12/15/2004 Entry: "Big Bangs at the Beginnings of Centuries"
Posted by Maynard @ 04:03 PM MST

Big Bangs at the Beginnings of Centuries

I went to the bachelor party for my best man last night. He's getting hitched Friday, to an excellent girl. Anyway, among the night's frivolities I heard this wonderful line asked of the guest of honor: "Chris, you're one of the few people I can ask this question of and get a decent answer: what's up with the Spanish-American War?"

Chris is a history teacher at one of the local high schools.

Anyway, I heard that and remarked to my other soon-to-be-married former roomate "I think I can name six things about the SpanAm war:"

• The guns we used
• Theodore Roosevelt's role
• Two of my ancestsors took part in it
• Remember the Maine
• It was in Cuba
• It helped establish us as a world power

After a little more discussion, we realized something else, something with profound implications for today's war.

Who remembers the wars we fight at the beginnings of the centuries? I mean, seriously: do most people know how long the War of 1812 really was? Ditto for the start and end of the Spanish American War. So what does that mean for us? Remember, those wars were super-big deals for those involved - we almost lost the Capital, fercryinoutloud, and the Maine incident was huge.

So what will become of George W. Bush's biggest adventure? Will it result in a fundamental change in the region, and in doing so, beat History's curse on wars we fight in the early part of the century? Or will it be forgotten, despite the long-reaching implications it may yet bring about?

Only time will tell. Too bad most of us won't be around to see the change a century from now. Perhaps we'll be the old fogeys on the History Channel telling about our blogging adventures on the home front, or our combat adventures in Baghdad.

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