diplomat offering mexico to recover california, new mex, and tex if they support germs in war, once germs win theyll help them recover the states (2) Assurance of the freedom of the seas (Articles II and III) (a) Increasing prevalence of german uboats in seas, sinking american merchant ships, to cut off british supplies (i) 1918 sinking of Lusitania (ii) Not tolerated by wilson and congress (b) British blocked germans in seas, so germans blocked boats coming into british shores d) Redress the colonial issue (Article V, Point III) (1) “An absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims” (2) US saw itself as a non colonial/imperialist power, tried to present itself as a championed for those who were colonized, foil for british imperialism (3) Called for absolutely impartial adjustment for colonial claims (a) Colonial powers (brit france germ) had to weigh interest of local populations that they colonized equally with their own interests (i) Some level of local autonomy (ii) Thus adjust not abolish C. Clash with Realities of Post–war Europe 1. The Divergent Aims of the “Big Three” a) Lloyd George of Britain (1) Agenda: secure brit’s colonial interests, distance brit from euro’s squabbles (a) The sun will never set on the british empire b) Clemenceau of France (1) Agenda: intent on paralyzing germany with reparations (war debt) to guarantee french security (a) Historically thorny relationship, france threatened by more militant germany c) Wilson’s “league of nations” as a global “tribunal of opinion” (1) Agenda: intoxicated by own idealism, ideal of global tribunal of opinion, became the league of nations

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(a) Good idea like united nations, but league of nations had a checkered legacy, league was wilson’s baby (b) Tribunal of opinion; could not get the backing of his own congress, so US was never part of league 2. A “Carthaginian Peace” a) The economist John Maynard Keynes’s assessment of the “peace” process (of Keynesian econ) (1) Alludes to the way rome treated carthage after punic wars -raised carthage such that it would never be a competitor to rome (2) No attempt to cultivate lasting peace between warring factions (3) France and Britain intent on crippling Germany for good (a) Germ had to accept all guilt for the war (i) = also responsible for paying for all reparations for war (ii) Had to bay 5 mil? Annually to pay for pension for survivors and dependence (iii) Agree to permanent to disarmament (a) Abolish navy, air force, limited infantry to 100,000 (iv) Had to have a demilitarized zone to make france feel comfy (v) Hitler violates these things first (4) No plans for economic rehabilitation of Germany (a) Keynes notices this = carthaginian econ (b) Forces germ to become pre-industrial wasteland, blockade by british blocks germs only access to water (baltic sea) (5) Keynes predictions- widespread famine, no rehab of econ, blockade = social catastrophe = death sentence for mils of germans (a) Famines and financial bankruptcy would provoke social instability (6) All credit germ got in rebuilding process was from US (a) US saw them as econ power D. Economic Consequences in Inter-war Years 1. Germany’s almost sole dependence on U.S. creditors a) 1929 Wall Street stock market crash b) Germ crashed worst besides US c) 2.5 mil germs unemployed 1930, 1932 6 mil unemployed

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2. Belated moratorium called on all German reparations by 1932 a) German unemployment and surge in Hitler’s popularity correspond b) Economic instability becomes political instability The New World Order After Versailles A. The Fantasy of Self-determination 1. Wilson’s insistence on taking the side of the colonized against the imperialists a) Respect the will of those “immediately concerned” within a region 2. Fantasy of one people, one nation a) People who share same ethnic, linguistic, religious, historical, should be able to determine their own political identity? (1) Can this be achieved in realistic terms (2) But people dont live in such divided communities b) How far can one go with self-determination? (1) Always easier to preach self determination from a distancehobspawm B. The Real Agenda behind “Self-Determination” or Nation Creation in 1919 1. Containment of Bolshevik Revolution a) Partitioning of Eastern Europe informed more by geopolitical concerns b) Creation of an “isolation belt” of buffer states (latvia estonia, poland hungary yugoslavia) (1) Prevent spread of communist rev- bolshevik rev (2) Maintain boundaries set by the unequal Brest-Litovsk Treaty 2. Contradictions behind “self-determination”- hobspawm goes into detail about this a) E.g. The newly created Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia after the war (1) Consolidation of bosnians (muslims), croatians(catholics), macedonians (russian slavs?) into yugoslavia (2) Balkan genocide yugos and slavs fighting each other, fighting broke out when yugo state dissolved (3) Geopolitical expedient b) Czech republic (now) put together german and slavic speaking peoples with other differences (1) Gave hitler pretext to begin expansion-responded to german speaking part, they wanted to be part of germany (2) Sudentemet? Crisis c) Both were powder kegs of trouble

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C. “Absolute Impartial Adjustment” of Colonial Claims 1. Neither Impartial nor Consistent a) British partitioning of Africa, the Middle East was hardly impartial (angry about zionist movement) b) Koreans’ appeal to the League of Nations for self-determination (1) Send delegates to paris, dont want to be japans colony, told to go home, self determination doesnt apply to you (2) China also wanted self determination, large area in tsingtao (german concession brought beer breweries to china) c) Self determination was just rhetoric, not really helping the world (1) Wilsons idea, but euros had their own interests in mind 2. “Mandate System” a) Instead of colonies, now called mandates b) Colonies classified into Class A, B, or C (1) Depending on readiness for indep (2) During 20 years system in use, not one colony A was granted indep (3) Nomenclature or a concrete adjustment as china had hoped (4) What was chinese was jap, germ brit, ottoman italian c) System meant to extend life-span of imperialism, while deferring national independence? D. The Legacy of Wilsonian Liberalism 1. Critique of liberalism’s flaws 2. Failure of idealism leads to more disillusionment = opens up to more totalitarianism a) Like yeats said- best lack conviction, worse have full intensity Lecture 2: 8/09/17 Wednesday - Expressions of the Modern Psyche-The Divided Self I. The Crisis of Meaning in the West A. Western Liberalism’s profound crisis in confidence post W.W.I 1. Shattered its faith in human rationality and inexorable progress 2. Darker recognition of the human instinct for irrational destructiveness and violence 3. The more skeptical question “Why?” vs. the positivist question “How?” a) Why war why beauty b) Whats the good of beauty when such horrors can take place c) Why god? Faith in religion also shattered II. Nietzsche: The Revolt of the Irrational Will A. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) 1. World War I pushed his thinking onto center-stage of European consciousness 2. Cynicist of 19th c. gained popularity in post war euro

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3. People didnt take him seriously B. Challenged the fundamental assumptions of Liberalism 1. Openly anti-democratic, anti liberal, a) “A society that definitely and instinctively gives up war and conquest is in decline: it is ripe for democracy and the rule of shopkeepers—In most cases, to be sure, assurances of peace are merely narcotics” 2. Assumptions about evolution and culture in The Will to Power (p.363-4) a) 1st proposition: Species evolution does not equal progress b) 2nd proposition: Refined or complex culture a sign of instinctual degeneration c) Celebrated idea of will to power as necessity, as creative force (1) Later influenced ideas associated with fascism (a) Not father of fascism, but they borrowed his ideas 3. Challenged notion of progress a) Ex. social contract, evolutionary progress (darwin) b) Darwin- species evolution ≠ progress (1) More complex evo = greater vulnerability (a) civilization/ tech makes men weak - noble savage rousseau (2) Herd instinct vs indep animals (a) Herds protect each other, vs vulnerability (3) More evolved = degeneration bc arts and intellectual pursuits, lose instinctive edge C. Attacked “Meta-narratives” that have defined Western culture 1. “Beauty” in art according to The Birth of Tragedy a) “Apollonian” impulse vs. the “Dionysian” impulse (1) Dominance of apollian impulse the way westerners approached art (a) Romantic belief that for anything to be beautiful, it had to be rational, reasonable, moral, associated with order etc. (i) Nietzsche said this isnt art, this is propaganda (2) He said real art comes from the dark dionysian impulse (a) Order and rationality does not have a part in the beauty of art (b) In music dissonance should prevail over harmony (c) Celebrated dark impulses that made us beautiful and real (d) Basis of will to power

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Doesnt go into politics as much, but fascists turned it that way b) Creative impulses in art are inherently irrational and amoral 2. “The Great Libel on Life” a) Libel- great lie b) Western thought also governed by one lie after another c) Western tradition dominated by platonic - logos (1) Then christianity- promise of salvation (2) Then enlightenment in his time 3. The Appeal of Nietzsche in post-war Europe D. Perspectivism- linear perspective a) Paintings in renaissance from one linear point- for symmetry for beauty b) Nietzsche said you need to see from more than one side (1) One fixed perspective is fictional Freud: The Repression of the Death Instinct A. Picked up where Nietzsche left off, used psychoanalysis to say things about the destructive parts of humanity, fairly similar conclusions B. “Psychoanalysis has concluded that the primitive, the savage, the evil impulses of mankind have not vanished in any individual but continue their existence, although in a repressed state, and that they wait for opportunities to display their activity. It has furthermore taught us that our intellect is a feeble and dependent thing, a plaything and tool of our impulses and emotions. Now just look at what’s happening in this wartime, at the cruelties and injustices for which the most civilized civilizations are responsible. Then you must confess that psychoanalysis has been right with both its assertions.” 1. Irrationality and destructiveness as the repressed but dominant traits of humanity 2. Human behavior at best a “fragile compromise” between the id, ego, and super-ego a) ...