Page 18 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • March 12, 2014 What century is this? Blink twice and remember the date: 2014. Now blink again and remember this date: 1914. In 2014, turbulence in Eastern Europe had the world tee- tering on the brink of a war that appeared to be looming between two countries that had, at one time, been part of two fallen empires: Tsarist Russia and the subsequent Soviet Union. “Russia” was the core state of the Soviet Union in the way that Prussia was the core state of Germany. The Ukraine, however, was the real seedbed of what we call “Russian” culture just as New England was the seedbed of American culture. Vladimir Putin seemed to be engaged in invading the Ukraine in a faceoff. The heavily armed and equipped sol- diers on both sides really did not seem to want to shoot one another. They looked embarrassed and scared that they might actually have to shoot somebody. The return of Christianity to Russia, evident as early as the 1980s, was the single greatest factor in Russia’s return to the civilized world. The United States and the NATO allies threatened economic sanctions and their stern disapproval. Russians already know everybody else hates them and nobody trusts them. This is part of their landscape. Ask any Pole. Then Putin made a mysterious telephone call to Angela Merkel in Germany and they talked for a long time. Unfortunately, U.S. Intelligence, which has been tapping Merkel’s phone for years, has not provided us with a tran- script. One of the best-kept secrets in Russia and in America is the vast degree of German investment in Russia. When Putin got off the phone, he settled for pulling his troops back, but not out of Crimea, an ethnic no-man’s-land lifted from the Muslim Tartars who once lived there. Putin gruffly warned everyone that he had the “right” to send troops if he had to. Merkel probably told him she would cut off his allowance if he did anything drastic. She may also have told him that a lot of people in Europe now see the United States as a joke, which may have made him feel better. Now cut back to 1914. Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, Countess Sophie Chotek, have just been shot by a fanatic who hopes to start a war he hopes will benefit his own faction, the Bosnians. He succeeds because most of the countries of Europe hope that a small, showy, quickly decisive war will soothe their internal prob- lems with socialism and their ethnic tensions. About 10 percent of the German Army consisted of ethnic Poles who hoped for independence, but they hated Russia more than they hated Germany. Hew Stachan, an Oxford don and author of an acclaimed book on the First World War, sees the real war-mongering villain as Conrad von Hoetzendorf, chief of the Austro- Hungarian General Staff, a Social Darwinian who hoped a brisk victory over dysfunctional Serbia would enable him to present his lover, Gina von Reininghaus, at Austria’s extremely Catholic court even though she was divorced and had six children with her first husband. Hoetzendorf was brave enough to attack Serbia, but not brave enough to tell his aged emperor, Franz Josef, that the Austrian Army was in a hopeless condition. The war would prove this: Every time the Russians fought the Austrians, they won; every time the Russians fought the Germans, they lost. A collateral villain was “Colonel Apis” (Dragutin Dimi- trijevic), murderer of the previous king of Serbia 10 years before and a covert sponsor of terrorists. Members of the German General Staff, the French General Staff, and the Russian General Staff had been drawing up contingency plans for years. The supposed German “aggressors” under- stood long before 1914 that they had little or no chance of winning a war fighting Russian and France at the same time. None of the monarchs wanted to fight. Neither did many of the politicians of the French Third Republic, but they were gulled into it. Kaiser Wilhelm II liked Franz Ferdinand and took spe- cial care to be kind to Countess Chotek, who knew her children could not inherit and was seen as an outsider by snobbish Austrian courtiers. Wilhelm saw Franz Josef, the Austrian emperor, as a father figure. Wilhelm gave Aus- tria a “blank check” to beat up Serbia if the Serbs did not comply with reasonable demands. He was also culpable to an extent but he was a bungler rather than an eager aggres- sor. The Serbs complied with most of Austria’s demands when Russia gave Serbia a “blank check.” Wilhelm told his post-war biographer, Joachim von Kurenberg, that some Russian grand dukes lost their for- tunes at Monte Carlo, invested in armaments, and promoted a war to save their estates. This may have been a fantasy. The Serbs, with Russia’s “blank check” in their back pockets, stood their ground against Austria, hoping to bluff. The Austrians, with the Kaiser’s “blank check” in their back pockets, attacked Serbia. Russia declared war on Austria, a pushover for the Russians without German help. Germany then declared war on Russia in defense of an ally Otto von Bismarck called “the crumbling Austria galleon.” Bismarck, on his deathbed in 1898, also said: “The next general European war will begin in the Balkans, and that whole rock pile isn’t worth the bones of a single Prussian grenadier.” His other prediction of 1898 was: “Willy (the Kaiser) won’t last 20 years, and when he goes, he’ll take the whole dynasty with him.” Bismarck was right twice. The Kaiser would be forced to abdicate exactly 20 years after Bismarck’s quote. France mobilized. The Germans were short of trained soldiers. The German General Staff told the Kaiser they had to knock France out of the war quickly so they could withstand the more formidable forces of Russia. Weeping, the Kaiser signed the declaration of war against France. To get around the impressive fortifications on the French border, the Germans offered Luxemburg and Belgium neu- trality and post-war reparations if they let the Germans march through on their good behavior paying for their own food. Luxemburg agreed. Belgium declined. The Germans invaded, and when their reservists were shot by Belgian stragglers or reservists fighting out of uni- form, Saxon reservist soldiers began shooting hostages, some of them taken at random -- and some few of them women and children. Britain, with the world’s largest and best navy, entered the war on the side of Russia and France, two countries Britain had always hated; and Belgium, the world leader in atrocities against Africans. Japan, bound to Britain by the alliance that made the Russo-Japanese War possible, declared war on Germany, neutralized the German colony at Shantung, and convoyed troops from Australia and New Zealand to the Western Front. The Japanese, however, wanted no part of fighting on the Western Front. The Chinese supplied the Allies with 200,000 laborers, but wanted no part of fighting on the Western Front, either. They wanted Shantung back after the war when Britain no longer needed Japan -- and they got it. Britain’s Portuguese allies broke and ran when they saw the Western Front. The French Senegalese from Africa did likewise. Asian Indian soldiers had to be sent to warmer climates. Russian troops who were sent there mutinied. The Western Front became the Death Zone of European Civili- zation. A ham-handed German diplomatic attempt to get Japan to change sides -- the Zimmermann Telegram -- brought the United States into the war. About 123,000 American troops died preventing the Germans from finishing off the French and British armies in the summer of 1918 after they knocked Russia out of the war and after more ham-fisted German diplomats had smuggled Lenin and Trotsky into Russia to start a revolution from which the world is still recovering. The bad news is that people on all sides remember so little about history that it almost happened again. Putin’s bullying of the Ukraine sounds something like decadent Austria-Hungary beating up on Serbia to cover internal problems. Nobody wanted a nuclear exchange. The Rus- sians still use the American nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as propaganda points to show how vicious American was, and much of the world agrees with them. A survey suggested that all but 18 percent of Americans quizzed wanted no part of any action and their knowledge of the situation was non-existent. Conversely, older Rus- sians are now parading photographs of Stalin and conve- niently ignoring the fact that Stalin helped Hitler start the 1939-1945 war in Europe and that Stalin probably killed about twice as many Russians as Hitler did. When the Soviet Union collapsed, a lot of Russians probably wanted to bury Stalin face down in case he woke up and started to dig his way out. Neo-Stalinism is a good argument to boycott Russian products, but we should hold off and promote good rela- tions as long as Putin refrains from real or simulated inva- sions of sovereign territories. Russia has produced some highlights of world culture -- but nobody in his right mind wants the return of the Soviet Union, which killed far more people than the Western Front. Letters to the Editor DPW praised Dear Editor: We were quite surprised to read that any resident would complain about the work of the Midland Park DPW. Every time it snowed, no matter how much, or how little, they were out on our streets early and often, from the main streets to the smaller dead end streets, and did an excellent job. Compared to the other towns in the area, Midland Park was easiest to get through. Keep up the good work, men. C. Baker Midland Park Questions new ordinance Dear Editor: Regarding Wyckoff’s new ordinance addressing the “McMansion” issue (The Villadom Times, Feb. 26, 2014). In 2010-11, despite objections from adjoining neighbors, the Wyckoff Zoning Board granted five variances to allow for the creation of a “McMansion” on Caldwell Drive. The vote was 5-1 in favor of granting. Chairman (now mayor) Christie voted for approval. His comment to us at that time: “It is what it is, folks.” Four of us were forced to bring legal actions against the neighbors, the township, and the zoning board. All parties filed counterclaims. It was only our hard work (we brought these actions without an attorney) and our discovery of a restrictive cov- enant in the original tract deeds that led to the neighbors abandoning the issue and selling. One fact we turned up, between Feb. 17, 2007 and Jan. 20, 2011, there were 40 side-yard variance applications. Two were withdrawn and 38 approved! Does this ordinance eliminate any possibility of applying for variances? If not, what good is it? Patricia Booth Wyckoff Concerned about traffic circle Dear Editor: All of us are sick of snowstorms, but Mother Nature actually did us a favor by dumping mountains of snow in Franklin Lakes. Continuous snowstorms delayed the dis- mantling of stop signs and blinking red and amber warning lights above the traffic circle at High Mountain and Frank- lin Lake roads. Believe it or not, Bergen County officials actually believe the removal of stop signs and lights will promote safety. If motorists are not slowing or halting for stop signs now, what will they do when they come upon a yield? They will probably rev up their engines even more to race right around the corner or through the intersection. A better solution would be to place bright blinking warning signs with the words “Slow. Dangerous Intersec- tion Ahead” several yards before the traffic circle. One blinking sign could be erected near High Mountain Road School and the other at the corner of Huron and Franklin Lake roads. (continued on page 21)