"The trouble with the idea of the good and generous war (the author here was talking about the Second World War) is that it leads to the launching of wars of choice that can then be "shaped" to benevolent ends. But war is a method of killing people whom you intend to kill and killing many more in addition; a process in which the destruction is certain, the renovation conjectural and usually wishful. Honest speech about war must omit every adjective: not only glorious and noble but also pre-emptive, preventive, short, limited, compassionate, justified and just."
David Bromwich in London Review of Books, 10 April 2008.
I don’t entirely agree. It was perfectly reasonable for the British, the Poles and others to resist Hitler with all means at their disposal. I was a child when they flooded the valley of the River Eden in Kent to hinder Nazi tanks. The water lapping at our very front door is my earliest memory.
A few years later I think about the writers who suggest that all the horror of the Second World War could have been avoided for the British (at least) had Churchill done the carve-up deal with Hitler that Hitler suggested. But then my grandson’s name might be Hermann and he might be destined for a spell in the Hitler youth.
Resisting Hitler cannot be spoken of in the same breath as invading a country because you don’t like it’s dictator, based upon fabricated intelligence, however many of your mis-educated supporters see nothing immoral in it and couldn’t care less about the tens of thousands of innocent people killed or displaced.
If there were ever an argument for Epicureanism and against religion, this issue of war takes center-stage. Question for the true believers: can you be a Christian and support the current wars of choice? Serious answers only, please!
I can only speak for myself but I certainly cannot support ‘wars of choice’. If war is ever justified , it is only when the alternative is far worse. Hitler’s world view, land grabs, genicidal aims and eugenic objectives surely had to be stopped. No doubt at the time, his mission seemed reasonable to him and his aids, (and to many of the German people), but not to those who watched and/or experienced the reality and could see the consequences of his actions.
Christianity is supposed to be about loving our neighbours, amongst other things; not about exacerbating tribal conflict, decimating populations, ruining infrastucture and detroying cultures.