Ever since ancient times, a sharp sword of catastrophic danger has hung over the human race— a razor-sharp sabre suspended by a single thread, which, were the thread to be severed, would fall upon us, mankind, maybe killing millions of people.
Just now, we are frightfully aware of that “sword”, as another madmen tramples across borders, brandishing the dreaded threat of nuclear disaster.
The presence of that legendary, cataclysmic sword is, however, nothing new.
It has hung above us for two millennia of time, although never—until 1945—with the disastrous destruction of nuclear warfare.
The metaphor of a so-called “Sword of Damocles” was made known in a theatre of ancient Sicily or Greece, many many moons ago. Centuries later, poets. . . Chaucer, Shakespeare and others took up the imagery of the Sword of Damocles for dramatic or literary effect.
In 1914, a profound dramatization of of this Peril was acted out in actual history.
The disaster began in June of 1914. Here’s how the dreaded “Sword of Damocles” fell upon Europe in a fatefully tragic chain of events.
The first thing that happened: a Prince/Heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in June,1914, by a Serbian rebel, down in Sarajevo, Bosnia, an area in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe.
It was a fatal treaty that dragged the Russians—and, as it later turned out— damn-near the whole world— into the confrontation that escalated into World War I.
Here’s what’s so sad about how this royal f*k-up began:
In the early 20th-century, the Russian Czar Nicholas and the German Kaiser Wilhelm were cousins. They were both grandsons of the British Queen, Victoria! Before this time, they had a familial, cordial relationship. They could have ended this thing before it even started, were it not for the Sword of Damocles, also known as the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate.
In this particular finger of fate disaster, the “thread” by which the “Sword” hung was a treaty, or two.
The Austrians had a treaty with the Germans, while the Serbs had a treaty with the Russians.
Wilhelm’s cousin, Czar Nicholas of Russia, felt duty bound—by a treaty with the Bosnian Serbs— to go down to Serbia and rescue the contentious Serbs from their bully Austrian wannabee overlords.
When the Austrians attacked the Serbians, the Russians were treaty-bound to attack the Austrians, which meant that the Russians were also at war with the Germans.
Cousin Nikky and Cousin Willy were suddenly at war with each other.
The actual “Sword” of Damocles was the German head honcho, Kaiser Wilhelm. Even though he was Nicholas’ cousin, he was a bellicose bastard, not unlike his later successor of 20 years later, Hitler.
On 26 July, 1914, Britain—God bless ‘em— called for a peace conference. Good luck with that. God save the Peace.
But on 28 July, Austrian Emperor Franz Josef did indeed declare war on Serbia. Damn! But—long story short—he chose to attack France!
Don’t ask. Long Story.
Now as if that weren’t bad enough . . . way up north, the Czar was already amping up his legions of millions. The hell if I know why. A whole slue of Russian trains were being set loose to transport millions of soldiers and armaments southward to the conflagration.
Now—after one thing leads to another— there are ten million soldiers suddenly rolling along those shiny new rails, rushing head-long into world war.
What’s really tragic was: as the War juggernaut was cranking up full throttle, Cousin Willie telegraphed Cousin Nicky to say that he would back down if Nicky would just not get involved.
So the thought occurs to Cousin Nicky balks: Wait a damn minute? is there a way out of this sudden madness?
Alas! The Sword of Damocles severed that olive branch.
It seems those European Royals were so excited about their new-fangled military hardware and their new toy railroads!
But it was too much trouble, at that point in time, to turn back the tide of war. So the Sword of Damocles fell and it was not lifted until 1918, after millions of people had died.
Let us hope and pray that the dreaded Sword of Nuclear Damocles does not fall on Ukraine as Vlad the Mad creeps toward Donbas!
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