[Box on page 228]

1914​—A TURNING POINT IN HISTORY

Even after a second world war, many refer back to 1914 as the great turning point in modern history:

“It is indeed the year 1914 rather than that of Hiroshima which marks the turning point in our time.”​—René Albrecht-Carrié, The Scientific Monthly, July 1951.

“Ever since 1914, everybody conscious of trends in the world has been deeply troubled by what has seemed like a fated and predetermined march toward ever greater disaster. Many serious people have come to feel that nothing can be done to avert the plunge towards ruin. They see the human race, like the hero of a Greek tragedy, driven on by angry gods and no longer the master of fate.”​—Bertrand Russell, The New York Times Magazine, September 27, 1953.

“The modern era . . . began in 1914, and no one knows when or how it will end. . . . It could end in mass annihilation.”​—The Seattle Times, January 1, 1959.

“In the year 1914 the world, as it was known and accepted then, came to an end.”​—James Cameron, 1914, published in 1959.

“The whole world really blew up about World War I and we still don’t know why. . . . Utopia was in sight. There was peace and prosperity. Then everything blew up. We’ve been in a state of suspended animation ever since.”​—Dr. Walker Percy, American Medical News, November 21, 1977.

“In 1914 the world lost a coherence which it has not managed to recapture since. . . . This has been a time of extraordinary disorder and violence, both across national frontiers and within them.”​—The Economist, London, August 4, 1979.

“Civilization entered on a cruel and perhaps terminal illness in 1914.”​—Frank Peters, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 27, 1980.

“Everything would get better and better. This was the world I was born in. . . . Suddenly, unexpectedly, one morning in 1914 the whole thing came to an end.”​—British statesman Harold Macmillan, The New York Times, November 23, 1980.

1914​—The Turning Point in History

30, 31. (a) How did those living before 1914 view world conditions, and what did they think the future held? (b) In addition to the sign, what else does the Bible provide to show that we are in “the last days”?

³⁰ From the human standpoint, the world troubles and global wars foretold in the Bible were far from the thinking of the pre-1914 world. German statesman Konrad Adenauer said: “Thoughts and pictures come to my mind, . . . thoughts from the years before 1914 when there was real peace, quiet and security on this earth​—a time when we didn’t know fear. . . . Security and quiet have disappeared from the lives of men since 1914.”⁠²⁵ People living before 1914 thought that the future “would get better and better,” reported British statesman Harold Macmillan.⁠²⁶ The book 1913: America Between Two Worlds notes: “Secretary of State Bryan said [in 1913] that ‘conditions promising world peace were never more favorable than now.’”⁠²⁷

³¹ So, right up to the very brink of World War I, world leaders were forecasting an age of social progress and enlightenment. But the Bible had foretold the opposite​—that the unprecedented war of 1914 to 1918 would highlight the beginning of “the last days.” (2 Timothy 3:1) The Bible also provided chronological evidence that 1914 would mark the birth of God’s heavenly Kingdom, to be followed by unprecedented world trouble.⁠²⁸ But was anyone living back then aware that 1914 would be such a turning point in history?

32. (a) What were those who were familiar with Bible chronology saying about 1914 for decades before that date? (b) According to the accompanying chart, what have others said about 1914?

³² Decades before that date, there was an organization of people who were making known the significance of 1914. The New York World of August 30, 1914, explains: “The terrific war outbreak in Europe has fulfilled an extraordinary prophecy. For a quarter of a century past, through preachers and through press, the ‘International Bible Students’ [Jehovah’s Witnesses] . . . have been proclaiming to the world that the Day of Wrath prophesied in the Bible would dawn in 1914. ‘Look out for 1914!’ has been the cry of the . . . evangelists.”⁠²⁹