“I must apologise to the Germans. They are about to suffer an avalanche of often sickening Great War memorabilia, often at their expense. The centenary of the War is already flooding the TV schedules before the date of its outbreak. History bestseller lists focus on little else: there are no fewer than 8,000 titles on the subject. War magazines cram newsstands. There are war poems, war propaganda, war nurses and war horses everywhere. And there are still four years of it to come… The essence of the outbreak of the Great War is that no one thought it was the start of anything. It was a sabre-rattling face-off expected to last a month or two. To revel in a final victory is one thing; to revel in these squalid miscalculations is gratuitous”. (Simon Jenkins in The Guardian).
Karl von Hapsburg, great-grandnephew of the murdered Archduke, quoted in today’s Washington Post, sums it up correctly: “the First World War is nothing to be jubilant about – for anyone. Where’s the fault for this war? It’s the fault of strong nationalism”.
Hear, hear! And the war is being used as a tool in the struggle over membership of the EU, even immigration. Epicurus, were he consulted, would plead with us to remember the millions of dead, learn the lesson that wars solve nothing, and that nationalism is a cruel curse – and then let it all go. Is that moderate enough?
My wife and I have just watched “Oh, What a Lovely War” (available through Netflix for Americans). It’s a brilliant work of art, even though it might be poor history. No one watching it could be unaffected by the anti-war message. I recommend it highly. It has a spectacular cast , as well.
I would take issue with Epicurus over his (?) message that we are to learn that war solves nothing. This is a sentiment which I would prefer to agree with, because of the horror, suffering and sheer waste of human life that war brings.
However, I refer to the battle of Gettysburg, the most decisive battle in American history. The surrender of the confederacy on July 4th 1863 meant that the government of the South would never receive recognition. As far as I understand it, this ended the question of secession and, most importantly, the inhumane institution of slavery, (in America at least) .
Sadly, human nature, not yet tamed and civilised, appears not to be able to solve problems without resorting to war.
And would you want Hitler to have remained our supreme leader ?
We have been advised by many wise men down the ages. They all have the same message. Confucious, Budha, Jesus and indeed Epicurus, tell us to live moderately and to ‘love’ one another and to treat others as we would be treated… but sadly to no avail.
You refer to the concept of the good war. The Second World war was supposed to be a good war, but led to the confrontation called the Cold War. The problem is the unforeseen consequences. There are always unforeseen consequences. Look at Iraq, and it will not be surprising if Afghanistan becomes a perennial nest of medieval terrorism, much worse than anything the Taliban originally represented. In other words we will have created a worse mess than before, having spent billions.