History Repeating

At the dawn of the Nineteenth Century, the French Republic was in chaos. A bloody Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror had led to the execution of much of the French aristocracy, and enemies abroad were closing in from all sides, hoping to squash the young nation and re-establish the French Monarchy. Amidst this threat, both foreign and domestic, the French people entrusted their leadership to a single man, who rose to power and assumed the title of Emperor, triumphantly declaring himself the embodiment of the Revolution.

His name was Napoleon Bonaparte, and his tyrannical reign immediately ignited what became known as the Napoleonic Wars: a ten-year-long conflict which led to the deaths of four million people, both soldiers and civilians alike, or one in every fifty Europeans. He was finally defeated by a broad coalition of adversaries, and his aspirations of world conquest having been dashed, he was exiled to a microscopic island in the middle of the Mediterranean, where he eventually passed away.

Nearly a century and a half later, another Republic was also under siege. The Weimar Republic of Germany, crushed between the victorious Allies of World War I from the West and the incursion of Communism from the East, was struggling amidst a global recession known as the Great Depression. Into this powder keg of unrest and unease emerged another tyrannical historical figure: Adolf Hitler. He immediately assumed the title of Chancellor, then completely abolished the Republic and declared himself Führer of the German people, establishing a dictatorship that he boasted would last a thousand years.

Ten years later, having betrayed every German ally, and having invaded nearly half the world, his reign of terror too was ended. Over 70 million soldiers and civilians throughout the world had died in the effort to depose him, which amounted to one out of ever 30 people alive at the outbreak of war.

Why have I included this lengthy historical preamble? Because as William Shakespeare so eloquently stated, the past is prologue. What has happened before, will almost assuredly happen again.

We find ourselves in the year 2019, and yet another Republic finds itself increasingly isolated and alone: The United States of America. In truth, the entire Anglosphere, from the United Kingdom to Canada to Australia, is descending into turmoil. It seeks financial and political independence from the rest of the world, but the international community is in no mood to oblige. And nascent powers are emerging to threaten it in every direction, from Radical Islam in the Middle East, to China, Russia and India in Asia.

No representative democracy in history has under these circumstances simply laid down their arms and accepted defeat. Instead they have transformed into violent, expansionist, tyrannical dictatorships bent upon world domination. And they have each invariably thrown their full support behind a central historical figure, whose subsequent brutality in pursuit of victory has consumed the entire world in fire.

I will be the first to admit that the current President of the United States is probably not that person. To begin with, at his advanced age, he lacks the youthfulness of such tyrants. He also lacks the charisma and sense of heroism necessary to engender frenetic appeal among the masses. Napoleon and Hitler both shared very humble upbringings, both were decorated combat veterans, and both were able to muster the support not just of a plurality of their people, but the vast majority of them.

So the dictator I speak of is likely still to come. They have yet to show their face. Perhaps they have not even been born yet. I only know that they will one day emerge, because again, as Shakespeare so eloquently stated: the past is always prologue.