Earlier this summer, I listened to an audio series entitled ‘Blueprint for Armageddon,’ which dove into the history of World War I. (For those who enjoy history, be sure to check out Dan Carlin’s excellent Hardcore History podcast.) It was fascinating to learn about so many different aspects of the conflict — from the political to the technological to the tactical — most of which I never knew, or had completely forgotten.
One of things that I came away with was a better understanding of how bloody and horrific those years were — especially for those on the front lines. How battles like Verdun and the Somme and Passchendaele literally shaped the psyche of the European nations as millions of young soldiers met their death. I don’t know if I can even imagine what it would be like to be in their place — to undergo the constant barrage of artillery, knowing that you or those around you would most likely die in combat.
And now that I understand a little better the horrors these young men lived with, I’ve been thinking about how their experience of war must have shaped their future perspectives. Because undoubtedly it did. How many of those same soldiers went on to become political, or religious, or academic leaders in their countries? And how did their personal experience of war affect the positions they later took? I don’t know to what degree the trauma of war affected them, but I’m sure it had an effect.
I mention this because it can be easy to look back on decisions that were made leading up to World War II, and find fault with how some things were handled. But how much of these decisions were influenced by what these people and nations had gone through 20 years earlier? This doesn’t make the decisions necessarily better, but understanding what they had endured can also help us make a little more sense of why they did what they did.
And the same things happens today. We may not always agree with the positions or decisions others make. But if we know where they’re coming from, and what experiences have shaped their perspectives, we may be able to better empathize with them. We may not always agree, but at least we can gain a little more understanding along the way.