"1913" by Charles Emmerson (2013)

Author Charles Emmerson has done a really superb job at showing us how much the world has/hasn’t changed in the past 100 years. More importantly, by breaking the book up into chapters concerning all of the major cities of the era, he has also created a mini-history of the events which helped to create the conflicts of the 20^th century, as well as laying out the foundations for the things which trouble us geo-politically today.

With a careful eye to history, Mr. Emmerson takes the reader back 100 years to the most influential cities of the time, and the cities, for the most part, have remained the same. And so have the problems and crisis’ faced by the world today. In 1913 the Middle East was a broil in what was then termed an “Arab Spring”. Sound familiar? As the Islamic Empire began to crumble; setting the stage for the First World War, the people began to rise up against the Islamic Ottoman Empire. The repercussions of that period are still with us today. Of interesting note is that The Palestinians and Ottomans were fighting with the Europeans, in spite of the lack of a Jewish state at the time. This raises questions about the legitimacy of the claims today that if Israel were gone there would be peace in the Middle East. It’s likely not the case; as proven by history.

Russia was in an upheaval as well, with the various religious groups fighting amongst themselves, all vying for control of what would become the Soviet Union in 1917. With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1989, many of the Baltic Nations have returned to independence, which has led to terrorism and internal strife between the various sects which existed back in; you guessed it; 1913.

The political/economic instability of the South American nations was, and still is, an issue. London and Paris were competing to be the capitol of the world as far as fashion; and they still are today. Paris remains the center of art which it always has been, and the United States continues “empire building”, with wars in 3 different countries as of this writing. So much has changed, yet so much has remained the same.

China has undergone a tremendous metamorphism over the past 100 years; starting the century as a feudal society, ruled by warlords. By 1913 Chiang Kai-shek would be fighting for democracy against the Communists. That struggle continued for almost 50 years, until Mao took over in the late 1940’s. Although his regime was a failure, in retrospect it accomplished one very important thing; it rid China of the foreign powers which were exploiting her in every conceivable way. His emergence marked the entry of China onto the world’s stage as a force that needed to be reckoned with. Today she is an economic powerhouse.

When the Great War came in 1914 it was widely believed that this would be the “war to end all wars.” In reality, it was only the beginning of mass armed conflict in the 20^th Century, culminating in the first Atomic Bomb being dropped on Hiroshima in August of 1945. Though that action ended the war, it began an uneasy “Cold War” which would last another 45 years and cost trillions of dollars in defense.

Today we have come to a point where the conflicts are carefully orchestrated in order to avoid a wide scale conflict along the lines of both World Wars. But still, the world remains an uneasy balance of power and greed, versus community and the virtues of helping those who may be in need of assistance.

Whatever your political leanings may be, this book will educate and inform you of how similar we are to the world of 100 years ago, begging the question, “What have we learned, if anything, from the experiences of the past 100 years?” This is a very well written, and organized book.

"The Wolf" by Richard Guilliatt and Peter Hohnen

World War One was the last war which was fought with any "civility." The story of the Christmas Eve Truce in 1914 comes to mind. That was when the soldiers in the trenches began singing Christmas Carols and slowly emerged to share with one another, food, wine and photographs of loved ones. Several hours later they went back to killing.

But of all the stories from the Great War, the one that has always fascinated me the most was the story of the German Raider "Wolf." This was an ordinary freighter disguised as a neutral ship. She would plow the seas, making a 64,000 mile journey in search of ships to seize. The ships were emptied of anything that the Germans could use, the passengers and crew were taken aboard Wolf and the other vessel sunk.

The German Navy, after her stunning victory at Jutland in 1916, would be largely absent from the remainder of the war. The new submarines, or U-boats as they came to be known, were doing all the "heavy lifting" while the fleet remained in and around German waters. This was an extreme frustration to German Naval Officers, who finally hatched a plan.

This plan was mainly the idea of Captain Karl Nerger. He oversaw the upfit of the "Wolf", including large tanks for storing fuel. It was his intention to never touch land until his return to Germany. His voyage would last 444 days and take his ship to all corners of the world. She sailed, and prevailed, in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, seizing coal and provisions from all she encountered. By the end of the voyage she was carrying 400 prisoners. Some of these were men, women and children taken off the merchant vessels.

Being so long at sea there was some interaction betwen crew and prisoners. There were even some romances. There was also a "split" system for holding prisoners. After the first vessel is seized and sunk off San Francisco, the Captain of the stricken vessel along with his wife and daughter, are given a private cabin that had been the home of 2 Officers. But as the ship becomes increasingly crowded, things change. Captured ships crews are held below decks in deplorable conditions, while above deck the Officers and wives of the Merchant ships are treated well.

Laying mines and running British blockades are two more of the many perils which give this book the suspense and edge that keep you reading. Just one more page....

When the ship runs aground off of neutral Norway enroute home, things become chaotic. The neutral countries refuse to help her off the sandbar. They also refuse to help her with anything that might violate their own neutrality. This sparks an international political crisis. The passengers/prisoners are finally released and the ship eventually does make it back to Kiel. The followups on the various principals in this story are very intersting as well. Written in an easy and engaging style, this book will give you quite a ride into the past.

While the nature of war never changes, the nature of the people who fight them does. That is the sad lesson I have taken from this book.