--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I wish we could see understanding the…" description: "\"I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one.\" — Margaret MacMillan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11d/margaret-macmillan-5907_first-world-war_i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-fi_47160.jpg" --- # I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a… ![“I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one.” quote by Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11d/margaret-macmillan-5907_first-world-war_i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-fi_47160.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11d/margaret-macmillan-5907_first-world-war_i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-fi_47160.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11d/margaret-macmillan-5907_first-world-war_i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-fi_47160.jpg) > “I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one.” [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Calls for reframing WWI beyond nationalist narratives to recognize its broader European and global dimensions. **In simple terms:** Broadens WWI perspective Key Takeaway Avoid narrow nationalism Themes history politics globalism nationalism war studies Mood reflective critical Type analytical interpretive When to use this quote - academic curricula - public lectures - media analysis - policy discussions - museum exhibits Key Concepts causes of WWI European integration global impact Practical Applications - history education - public diplomacy Questions to Reflect On - How does a global view change our understanding of WWI? - What lessons can contemporary politics draw from this reframing? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [First world war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-world-war/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [World war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war/) ## Related quotes > [A lot of my father's family in Canada volunteered in the First World War because they saw it as a war that was defending…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/a-lot-of-my-father-s-family-in-canada-volunteered-in-the-first-world/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [The trouble with the First World War, for example, is that people think war was inevitable, but I don't agree. If you look at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/the-trouble-with-the-first-world-war-for-example-is-that-people-think/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [I want my great-granddaughter to have a fairly good understanding of the world in which I lived for 81 years and also the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/i-want-my-great-granddaughter-to-have-a-fairly-good-understanding-of/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [Now he began to see for the first time the unbelievable magnitude of what man, when he gained power to understand and rule the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/now-he-began-to-see-for-the-first-time-the-unbelievable-magnitude-of/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [“An author's ultimate reward is expanding mankind's understanding of our world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-mathews/an-author-s-ultimate-reward-is-expanding-mankind-s-understanding-of/) Richard Mathews > [Ellis's understanding of himself and the world around him certainly develops because of his adventures, and part of that development comes through recognizing other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mahy/ellis-s-understanding-of-himself-and-the-world-around-him-certainly/) [Margaret Mahy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mahy/) > [Those who wish to change the world should have the best possible understanding of the world, including what is revealed by the sciences, some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/those-who-wish-to-change-the-world-should-have-the-best-possible/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Architecture is about the understanding of the world and turning it into a more meaningful and humane place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juhani-pallasmaa/architecture-is-about-the-understanding-of-the-world-and-turning-it/) [Juhani Pallasmaa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juhani-pallasmaa/) > [From early childhood, I was interested in understanding how the world worked, and assumed I would be some kind of physical scientist or chemist.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-laberge/from-early-childhood-i-was-interested-in-understanding-how-the-world/) [Stephen LaBerge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-laberge/) > [Books are key to understanding the world and participating in a democratic society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/books-are-key-to-understanding-the-world-and-participating-in-a/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“As your perspective of the world increases not only is the pain it inflicts on you less but also its meaning. Understanding the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-ove-knausgaard/as-your-perspective-of-the-world-increases-not-only-is-the-pain-it/) [Karl Ove Knausgaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-ove-knausgaard/) > [A worldview is simply someone's relatively organized understanding of what the world is actually like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-koukl/a-worldview-is-simply-someone-s-relatively-organized-understanding-of/) [Greg Koukl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-koukl/) > [The proper route to an understanding of the world is an examination of our errors about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/errol-morris/the-proper-route-to-an-understanding-of-the-world-is-an-examination/) [Errol Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/errol-morris/) > [ “\[...\] science carries us towards an understanding of how the world is, rather than how we would wish it to be \[...\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-carries-us-towards-an-understanding-of-how-the-world-is/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Literature provides us with experiences it would not be wise or possible to introduce into our own world and thus enlarges our understanding of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-rosenblatt/literature-provides-us-with-experiences-it-would-not-be-wise-or/) [Louise Rosenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-rosenblatt/) ## More by Margaret MacMillan > [Some might argue humans are hard-wired to fight. I don't agree: we are conscious beings who have the capacity to make decisions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/some-might-argue-humans-are-hard-wired-to-fight-i-don-t-agree-we-are/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Theodore Roosevelt's policy to build a two-ocean navy confirmed that the old-style isolationism of the founders had not survived the modern, increasingly globalized world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/theodore-roosevelt-s-policy-to-build-a-two-ocean-navy-confirmed-that/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Individual lives remind us that there is something called a common humanity and that, over the centuries, there have been people who have lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/individual-lives-remind-us-that-there-is-something-called-a-common/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [The 1898 annexation of the Hawaiian Islands merely formally recognized what had long been American domination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/the-1898-annexation-of-the-hawaiian-islands-merely-formally/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“There are only two perfectly useless things in the world,” he quipped. “One is an appendix and the other is Poincaré!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/there-are-only-two-perfectly-useless-things-in-the-world-he-quipped/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“Nationalist movements often overlapped with economic and class issues: Rumanian and Ruthenian peasants, for example, challenged their Hungarian and Polish landlords.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/nationalist-movements-often-overlapped-with-economic-and-class-issues/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [How curious that such an outsize man, in physique as well as personality, should be remembered today mainly for giving his name to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/how-curious-that-such-an-outsize-man-in-physique-as-well-as/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“Part of Nietzsche’s appeal was that it was easy to read a great deal into his work, and people including socialists, vegetarians, feminists, conservatives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/part-of-nietzsche-s-appeal-was-that-it-was-easy-to-read-a-great-deal/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [The Great War was nobody's fault - or everybody's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/the-great-war-was-nobody-s-fault-or-everybody-s/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [If we do not, as historians, write the history of great events as well as the small stories that make up the past, others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/if-we-do-not-as-historians-write-the-history-of-great-events-as-well/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Many in the English-speaking world came to agree with the Germans that the Treaty of Versailles, and the reparations in particular, were unjust, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/many-in-the-english-speaking-world-came-to-agree-with-the-germans/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Women are interested in relationships and how other societies manage those relationships. They may have been constrained in what roles were open to them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/women-are-interested-in-relationships-and-how-other-societies-manage/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Managing the relationship with a giant neighbour has been central to our foreign policy for more than a century. Trade and investment, as well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/managing-the-relationship-with-a-giant-neighbour-has-been-central-to/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [I like to think I'm a recovering historian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-like-to-think-i-m-a-recovering-historian/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [There was that argument that if we had more women in positions of authority, the world would be a nicer place. And then we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/there-was-that-argument-that-if-we-had-more-women-in-positions-of/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) [Explore all 98 Margaret MacMillan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) ## More First world war quotes > [I did not know that the planning for biological and chemical warfare was so widespread in England, and even in France before France fell.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/i-did-not-know-that-the-planning-for-biological-and-chemical-warfare/) [Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/) > [“I told him that if we doubted that we are demons in Hell, he should read The Mysterious Stranger, which Mark Twain wrote in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/i-told-him-that-if-we-doubted-that-we-are-demons-in-hell-he-should/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“the democracies that arose after the First World War (and the Second) often collapsed when a single party seized power in some combination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-democracies-that-arose-after-the-first-world-war-and-the-second/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Father was always getting into scrapes when he was a lad. But the worst scrape he ever hot hisself into was the war, First…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-morpurgo/father-was-always-getting-into-scrapes-when-he-was-a-lad-but-the/) [Michael Morpurgo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-morpurgo/) > [Pesticides came about after the first world war. Some brainy petrochemical money maker said, 'Hey, that mustard gas worked great on people, maybe we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-harrelson/pesticides-came-about-after-the-first-world-war-some-brainy/) [Woody Harrelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-harrelson/) > [“The meaning of sex is illustrated by two eponymous heroes of British history, King Edward VII (who flourished in the years before the First…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jones/the-meaning-of-sex-is-illustrated-by-two-eponymous-heroes-of-british/) [Steve Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jones/) > [“In the mystifying world that was Victorian parenthood, obedience took precedence over all considerations of affection and happiness, and that odd, painful conviction remained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/in-the-mystifying-world-that-was-victorian-parenthood-obedience-took/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [Once conscription was introduced during the First World War, and once Britain's wars ceased being confined to the empire or to continental Europe and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-colley/once-conscription-was-introduced-during-the-first-world-war-and-once/) [Linda Colley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-colley/) > [All the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/all-the-people-of-all-the-nations-which-had-fought-in-the-first-world/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“When my father was a young man, during the years of the First World War and long before there was any inkling of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien/when-my-father-was-a-young-man-during-the-years-of-the-first-world/) [J.R.R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien/) > [As the First World War made painfully clear, when politicians and generals lead nations into war, they almost invariably assume swift victory, and have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-hochschild/as-the-first-world-war-made-painfully-clear-when-politicians-and/) [Adam Hochschild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-hochschild/) > [American strategists have calculated the proportion of civilians killed in this century's major wars. In the First World War, 5 percent of those killed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-ward/american-strategists-have-calculated-the-proportion-of-civilians/) [Colin Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-ward/) > [...maybe I've just read too many novels. In novels, alcoholics are always attractive and fuuny and charming and complex, like Sebastian Flyte or ABe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-nicholls/maybe-i-ve-just-read-too-many-novels-in-novels-alcoholics-are-always/) [David Nicholls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-nicholls/) > [“In the history of warfare, a succession of bold ideas and weapons had promised to curb the tyranny of distance. The horse and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-blainey/in-the-history-of-warfare-a-succession-of-bold-ideas-and-weapons-had/) [Geoffrey Blainey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-blainey/) > [“Also, she had been secretary to the soccer coach, an office pretty much without laurels in our own time, but apparently the post for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/also-she-had-been-secretary-to-the-soccer-coach-an-office-pretty-much/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) [Browse all 176 First world war quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-world-war/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Margaret MacMillan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-first-world-war-as-a-european/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "First world war" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-first-world-war-as-a-european/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11d/margaret-macmillan-5907_first-world-war_i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-fi_47160.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11d/margaret-macmillan-5907_first-world-war_i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-fi_47160.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11d/margaret-macmillan-5907_first-world-war_i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-fi_47160.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a…” — Margaret MacMillan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Margaret MacMillan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I wish we could see understanding...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-first-world-war-as-a-european/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-first-world-war-as-a-european/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```