The war to end all wars
Taking some time out this morning to watch remembrance day for the first world war
. Although my country was neutral during the war it has always interrested me. It helps that I studied military history for a while. I have been in Verdun and to the fields in Flanders, the Menenpoort in Ieper with all the english names on the walls. It makes you pauze and think. A war to end all wars, and not 25 years later an even bigger, more horrible war errupted all over Europe and that time we did not manage to keep our neutrality.
But for soldiers? I am not sure which one was worse. The second war was
horrible for everyone, also civilians. In WW I civilians mostly suffered if they lived on or near battlefields but those soldiers. Image 4 years in those trenches, fighting for every centimeter. Dying for a piece of land and not seeing much difference. It was the war that first acknowlegde shell shock and was therefor important in psychiatry. If you ever want to read good books about that I recommend the books by Pat Barker starting with Regeneration. A true story by the way about an army psychiatrist.
Seeing the ceremony at the Chenotaph in London now. Amazing there are 3 veterans!!!! 108
, 110, 112!!!! Amazing that they are still alive. There are still people around who fought in those trenches and can tell us what it was like. So hopefully we do remember and it will not happen again. And there is the magnificent war poetry to help us remember. Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and of course "In Flanders fields." Let's make sure it doesn't ever happen again.
. Although my country was neutral during the war it has always interrested me. It helps that I studied military history for a while. I have been in Verdun and to the fields in Flanders, the Menenpoort in Ieper with all the english names on the walls. It makes you pauze and think. A war to end all wars, and not 25 years later an even bigger, more horrible war errupted all over Europe and that time we did not manage to keep our neutrality.But for soldiers? I am not sure which one was worse. The second war was
horrible for everyone, also civilians. In WW I civilians mostly suffered if they lived on or near battlefields but those soldiers. Image 4 years in those trenches, fighting for every centimeter. Dying for a piece of land and not seeing much difference. It was the war that first acknowlegde shell shock and was therefor important in psychiatry. If you ever want to read good books about that I recommend the books by Pat Barker starting with Regeneration. A true story by the way about an army psychiatrist.Seeing the ceremony at the Chenotaph in London now. Amazing there are 3 veterans!!!! 108
, 110, 112!!!! Amazing that they are still alive. There are still people around who fought in those trenches and can tell us what it was like. So hopefully we do remember and it will not happen again. And there is the magnificent war poetry to help us remember. Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and of course "In Flanders fields." Let's make sure it doesn't ever happen again.IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
Comments