Commemorative events on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the date of the beginning of World War I are taking place in Europe these days. The presidents of France and Germany, François Hollande Joachim Gauck, laid the first stone of a Memorial to the Great War at a local military cemetery in Alsace, and president of Russia Vladimir Putin called for lessons to be learned from those events. The tragedy of that war "recalls the consequences of the aggression and selfishness, excessive ambitions of heads of state and political elites, taking precedence over common sense … It is good to remember it today," Putin said. The director of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Chubaryan, believes that none of governors of the European countries expected events to rake on such a global character. "There were the national interests of each European country. They all counted on a solution of these interests, even on fields of military collisions, but nobody thought that it would lead to a four-year bloody terrible war with applications of new means of mass destruction," Chubaryan said. In his opinion, then there was no "compromise corridor" or "dialogue corridor": ""The alternative was war or in general without a war that the majority of people didn't perceive. The whole history of the cold war not only involves confrontation, but is searches for compromises, which as a result, even in the conditions of the cold war, led to it not developing into a hot phase". One of the results of World War I was the creation of new multi-national states. Already at the end of the war the principle of the right of a nation to self-determination was discussed. "Communication of the right of a nation to self-determination with the idea of the integrity of the state is a burning issue which is on the agenda today. Events of the last time show that any infringement of the rights of ethnic minorities, and furthermore the rights of nationalities which live in a state in large numbers, is fraught not simply with a conflict aggravation, but big destruction and losses not only for this country, but also for other countries," Chubaryan states. In his opinion, civil society couldn't prevent the emergence of war either : "It is necessary to accept the value of institutions of civil society, the value of the most varied public forces for prevention of local, and furthermore universal conflicts. After World War I in Europe such organizations began to arise. Their contribution has to be considered by historians. This is also one of the lessons - it is necessary to have not only a legal system, but also a system of civil reaction which could be used for prevention of world war." Chubaryan reminded that the First and Second World Wars began after German aggression, "therefore a settlement of the relations of France with Germany and of Russia with Germany creates one of the key moments in the system of European safety. It is implemented and it has to be understood not only in Russia, but also in France and Germany. Without interaction between these three powers it is difficult to speak about a stable and steady world."
Commemorative events on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the date of the beginning of World War I are taking place in Europe these days. The presidents of France and Germany, François Hollande Joachim Gauck, laid the first stone of a Memorial to the Great War at a local military cemetery in Alsace, and president of Russia Vladimir Putin called for lessons to be learned from those events. The tragedy of that war "recalls the consequences of the aggression and selfishness, excessive ambitions of heads of state and political elites, taking precedence over common sense … It is good to remember it today," Putin said.
The director of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Chubaryan, believes that none of governors of the European countries expected events to rake on such a global character. "There were the national interests of each European country. They all counted on a solution of these interests, even on fields of military collisions, but nobody thought that it would lead to a four-year bloody terrible war with applications of new means of mass destruction," Chubaryan said.
In his opinion, then there was no "compromise corridor" or "dialogue corridor": ""The alternative was war or in general without a war that the majority of people didn't perceive. The whole history of the cold war not only involves confrontation, but is searches for compromises, which as a result, even in the conditions of the cold war, led to it not developing into a hot phase".
One of the results of World War I was the creation of new multi-national states. Already at the end of the war the principle of the right of a nation to self-determination was discussed. "Communication of the right of a nation to self-determination with the idea of the integrity of the state is a burning issue which is on the agenda today. Events of the last time show that any infringement of the rights of ethnic minorities, and furthermore the rights of nationalities which live in a state in large numbers, is fraught not simply with a conflict aggravation, but big destruction and losses not only for this country, but also for other countries," Chubaryan states.
In his opinion, civil society couldn't prevent the emergence of war either : "It is necessary to accept the value of institutions of civil society, the value of the most varied public forces for prevention of local, and furthermore universal conflicts. After World War I in Europe such organizations began to arise. Their contribution has to be considered by historians. This is also one of the lessons - it is necessary to have not only a legal system, but also a system of civil reaction which could be used for prevention of world war."
Chubaryan reminded that the First and Second World Wars began after German aggression, "therefore a settlement of the relations of France with Germany and of Russia with Germany creates one of the key moments in the system of European safety. It is implemented and it has to be understood not only in Russia, but also in France and Germany. Without interaction between these three powers it is difficult to speak about a stable and steady world."
