Today the globe is home to almost 7.5 billion people; in 1900 the world population was between 1.5 and 1.7 billion people. In the intervening 116 years population growth was almost 49.6 million per year. One listing indicates that there were as many as 229 named countries in the world in 1900, of which many were colonies of Europeans; The British Empire consisted of 80 countries, France controlled 26 foreign countries, nine nations were considered German territories and a half dozen countries were protectorates of Spain. Another source lists just 53 sovereign nations in the world at the beginning of the 20th century.
The United States in 1900 was a youthful sovereign nation of 124 years compared with many that had been chartered centuries before. Our population was about 76 million compared with about 325 million currently; growth amounted to over 2 million each year resulting in a growth rate of about 5,880 per day. In 1900 our country consisted of 45 states because Oklahoma (11/16/1907), New Mexico (1/6/1912), Arizona (2/14/1912), Alaska (1/3/1959) and Hawaii (8/21/1959) hadn’t been admitted yet.
During the 20th century there were many breakthroughs. One of the most devastating was the introduction and later the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The dark shadows of these dreadful devises are perhaps the greatest threat to inhabitants of planet earth. There is no assurance that all those nations with nuclear capability will contain their weapons. First cousin of nuclear weapons is nuclear power, but there is no assurance that rogue states won’t take over the power grids of foreign nations by those other new devices called computers and the Internet (cybercrime).
During the 100 years between 1900 and 2000, there were about 236 wars worldwide that took the lives of at least 79 million precious people of all ages. Some of the victims were combatants and some were civilians–hungry, thirsty and huddled under blankets holding children. Estimates vary but WWI is recorded as taking the lives of more than 10.5 million people, WWII accounted for a total of 50 million lost lives and the Korean conflict snuffed out nearly a million lives. The count of deaths in Vietnam accounted for more than 2 million military and civilian casualties. The war between Iran and Iraq is a sad commentary of the years of 1980 to 1988 when 644,500 warriors and civilians were sacrificed because of rancorous leaders.
Death and destruction have been the hallmarks of civilization for reasons that myriad sociologists, social scientists and other professional analysts of the human condition have scrutinized for thousands of years. If we knew the answers, there would still be wars and unrest, tyrants and peasants and professors of demographics.
It is reasonable that there is a new world order emerging. Time magazine’s top five people of the world in 2015 were # 5 Hassan Rouhani of Iran, #4 Black Lives Matter, #3 Donald Trump, #2 Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi of ISIS and #1 Angela Merkel of Germany. Three others were under consideration for recognition by Time: Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner), Vladimir Putin of Russia and Travis Kalanick of Uber. Apparently Obama, Kerry and other U.S., European or Asian leaders didn’t impress the editors of Time.
Wise men and women of all stripes should recognize that the lights of our great nation (the city on the hill that Reagan spoke about) have dimmed and must be turned up. Our new leaders must bolster the economy based on invention and creativity and buttress our military so that our nation’s friends trust us and our enemies tremble at the thought of attacking anyone. All citizens must rise to contribute to the well being of themselves and their neighbors and our leaders must intervene, when justified, for peaceful resolution of conflicts domestic and worldwide because the UN is a songbird, not a bulldog.
For those with or without religious faith, heed the words of Martin Luther when in 1529, he wrote the words and music for the hymn entitled, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” as follows (3rd verse in part): “And though this world with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.” Amen.
Dick Baynton
