From ‘Powder Barrel’ to ‘Universal Conflagration’ – Narrative II

The term ‘First World War’ – thirty-six states were involved in it – can be found in publications from as early as 1914. However, it did not become widespread until it was used by the British officer Charles à Court Repington as the title of his best-selling book published in 1920. Even today, though, the conflict is still widely referred to as ‘The Great War’ in Britain and ‘La Grande Guerre’ in France. At least from a historical point of view it is not possible to give a convincing explantion of why ‘Der Erste Weltkrieg’ (The First World War) has become the usual name in Austria and Germany. After all, the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) and the Coalition Wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France (1792–1815)  were not fought only in Europe.

The global aspect is also emphasized by the term Weltenbrand, ‘universal conflagration’. This is derived from Norse mythology, as in the collection of myths and legends known as the Edda, where Surt the flame giant throws his flaming sword and thus destroys all life. This motif is used by Richard Wagner at the end of his operatic cycle The Ring of the Nibelungs. Weltenbrand is also the title of a series of (severely criticized) documentaries on the First and Second World Wars by the German television historian Guido Knopp; the same title has been chosen by the ORF, the Austrian public broadcaster, for its three-part television documentary series within the framework of its focus on the First World War.

A ‘universal conflagration’ can be ignited by a ‘fuse’ on a ‘powder barrel’, to use another frequently employed phrase in connection with the origins of the war. The motif of the ‘powder barrel’ is also one that has been in use for a long time. As early as 1919 the German author Wilhelm Doms wrote the following reflection:

Time and again I have come across the very strange idea – and the childishness of journalists is spreading it every day, that this war is the work of individuals. As if a catastrophe of such a general kind could have been conjured up by the will of individuals, however powerful they might be. To be sure, anyone who throws the spark into the powder barrel will become the immediate cause of the explosion. However, the essence of the matter is the fact that the powder barrel is there at all.

Translation: Leigh Bailey