A Century After WWI's End, Adam Hochschild Cautions: "Think Long and Hard Before Starting a New War"

Between 1914 and 1918, about 10 million civilians perished in World War I, and almost 10 million soldiers were killed. Another 21 million were wounded. This week marks the 100th anniversary of the celebrated armistice credited with ending the war. But the agreement, which signified German surrender, was a shock to the people of Germany, says journalist and author Adam Hochschild-and it guaranteed the continuation of a brutal wartime naval blockade that saw over 400,000 Germans die of malnutrition. A right-wing backlash in Germany followed after the armistice, leading into World War II and the Holocaust. Hochschild says WWI, like the Iraq War, holds important lessons for today's leaders to avert another war. "Wars almost always cause more problems than they solve," he says. "Anybody at any time should take that lesson from this first of the terrible wars of the 20th century."