Long Shadow

Last weekend I recommended David Reynolds’s excellent documentary on the Armistice of 1918, which is available on Netflix. If you are interested, Prof. Reynolds is also host of an outstanding 3-part BBC documentary on post-war Europe called Long Shadow. It is based on his award-winning book, The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century.

The Long Shadow documentary is absolutely superb and quite timely. Reynolds shows how the chaos unleashed by World War I gave rise to a high-stakes ideological competition between three diametrically-opposed systems: communism, fascism, and liberal democracy. The competition was reflected in the revealing diversity of the various national war memorials, from the Cenotaph monument in London to Mussolini’s Redipuglia memorial in northeast Italy. 

One of the documentary’s many interesting themes is how Britain managed to avoid the self-destructive ideological extremism that plagued continental Europe after World War I. Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay MacDonald may not be household names today, but those two prime ministers helped Britain chart a middle course at a time when the other major European powers veered off into fascism or communism. As Prof. Reynolds explains in his book:

“Mass democracy exploded across Europe in the wake of the war, inspired in very different ways by [Vladimir] Lenin and [Woodrow] Wilson. But its destabilizing effects were soon being channeled by new political elites—the Bolshevik concept of a vanguard supposedly preparing the way for eventual proletarian control, the fascist response in the form of a ‘superman’ leader directing a dominant party. By the mid-1930s much of continental Europe was polarized between left and right, even in Britain’s co-victor, France.”  

But unlike its continental neighbors, Britain pursued a centrist path:

“In Britain, by contrast, the sudden tripling of the electorate in 1918 was successfully absorbed within parliamentary politics. The threat of a crippling general strike never materialized. Under Ramsay MacDonald the Labour Party was desperate to prove it did not pose a threat to the Constitution, the empire or pound. The party’s ideology drew less on continental Marxism than on indigenous traditions of nineteenth-century radicalism and nonconformist Protestantism. At the same the Tories, led by Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain, won the support of many of the newly enfranchised women and skilled workers, attracted by policies such as a ‘property-owning democracy.’”  

The dull pragmatism of British centrism paid off in spades in the years after World War I. In foreign affairs, Britain served as a critical bulwark against Nazi fascism in World War II and Soviet communism in the Cold War. At home, Parliament’s middle-of-the-ideological-road policies gave rise to a growing economy, a stable democracy, and a diverse society, especially in the metropolis of London. The British record of achievement in the twentieth century should not be forgotten, even amid the economic uncertainty created by the impulsive Brexit vote in 2016. Now more than ever we live in an age of charismatic politicians, but boringly competent leaders in the tradition of Baldwin and MacDonald have much to recommend them.

The series is filled with fascinating insights and observations. The third episode begins with Prof. Reynolds describing how, during the 90 years between 1914 and 2004, an Upper Silesian coalfield began as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then became part of Poland, later fell under the control of Czechoslovakia, then went back to Poland, only to subsequently come under the military domination of Nazi Germany, then reverted after WWII to Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, and finally ended up in the new Czech Republic, and now the coalfield is part of the European Union. The tumultuous history of the twentieth century is thus encapsulated in the history of a single piece of coal. 

Long Shadow is a great series and it is available for free on YouTube (in High Definition). You can find Part I (“Remembering and Understanding”) here,  Part II (“Ballots and Bullets”) here, and Part III (“Us and Them”) here. 

Comments

[anymouse]

I recently watched the 2003 10 part documentary entitled, The First World War. It was narrated and produced by Jonathan Lewis. Very good. It is available on Amazon Prime.

[Anthony Gaughan]

Thank you for the recommendation, anymouse. I will check it out.

[For to buy a firelock]

'... even amid the economic uncertainty created by the impulsive Brexit vote in 2016'.

Mr Gaughan, have you spent much time in Blighty? If you have, then surely you are aware that Brexit is the function of years of frustration and disgust - from both the Left and the Right - with the EU. You may think leaving is the wrong move, but it is not an impulsive one. (Don't confuse the government's unpreparedness with impulsiveness).

As the pressure mounts throughout the Continent for failing to meet replacement rate, failing in turn to cover the costs of its respective welfare states, and bringing in more international unskilled labour in a desperate effort to compensate (and to 'de-nationalise') with the concomitant resentment of the natives, you will watch in your lifetime the EU collapse.

The UK with muddle through, just as it always has, even if it considerably poorer off economically for the short to medium-term.

[Anthony Gaughan]

Thank you for your comment, For to buy a firelock. I was in London just before the Brexit vote. It was a remarkable time to be there, quite tense and interesting.

Yes, I would indeed have voted Remain if I had had a vote.

But I certainly do acknowledge and understand the frustration that drove the pro-Brexit vote. As you point out, it was building for years. Moreover, I think the UK was wise to not adopt the Euro.

I also agree with you that the EU's long-term future is in doubt (even apart from the UK/Brexit issue), as the latest budget crisis in Italy demonstrates. I nevertheless hope that in the long run the EU is able to muddle through too.

Thanks again.