Historians, sociologist, literary scholars, theologians and students will be gathering at

Georgian Court University Professor of History Doctor Scott Bennett, photo credit GCU
Georgian Court University Professor of History Doctor Scott Bennett, photo credit GCU
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Georgian Court University (GCU) for a two-day conference about World War 1 this week. The Lakewood institution is joining the conversation about WW1 on the 100th anniversary of the conflict's beginning on Friday, October 17th and Saturday October 18th.

"We will not focus on the military aspect of the war," said GCU Professor of History Doctor Scott Bennett. "The conference will look at the social and political and economic and cultural impact that the war had on both America and the world."

As America leads an international coalition against the advances of the mid-east terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Bennett believes there are lessons that can be gleaned from WW1 that hold true today. For example, Bennett said many expected the small local war between Austria and Serbia to last for a few weeks to a couple of months but it very quickly escalated into a world war.

"And one reason for that of course, were the various alliances, the political military alliances that various countries have with one another," said Bennett. "So the one lesson is, we should be careful about the commitments that we make that require military intervention. That's not to say that we should never make any military commitment or no military alliance but we need to think about those and the consequences that they have," he explained.

Nevertheless, Bennett calls WW1 the single most important event of the 20th Century.

He said they'll have two Key Note Speakers and 50 other speakers sharing their research during panels on a wide range of topics, like the war's impact on women, anti war dissent, the religious response, literature and poetry, the psychological consequences of the war.

The two-day event is co-sponsored by the Peace History Society.  It's no longer open for registration. Get the details at georgian.edu

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