“In most cases, obviously, soldiers fought because a government drafted them and gave them a rifle. At every point too, we see the role of nationalistic sentiment, commercial rivalries, and simple greed. But can we ever separate out such motives from the religious? Was that not also true of the medieval crusades?” GovernmentReligiousSimpleRolesCasesGreedSoldierMotiveSentimentsMedievalRivalryRiflesCrusadesNationalistic Author:Philip Jenkins
“The typical WW1 soldier was not an intellectual like Ernst Jünger or Wilfred Owen, but was a peasant draftee from Galicia or Bavaria or Sicily, with all the traditional religious ideas. The hothouse atmosphere of war brought everyone into a supernatural-oriented universe of ghosts and apparitions.” IdeasWarUniverseReligiousIntellectualSoldierGhostTraditionalAtmosphereTypicalPeasantsApparitions Author:Philip Jenkins
“It is also amazing to find just how religious and occult-minded some of the leading political and military players of the war were, from von Moltke and Ludendorff to Brusilov and J F C Fuller. Each, in his way, was deeply involved in what we would today call the occult, spiritualism, and visionary religion.” WayWarTodayPoliticalReligiousPlayerMilitaryInvolvedVisionariesOccultSpiritualism Author:Philip Jenkins
“Apocalyptic expectations ran riot in 1917, and had a major influence on Allied policies towards Palestine and the Jewish people. The propaganda of all nations was amazingly religious and apocalyptic - ghosts and visions, crucifixions and sacrifice, crusaders and holy warriors.” PeopleNationsReligiousVisionSacrificeInfluencePolicyHolyMajorsExpectationsGhostWarriorPropagandaRanPalestineRiotApocalypticCrucifixion Author:Philip Jenkins
“. If you believe that your nation is divinely ordained to rule Europe, and you must struggle to establish its supremacy, is that a religious doctrine or a nationalist one? In Germany especially, the whole super-nationalist ideology of the post-1871 empire is heavily imbued with religious teaching, chiefly Lutheran, and frankly viewing the new empire as the germ of the kingdom of God on Earth.” IfsBelieveWholeEarthNationsReligiousStruggleTeachingEuropeKingdomsDoctrineIdeologyPostsGermanyEmpiresKingdom Of GodIf You BelieveGermsSupremacyLutherans Author:Philip Jenkins
