The little understood religious connotations of World War One is often by passed by historians. Phillip Jenkins through wrote an excellent piece in a new book called "The Great And Holy War" and he brings up many religious accusations for this brutal war a hundred yeas ago. Religious themes and imagery were often used to incite men to go out in an Armageddon battle that few new with modern new technology that they would come unscathed. Jenkins goes through the widespread visions of angels leading these battles and the modern concept of religious justifications for mass state on state violence. Jenkins also said the scale of violence of this war lead more people into religious fervor and turned the tide that was going against these habitual ancient rituals of boring tales. The intense wrath was somehow thought as proof of this war being the end of all wars and only religious righteous would produce the winner. This was a war where posters and a sort of advertising campaign by the various participants and undoubtedly this played a huge role in shaping European attitudes for this war. Europe was a different place a hundred years ago and one can say many of these religious folks were slaughtered in battle along with the millions of future generations that would of came And passed on this faith bonded bloodlines.
The author spends a chapter talking about the rise of Zionism during this time period and how the anti-Jewish feeling were already starting to boil in Central Europe with this new religious fervor among Europeans. Some revivalists, especially in America were extremely pro Zionism and pushed for the state of Israel even back then as so e sort of religious expansion and power vacuum for the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. Is was the only non-Christian empire that played a major role in the First World War but here too religion was often justified for war expansions. The Muslim treatment of Christian minorities angered many in the West and this is highlighted in the book with the plot to carve up the empire of the Ottomans and bringing them in the war on the side of the Germans.
The book ends with two chapters observing the rise of religion in society in both Africa and Islamic lands and the role of the war in shaping future trends and the rise of Christianity in African and modern Islam as a political force. Religion and the shift of populations and military action of so e many subjected people in this war through the British and French empires gave a new revivalism and thought conscious of subjected people for own self-rule and how they came about this was often through religious forces.
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