Jonathan Daly, a professor of history at the University of Illinois, presents an intriguing lecture on how World War I, the Great War, the “war to end all wars,” was an absurd conflict fought to a bitter and destructive end by countries with no convincing reason to fight. Expecting a quick and decisive victory, the belligerent powers rushed into a military quagmire from which it proved impossible to escape before the entire continent had reached a state of sheer exhaustion. By that point, four empires had collapsed, a revolutionary government had established itself in the world’s largest country, and the door had opened to ideological fanatics bent on transforming the planet. These men, who came to power in two other major European countries, rendered inevitable a second world war – this one not absurd. Join us for this fascinating program.