The World Remade: America in World War I

The World Remade: America in World War I by G.J. Meyer

In many ways this book is a sequel, or maybe a companion, to the author’s brilliant detailed account of World War I titled A World Undone.  When one reads A World Undone, or really ANY history of the first world war, they may be surprised by how little the United States was involved.  The U.S. didn’t actually see combat until the final six months or so and suffered a much lighter number of casualties and fatalities when compared to the major European nations.  True, estimates show that the U.S. experienced about 125,000 deaths, but Germany, France, Russia, and England combined had about 6 million.  That’s not including civilians all along the tattered continent.

In this brilliant companion piece, G.J. Meyer argues that whereas the United States may not have entered the war until late in the game, they had a pretty strong presence in the conflict behind the scenes during the entire tenure.  The U.S. greatly changed during the war “fever” starting around 1914, and Meyer almost insinuates that the U.S. knew that by standing on the sidelines while influencing the key players, they would keep themselves mostly out of harm’s way and still be able to influence the outcome.  Then, when both sides were ferociously devastated, the United States jumped in on the side of the allies, took a lot of credit for the result, and played a rather large role in determining how the spoils were to be distributed to the victors.  It almost reminds me of the story of when someone from another state rides into town and buys only one lottery ticket and then ends up winning the state lottery.

In fact, in many ways this book seems more of an excoriation of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and his inner circle then an overall observation of the global conflict.  The world was indeed a changing place and the author paints Wilson as a shrewd manipulator and observer while the most powerful European nations destroyed each other for more than four years.   History shows us that the conflict began over ludicrous reasons, and once the major players realized this, they had invested so much in terms of lost lives, that they deemed it was essential to carry on, regardless of the disastrous continuation of costs.  You can almost see Woodrow Wilson in the background licking his chops knowing that by staying out of this calamity, he and the United States would eventually have the most to gain once the guns were finally silenced.

We must then ask ourselves: when the war began in 1914, which side would the U.S. actually join if they were to get involved?  This was a young nation of immigrants from all over Europe, and there really wasn’t any moral or economic reason to support either side.  Historians will tell you, though, that these sentiments quickly changed and the U.S. found themselves on the “side” of the allies (Britain, France, Russia). Again, Meyer claims that much of this was the result of brilliant propaganda by a select few in Britain and France.  I’m reminded of the allegations that the Russians colluded to influence the U.S. Presidential election 100 years later through social media, but let’s not go there.

Then, we hear of German ships that sunk vessels in European waters during the war that contained American passengers, which caused many in the U.S. to raise their ire and loudly scream. Yet should Germany really take the blame for this?   I mean, it was WAR and these ships contained valuable war materiel that could seriously inhibit Germany’s position.  So why should she not sink the ships?  It seems the focus should have been keeping American passengers OFF these dangerous ships that had a reasonable chance of being sunk since they were traveling directly through a war zone.  We read an awful lot about these naval “atrocities” throughout the first half of this book.  G.J. Meyer then even argues that “neutral” Belgium really wasn’t neutral due to prior alleged “agreements” with England, so when the German army raped and pillaged its way through the nation on their way to France, the author seems to think that the world overreacted by telling stories of Germans killing Belgian babies, raping Belgian women, etc.  He doesn’t spend much focus here, though, and I really do think more attention should have been paid to the author’s reasonings.

Without going into too much detail, once Germany surrenders after being stretched to the breaking point, it’s Woodrow Wilson who “chairs” the peace conference.  The allies aren’t too happy, yet Wilson has played his cards magnificently, and we must remember that Britain and France were brutally devastated by the conflict as well.  We read about Wilson’s failed ’14 Points’ and ‘League of Nations’ and we see Germany being brutally and savagely punished for being on the losing side of the war. The author doesn’t excuse Germany as a nation and points out that they were no more guilty than the allies, so the punishments that are inflicted on the nation at the end are viewed by many as barbaric.  One observer shrewdly points out that this war was widely known as “The War to End All Wars”, yet the harsh treaty inflicted on Germany could easily be referred to as “The Peace to End All Peace”.  Hindsight tells us how sadly accurate that statement was.  Had Germany not been so brutally punished, it would have never allowed a failed Bavarian water-colorist to assume power and lead the world into another, more calamitous conflict only 20 years later.  But that’s another story.

I would highly recommend this book, but I would start with the author’s first book A World Undone.  That one seemed much stronger and comprehensive.  Whereas this book seems to back up the majority of its claims, I can’t help but wonder, though, if this volume might just be lightly sprinkled with a dash of speculation.  A lot of great information to ponder, though.