Prelude to Carnage, Part Two

       The First World War led to the Armenian Genocide and the creation of the Soviet Union.  It involved the suspension of Europe's moral standards.
       Preceding American involvement in World War I, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson centralized Federal power in a way that had never been done before.  This allowed Wilson to manipulate the news, censoring coverage of German sabotage, and eventually creating popular opinion in favor of American involvement.

The nature of

World War I, with its casualties measured by the hundred-thousand, introduction of chemical weapons and massive artillery barrages broke down the barriers between normal war and genocide.  Thus, it came as no surprise when the Ottoman Empire decided to resolve its issues with its Armenian population.

       Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a stabilizing influence that united disperate ethnicities, its ancient, amoral relationship with the Ottoman Empire tarnished its moral legitimacy, and gave an element of truth to Entente propaganda.  Allied with militaristic, Prussia-dominated Germany, it is hard to believe that the Central Powers' victory in the war would have been benign, or that Hitler's rise out of the Weimar era could have been prevented by their victory.