The rise and fall of isms

2014 is the anniversary of two, primarily, European events, that had worldwide repercussions. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the First World War, the war that was supposed to end all wars, and the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – the event that was supposed to lead to unprecedented peace and goodwill the world over. Alas, neither event lived up to the great expectations that the world at large held out. 

100 years ago, various European countries decided to seal the fate of the world and establish the boundaries of their individual power. The resulting war, engulfed Europe, dragged in her colonies, brought the United States of America out of a self-imposed isolation from the international stage, and changed the nature of the Nation-state forever. It also changed the nature of warfare, which moved away from set battlefields, to being fought everywhere – land, sea and, for the first time ever, in such large numbers, the air. The battles that were fought – became more organised, with more fire power, and a greater ability to kill. This war began the mass use of chemical warfare (mustard gas), and was the most lethal war that humanity had known. The war, also called the Great War, cost almost 16 million lives, of which just under half were civilian casualties. The First World War also wrought major changes in the nature of geopolitics. It made the United States a world player; it strengthened the status of the British Empire as the pre-eminent power in the world; it catalysed the unravelling of the Ottoman Empire, stirred the nationalistic aspirations of the colonies to a higher level, and allowed the Communists to take charge in Russia, which then became the Soviet Union. The events that led to the fall of the Berlin wall, had seeds in actions undertaken almost 60 years earlier. 

The United States of America and Great Britain entered into an unwritten partnership of sorts, after the end of the First World War. This partnership has lasted, through thick and thin, through ups and downs, and rapidly changing geopolitical equations, to manoeuver the course of international affairs for the better part of the next century. While Great Britain, with her Empire, was the elder partner in the years that preceded the Second World War, the leadership position moved to the United States by the end of the 1940’s. Be it the war against Communism, the war against drugs or the war against terror, just to name a few, the British-American combination has held, even in the face of disapproval of the rest of the world. 

The fall of the Ottoman Caliphate, led to the creation of a number of states in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. Each little potentate in the region made a bid for power and control over their own territory. Countries were carved out without any logic of language, culture or shared history, and the resultant mess still impacts international affairs today. One of the most controversial decisions of this era, was the non-implementation of the Balfour Declaration that provided for the creation of Israel. That decision got implemented only in the aftermath of the Second World War, and the death of 6 million Jewish people in concentration camps. It also, placed the new state of Israel in a geography of immature states that collectively wanted the destruction of the Jewish State .

Nationalistic aspirations and the desire for independence, by the colonies of the Imperial European States gained momentum in this era. This was the time when Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Bhagat Singh, Mohd Ali Jinnah, BR Ambedkar – made their mark on the Indian freedom movement in rapid succession. It was the time when cries of ‘azaadi’ led young men and women to court arrest and even be ready to lay down their lives for a greater cause. It took a good quarter of a century more for nations and people to gain their independence. 

And the most potent and immediate fallout of the first world war was the Russian Revolution in 1917 that polarised the world on the basis of governmental systems. When the Soviet Union came into existence, it stood in direct opposition to the values held by the dominant ideology – Imperialism and Capitalism. It was perceived as being a nation that was led by the interests of the workers and peasants, and promised an egalitarian state where people would live together in peace and harmony. Like most idealistic positions, this too was fiction. The Soviet Union was governed by the Communist Party that concentrated all powers in its hands. Neither peasants nor workers had a say. Protest was quelled without mercy and all decisions were centralised. At the end of the Second World War the Soviets expanded the sphere of control all the way to Germany in the West and China and North Korea in the East, and directly intervened in the fate of these States, first as allies and then as the overlord. 

The Berlin Wall was built to prevent people from East Berlin – which was Communist and controlled by the Soviets, from escaping to West Berlin – which was controlled by the West and perceived as being freer. It was a wall built to prevent freedom. But, freedom is an idea and cannot be stopped by walls, or bullets. People’s innate desire to be allowed to lead their lives without interference takes over and protests, and it was this protest that allowed ordinary people to pull down a wall built by an Imperial Power – for, despite all its protestations of being egalitarian, the Soviet Union was also Imperialist. 

Today, when we look back at the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is important for us to remember that history is not a snapshot. Rather it is a set of events that have repercussions for many, many decades. The former Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai is supposed to have said, in the 1970’s, “too early to tell” as a response to a question on the impact of the French Revolution that took place in 1789 (many have offered different interpretations of this statement, but this version is apt). While the fall of the Berlin wall was the manifestation of the desire of citizens for freedom, the impact of the fall is yet being measured

The author is Head, Digital Content Zee Media Corporation Limited @calamur