How will september 11 look to our ancestors 50 years down the track? 100? 500?
What sort of stuff in history is an event like this comprable to and how well do we remember them?
Is this just going to be a footnot in the history books in 200 years of will it have its own chapter devoted to it?
They will see September 11 as the first disaster of the new millenium.
I think it will be viewed the same way Pearl Harbor is viewed in this day and age.
In a major motion picture starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett?
Well, at least one similar episode from American history is largely forgotten. I would argue that the attack by the red stick faction of the Creek Indians on Ft. Mims (Alabama) in 1814 had some remarkable parallels.
A large number of civilians were killed, in horrific ways. Some 400 settlers were slaughtered at Ft. Mims, including women and children. I use the word “slaughter” in almost a literal sense. Victims were scalped and otherwise mutilated. Pregnant women had the fetuses cut from their bellies.
The attack was carried out by a faction (the Red Sticks) of a larger group (the Creeks, and Indians generally) which felt threatened by US expansion/imperialism.
The attack was intended as a terrorist act, the goal being to make life west of the Appalachians untenable for white settlers.
The act was inspired by an elusive leader, Tecumseh, who sought to unite all Indians in much the same way that bin Laden seeks to unite Muslims.
Americans reacted with shock and outrage, then launched a horrific war on the Creeks in Alabama and south Georgia that might be analogous to the war in Afghanistan. The US used Indian allies (the Cherokee) to defeat the Red Sticks, in much the same way that we used Afghan warlords to defeat the Taliban and to combat al-Qaida.
The attack on the Red Sticks (a/k/a the Creek War) was followed up by an attack on another Indian nation viewed as a threat to American interests, the Seminole. An analog for Iraq?
All Indians suffered in the wake of Ft. Mims, in much the same way that Muslims in the wake of 9/11 find themselves the victims of mistrust and prejudice. One could argue that the Ft. Mims massacre was at least a factor in the subsequent Trail of Tears tragedy.
Today, almost no one remembers Ft. Mims, in the wake of the larger tragedy that followed (the Trail of Tears and the generalized destruction of the cultures of Southeastern Indians). Let’s hope nothing occurs which might overshadow the WTC.
Minor correction. Ft. Mims massacre was in 1813, not 1814.
I think that it’s way to early to tell. It all depends on what happens in the next decade. If WWIII starts, 9/11 might be analogous to the assassination of Francis Ferdinand that triggered WWI. On the other hand, it could just be viewed as an example of what evil things a group of sickos can do.
That was the Austro-Hungarian Franz Ferdinand; his Irish cousin Francis survived WWI. 
Depends who ‘wins’.
Depends which country you live in.
Depends what revisionists may do in the future.
My guesses:
From a purely historical standpoint, at this moment I see the future importance of the September 11 attacks falling somewhere between the US intervention against Barbary pirates in 1804 (the “shores of Tripoli” referenced in the marine Corp Hymn) and the Spanish-American War. IOW, referenced in every school textbook but probably not among the top ten events in American history.
As others have said, the ultimate importance of depends on how far-reaching the effects of the War On Terror™ are. If the WoT ends (or at least peters out) with the largest response having been the invasion of Afghanistan, then the attacks are more likely to be a footnote to larger events. If this turns out to have been the final straw that opened a larger, bitter, years-long war against radical Islam (and I don’t currently think this is so), then the attacks will have a significant impact.
From a cultural standpoint, OTOH, this event is likely to live on for generations. I was fascinated by Spoke-‘s post concerning the massacre at Ft. Mims, but surely part of the reason it has been forgotten is because easy-to-assimilate images of the event are lacking. I have to believe the 9/11 attacks will live longer in the public mind, if for no other reason than the existence of the numerous spectacular, crystal-clear videos of the second plane striking the World Trade Center, and the towers’ subsequent collapse.
It gives the US an excuse (a mandate) to go poking around in other nations business. Before Sept 11th two things shaped American foreign policy: the idealistic, multinational result of World War Two and the disaster in Vietnam. Most Americans had no problem with helping the folks in Kosovo out so long as a) Americans didnt die or get bogged down and b) We were part of a coalition of other nations. Thats a simplification, but it works.
Now, after Sept 11th, the US has shown that it still needs the UN (I didnt really thing Bush would go through the trouble of consulting them) but has considerably less reluctance about getting involved in other nations. This is aided by a rather vague definition of terrorism and some notion that we are going to democratize these people.
In 10 years I think we’ll see nations (and a region) that have fallen into complete turmoil after Bush failed to carefully handle the post war situation. (Have we ever succesfully installed a democracy anywhere?) We’ll see the US start to take a lot of the blame for a lot of the aftermath and probably increased finger pointing at the U.S.
Er, Japan, following WWII? OK, it ain’t perfect, but neither is ours.
Germany after WWII, as well. Although, it was sort of cheating since Germany had a bit of democratic history going for it.
I suppose there’s always the risk that some terrorist action might take place which will dwarf the events of 11 September, 2001 into the “minor league”, in which case we’ll see those events as “the warning” or “the prelude”.
I hope that never happens, but it could.
Except for the fact that the Weimar Republic was pretty hated by Germans during its existence, which is one of the things that enabled Hitler to come to power.
I think that one of the things 9/11 has “going for it” are the numerous videos of the event. While, it will no doubt be reduced to “filler” for use on the anniversary of the event, much like the footage of Pearl Harbor is used now on Dec. 7, it’ll have an impact that lasts for a long time. For those of us who’ve been in the Towers, seeing such massive structures come down is a seemingly impossible event. Once NYC decides on what to replace them with (and I personally would like nothing better than duplicates of the Towers, or buildings configured in the shape of a hand flipping the bird), the contrast as to what once was there and what is there will be highlighted.
I agree that it will be viewed like Pearl Harbour. It’ll appear as a several page article in text book, then later a one page article, the a half page article with a picture, and finally a sentence on a timeline. Life will go on, worse things will unfortunately happen. In the middle east it will either be seen as “The day the people rose up against the suppressive capitalist americans” or “The day the idiots killed a lot of innocents and got their asses handed to them”. Either way it will be remembered like any other major tradgedy.
After WWII ?? :eek:
I agree that eventually it will be nothing more than a date that schoolkids have to remember for a test, and possibly some sappy holiday whose meaning people don’t remember, so get drunk instead.
The American people have short memories.
Huh? No, after WWI. There was the Weimar Republic, which wasn’t exactly popular, as someone else said.
Spoke
Fascinating analysis. Thanks.