This is such a fantastic podcast. World War One has always been a bit of an odd historical phenomenon--its importance is so obvious, but so removed and murky. Kind of like John Updike's status in the literary readership community--everyone respects/is aware of him, most haven't read him, though they feel they should.
Carlin does a great job of putting WW1 in its context of military history. The German forces sweeping through Belgium in the summer of 1914 had flanks that were themselves as large as the totality of Napoleon's Grand Army. Such enormous numbers of soldiers had never been organized and deployed, and Germany's meticulous plan for this mobilization is one of the most unprecedented achievements in human history.
Germany's villainy is examined, confirmed, and set in somewhat of a tragic tone--Germany was so focused on showing how great it was, it didn't realize that the rest of the world would think they were complete dicks. Its behavior in its steamroll through Belgium was so shockingly callous, evil, rape-like and overpowering, that they were instantly and lastingly branded villains. German weapons killed 27,000 French soldiers in a single short battle early in the war, a number which would have been high for an entire month of casualties in Napoleonic times.
World War One is also kind of the last mythological war, that has some kind of begrudging grandeur to it. Excellence in warfare itself used to be considered a somewhat refined, gentlemanly pursuit, like chemistry or linguistics. The idea of limited war still had some life left in it, but was pulverized in a merciless hail of flying steel. French soldiers would charge headlong against German machine guns, driven by an outdated sense of heroism that little in the new world.
The death of the 19th century, the beginning of a totally insane mechanized warscape. It was pretty easy for everyone to except the ubiquity of Predator drones in US military operations. After the appearance of the Paris Gun, whose shells were the first manmade objects to make it to the stratosphere, anything was possible. Flying pilotless missile shooting vehicles? Sure why not.
Carlin does what the best history always does--bring alive the consciousness of the past, making it understandable and compelling to our dim eyes and ears. As the best teachers do, Carlin makes it clear that he is trying to work things out for himself, to develop a fuller, clearer, more dexterous grasp of the ideas in question, and related ones that might be hit upon at any time. It isn't lecturing, its opening a window onto your own thinking.
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