By Matt Naylor, National World War I Museum president and CEO

The world is commemorating the first global conflict. Centennials are often a cause for celebration. But not this. Rather, it is a reason to learn, make meaning, and remember.

The world leading up to the summer of 1914 was much like the world of today. Europe faced rising nationalism and awareness of ethnic differences. Alliances shifted between nations and ruling families. Countries and empires sought increased influence to drive their goals of expansion. Changing technologies, including shifts in energy sources, changed power balances.

So while the June murder of the heir to the Austrian Hungarian Empire—an empire unfamiliar to most of us today—is considered by many as a cause of World War I, it is better thought of as the match that struck the kindling of a well-set fireplace.

What made this war different from earlier ones was that it was the first global conflict. Indians, Australians, Costa Ricans, Haitians, Thai, and multitudes of others soon found themselves traveling to foreign lands or providing resources to propel the war. And the world was never to be the same.

Going to Scale

The scale of death was massive. Additionally, conditions on the frontlines caused illness, leading to even more death. Some 9 million soldiers died, and 21 million more were wounded. For example:

More than 400,000 Australians (thousands of miles and continents away from the war) enlisted, representing almost 40 percent of the male population between 18 and 44 years old. Almost 65 percent were killed or injured.

The Austrian-Hungarians mobilized 6.5 million troops. Almost 5 million, or 75 percent, were killed or injured.

The French Empire enlisted 7.5 million, and 75 percent were killed or injured.

Whole towns of young men, who were conscripted or enlisted together, were lost. The war brought terror of weaponry, gases, trench warfare, and disease. It also brought social and technological change, perhaps the greatest in human history. To name but a few changes:

Disintegration of empires; creation of nation states; environmental damage; new technologies in communications, medicine, aviation, weaponry; oil’s rise in importance, leading to modern conflicts; civic and human-rights movements; and a USA shift from isolationism to global leadership.

One City’s Response

In Kansas City, people wanted to honor those who served, and they wanted to seek a peaceful world.

In 1919, 83,000 men, women, and children donated more than $2 million (equal to nearly $40 million today) to create a memorial. And they did this in two weeks. Everyone, from the city’s leading lumberman, R.A. Long, to schoolchildren contributed.

The memorial’s site was dedicated November 1, 1921. An estimated 100,000 people witnessed the stirring ceremony. The five main Allied military leaders—General Jacques of Belgium, General Diaz of Italy, Marshal Foch of France, General John J. Pershing of the USA, and Admiral Lord Beatty of Great Britain—addressed the throng.

A nationwide architectural competition yielded the winning design by New York architect H. Van Buren Magonigle. Following construction between 1923 and 1926, the mostly completed memorial was dedicated November 11, 1926. It attracted more than 150,000 people. President Calvin Coolidge and Queen Marie of Romania delivered addresses.

In the late 1990s when the memorial needed renovation, leading citizens again motivated the people. Kansas City’s citizens provided a place suitable for the tremendous responsibility of properly reflecting on the war—its sorrows and significance. More than $100 million has been spent in the past decade.

Ominous Contemporary Parallels

In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, historian Margaret MacMillan says today holds ominous parallels to the world leading up to World War I. For example, globalization before 1914 led Germany and Britain to be each other’s largest trading partners. Yet each felt threatened by the other’s economic success and rising commercial and military power.

“It is tempting—and sobering—to compare today’s relationship between China and America to that between Germany and England a century ago” MacMillan wrote. “Lulling ourselves into a false sense of safety, we say that countries that have McDonalds will never fight one another.”

MacMillian points to the Middle East as resembling the Balkans leading up to World War I. “A similar mix of toxic nationalisms threatens to draw in outside power as the United States, Turkey, Russia, and Iran all look to protect their interests and their clients.”

The centennial of the Great War provides people of faith with an opportunity to reflect on how the world was swept into this global conflict, and what it means to live in its shadows.

I propose people of faith can do three things. Many nations are responding with similar and culturally appropriate actions.

1. Tell stories. The Great War was about people fighting people. Sure, it was also about nationalism, tribalism, empires, and geopolitical rivalries. But those things are really about people. Telling stories can help us turn history into human story.

2. Teach people what happened and why it matters. The world today is more like the world leading up to World War I than we would like to imagine. The great American novelist, Mark Twain, is credited with saying “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Appreciating the past can help us successfully navigate the future. In partnership with a consortium of churches and affiliates, including Community of Christ Seminary, the National World War I Museum will host a symposium in 2017 about conscientious objection as a response to war.

3. Remember the courage and values of those days. Many thought World War I would be over in days, surely by Christmas. But the war was not over by Christmas. War was envisioned as romantic and colorful—flags, spiked helmets, flashing sabers. Those called to arms would be heroes, defending their homelands and way of life. The grim reality was far different. To remove any notion of war as a grand adventure, remember what happened. Remembering also can make us aware of real and present threats to our world.

Monumental Changes

The world came undone in those days. When it was put back together—if it ever was—it was forever changed: new countries, new weaponry, new threats and ideologies.

This war matters, if only because it is about the power of a fractured world. And it showed us as never before destructive power on a massive scale.

The great Frieze Wall at Liberty Memorial is 488 feet long and 43 feet high. Combining images of the horrors of war and the fruits of industry and peace, the wall’s central figure is a woman with spread wings, symbolizing peace and understanding. Inscribed above it:

These have dared bear the torches of sacrifice and service. Their bodies return to dust but their work liveth evermore. Let us strive on to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Remembering those who served and learning and finding meaning in the Great War and its enduring impact is a tribute to the past and a commitment to a world of peace.