I’m late in posting this for a number of reasons, none of which should be construed as diminishing my admiration for the sacrifices made by those who’ve gone to war for our country. Thank you.
I read this remembrance of a father who went to Europe during WWII. Brigid’s father was assigned to the 44th bomb group which flew B24’s against Axis targets.
I was struck by how different things were then, particularly the duration and hardship of separation.
Dad and Mom were separated for the entire War. High school sweethearts, they weren’t formally engaged but they had an understanding that on his return they would marry. He considered marrying her before he left but he didn’t wish to leave her alone, possibly with a baby. Mom had just completed college, and was going to work to help put her two young brothers through school as well as support her mother, widowed very young.
Four years apart. In the big scheme of their lives, those years were only a blink, yet it colored everything about how they lived after that, like the war was a lens that they would forever look through. I look at all the pictures they sent to one another during that time and there are pictures of fun, and the laughter of just being 20-something years old; photos of Mom hamming it up with her friends, and photos of my Dad in his 44th Bomb Group uniform, on a rare afternoon free.
Our world is so different today.
It’s now almost 100 years since the end of the War to end all wars. This means that children today are separated from WWI by as many years as the number of years that separated me from the US Civil War. Today’s children must look on the Vietnam War as with much the same curiosity as we did WWII.
The last remaining Veterans of WWI are fading from this life. Here is a wonderful BBC program on the last few British Veterans.
I had a similar response to events I experienced as did Harry Patch and his experience was orders of magnitude more challenging than mine.
Here is Part 2:
I have two of the little boxes gifted by Princess Mary to the British troops during the war. It’s a small memento of the sacrifices made by those men.
It also reminds me of the Christmas truce, a totally unsanctioned gesture of humanity between the fighting men of both sides; a gesture possible only when both sides share similar values. This truce is so unlikely with clashes between groups with opposing values.
If you know a British soldier killed in WWI go remember the fallen.
The answer to why these men had to die is frighteningly simple. We live in a world governed by the violent application of force. Peace is a cooperative venture that to be successful must include everyone. It takes only a few to sow the seeds of discontent. Once the seeds are sown there are only two paths open to the rest; give-in or fight.
In the case of WWI, the proximal conflict of values was between the values of Pan Germanism and those of Pan-Slavism. Austria-Hungary was ground zero for this clash as Austria was largely Germanic and Hungary largely Slavic. While the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria-Hungary) saw themselves as the head of a future Pan-Slavic nation, they supported its formation. However once they experienced the wonders of Pan-Germanism, they drew closer to Germany and distanced themselves from the Slavs. When the heir presumptive to the Austrian throne was killed by a Slav nationalist, Austrian Royalty decreed that the Serbian nation must be punished.
The southern Slavs wanted to form their own nation. They expected this nation to include lands from the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires as well as most of the Balkans. Since the Serbian government thought they would be in charge, they provided refuge and encouragement to the nationalists. The aristocracy of Austria-Hungary took offense and… War.
Now this wasn’t happening in a vacuum; Russia, another Slavic nation, also wanted both of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires weakened. So, when they could deniably do so, the Tsar’s ministers and agents encouraged and supported Pan-Slavism. Unfortunately for the Tsar, the Bolsheviks had more immediate designs; and… War.
Meanwhile, England and France feared the rise of Germany as a powerful nation, and were doubly concerned about the possibility of a Greater Germany. They signed mutual protection agreements with each other and with Russia. So when Serbia called on Russia well… War.
Wars cannot be avoided, postponed maybe. Human interactions are highly nonlinear so conflicts will happen despite all efforts. We simply do not understand nonlinear interactions well enough to determine potential effects from potential causes. And life is a very nonlinear system that thrives on the edge of chaos; meaning that relatively small inputs are just as likely to lead to large effects as small effects.
We do well to heed the teachings of Sun Tzu:
“The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.”
Learn from what has come before. Do not forget. Violence is always but a single step away.