One constant among the elements of 1914—as of any era—was the disposition of everyone on all sides not to prepare for the harder alternative, not to act upon what they suspected to be true.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the tendency of individuals and societies to ignore potential dangers and fail to prepare for difficult realities.
Barbara Tuchman's quote reflects on the human inclination to remain in denial about ominous situations, choosing instead to cling to a sense of normalcy rather than confronting the harsh truths that may require difficult decisions or actions. This disposition is not unique to 1914 but is a recurring theme throughout history, highlighting a common psychological barrier that can lead to significant consequences when faced with challenges.
In practice
During a lecture on historical events, a speaker can use this quote to discuss how nations failed to prepare for World War I.
In a country where misery and want were the foundation of the social structure, famine was periodic, death from starvation common, disease pervasive, thievery normal, and graft and corruption taken for granted, the elimination of these conditions in Communist China is so striking that negative aspects of the new rule fade in relative importance.
When every autumn people said it could not last through the winter, and when every spring there was still no end in sight, only the hope that out of it all some good would accrue to mankind kept men and nations fighting. When at last it was over, the war had many diverse results and one dominant one transcending all others: disillusion.
Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.
The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard
Theology being the work of males, original sin was traced to the female.
Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.
I knew from history that war comes with frightening regularity, often fought over the same ground and similar causes as previous conflicts.
Well-behaved women seldom make history.
It is not history which uses men as a means of achieving - as if it were an individual person - its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.
One has to confront history honestly.
I've met many Holocaust survivors who find the era infinitely compelling because they have this deep hunger to understand how it all could possibly have happened.
When I started working on women's history about thirty years ago, the field did not exist. People didn't think that women had a history worth knowing.
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