Because our current new release (Navigating the Age of Chaos) addresses the need and importance for addressing unpredictability and uncertainty with well-reasoned strategies, it got us thinking: Times of chaos in history beg for resolutions and fixes. However, sometimes the most well-intentioned but poorly executed measures to counter the most challenging times resulted in even further chaos. Here are just five of many examples of chaotic times in history where a promising resolution turned out to do more damage than good:
1. The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
The Chaotic Time: Following the end of WW I, Europe was in disarray, and everyone wanted to know what to do to ensure such things could never happen again. (Remember that Europe had never experienced such large-scale conflict prior and called this “the war to end all wars”).
The Fix: This treaty. Germany was responsible, true, but the rest of Europe really piled on heavily and stuck Germany with reparations it couldn’t possibly pay back, barred the country from being part of any negotiations, and basically humiliated and ostracized them completely.
The Unintended Result: Complete economic instability in Germany in tandem with thorough humiliation and a populace that felt deep resentment as a result essentially paved the way for Hitler and the Nazis to assume power. We all know what happened next.
2. The League of Nations (1920-1946)
The Chaotic Time: Following WW I’s end, there arose a need for a central body that brought together various nations in the spirit of peaceful negotiation, and resolutions instead of conflicts seemed more needed than ever prior.
The Fix: The League of Nations – a body of 42 nations (that existed as a sort of a pre-UN) to address international issues and problems in the spirit of open cooperation and understanding in the international spirit.
The Unintended Result: Because the League had no military forces of its own, it lacked teeth to enforce or even act if any nation broke with its decrees (relying on member-nations to “loan” their armies when needed proved unreliable). And then the US declined to join; Russia was booted out after it became a communist state; Italy, Japan, and Germany left; and when Italy invaded Ethiopia and Japan invaded Manchuria, the League couldn’t do anything. They dissolved themselves in 1946.
3. The Partition of India (1947)
The Chaotic Time: Britain ended its colonial rule of India and in planning its exit, wanted to ensure they left things in a somewhat stable condition both for their own economic interests but also to minimize conflicts between religious groups and not contribute to political instability.
The Fix: The partition of India into three entities: India and West and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The plan supported the ongoing belief that stability is maintained by a colonial divide-and-conquer ethos.
The Unintended Result: The partition was hastily put together, poorly planned, and executed too quickly with no regard for actual logistics, cultural, and religious factors. The result was over 15 million people displaced, 2 million dead in the ensuing sectarian and religious violence, and tensions that remain on a hair-trigger to this day.
4. The US Prohibition Act (1920-1933)
The (Supposedly) Chaotic Time: A sense arose in the country that social decay, crime, and moral instability was on the rise. Popular social causes like the temperance movement, religious revivalism, and others all put the blame squarely on alcohol.
The Fix: The 18th Amendment and Volstead Act outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This was seen as key legislation to bring America back to its “moral and religious roots.”
The Unintended Result: This led to a significant boost in organized crime as bootlegging alcohol became highly profitable and everyone wanted in on it. Because it proved so profitable, crime syndicates could also afford hefty bribes to lawmakers and police, resulting in very poor enforcement leading to further corruption. Thirteen years later, after no improvement and an increase in crime, the law was repealed.
5. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851-1864)
The Chaotic Time: A time of great widespread economic instability and corruption at the hands and mechanizations of the Qing dynasty in China demanded a solution. Led by Hong Xiuquan, a rebellion against the dynasty received popular support as the only way to bring stability back.
The Fix: Hong Xiuquan promised a return to peace, prosperity, and stability, and began a siege on the Qing dynasty and its territories to build a new monarchy. At its height, Hong’s “Heavenly Kingdom” controlled most of southern China and had access to great resources.
The Unintended Result: Hong also considered himself to be Jesus Christ’s younger brother and was, well, eccentric to say the least and downright irrational more realistically, issuing proclamations in religious language and seeing himself as god’s own emissary. The theocratic kingdom he sought to establish soon crumbled when the combination of religious fanaticism with poor governance led to its eventual defeat by the Qing dynasty – with a cost of over 25 million lives lost in battle.
