100 Years

100 years since the signing of the Armistice.

100 years of silence and bells.

100 years since the end of World War 1.

The years that made our world what it is. The years that changed so much, that shaped so much. How to approach such a day?

With solemnity. With gratitude. With honoring. With remembering.

To the Warrior and Military Dead who sacrificed all they had to give.

To the Warriors and Military personnel who gave all they had to give.

To the families who never saw their loved ones again.

To the families that did.

To the lands that still bear countless scars of trenches and powder, artillery and countless bullets and the blood of all the Dead.

100 years and so many lives have passed that a great forgetting is coming over the nations.

We honor in remembering. In remembering the Dead live.

“78. Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one’s self;
One thing now | that never dies,
The fame of a dead man’s deeds.”

–Havamol, translated by Henry Adam Bellows

Some resources:

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: Blueprint for Armgageddon

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI

BBC Four: The First World War

BBC 26 Part Documentary on World War 1

The Month of Remembrance for World War 1

As I work with the Warrior Dead, the Military Dead among Them, this month has become something of an education.  This year is the 100th Anniversary of World War 1.  We do not talk much about World War 1, if at all.  If it is mentioned, it is often talked about and pointed to as a cause of World War 2, rather than a massive, world-wide war in and of itself.  Otherwise, the poem of In Flander’s Fields ¹, and novel All Quiet on the Western Front ² is given mention, hinting at the devastation and brutality of it.  Yet the First World War’s full impact, its actual history, is not often spoken of let alone taught.  Oh, there are highlights that might be spoken about, such as Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, or the horrors of trench warfare, or the invention and use of widespread chemical warfare.  Yet, World War I does not fit easily into any narrative.  Even the very pro-British pro-war documentary from the BBC, The Necessary War ³ admits several times throughout that all the nations that were part of The Great War had faults with how the it came to pass and spiraled so deeply out of control from what could have been a regional conflict into a conflagration that spared no one it touched.  It saw the last of the old-style monarchies in Europe fall, and several Empires were consumed in its flames.

It is estimated⁴ that sixteen million people died during this War.  Sixteen million.  Of those deaths, about 9.7 million were military and 6.8 million were civilians.  As PBS notes, “World War I marked the first use of chemical weapons, the first mass bombardment of civilians from the sky, and the century’s first genocide…”⁵.  It also marked a time when artillery, rather than being front-line gun placements, were relegated to behind friendly lines and used as weapons to clear the way for or defend against infantry advancement⁶.

Some resources I am looking at are PBS’s The Great War, having just watched the BBC’s The Necessary War.  I am currently working through the 8-part series from PBS, The Great War and the Shaping of the 21st Century.  I have found and have yet to start digging into the 28 part 1964 BBC Documentary Series The Great War.  This BBC article addresses some myths about The Great War from the British angle.  I am still looking for good, reliable history books on the subject to read.

As I work my way through these documentaries, I will write on my reflections, and when I have enough for an article I will post here.  If anyone reading this wants to share the stories of their Military Dead, please do.  If you want to explore the series with me, whether as I post or through email, I am starting Episode 1 tonight.

The First World War and the Korean War are two I have seen referenced as ‘forgotten wars’.  I believe we owe it to the Warrior and Military Dead, as well as any of our Ancestors who may have been part of these conflicts, to remember them.  Remembering them not in snippets, or as “World War 2 was the good war and World War 1 was the stupid one”, but each in their own place and time, seeing them, and those who participated in them.  At the very least those who gave their lives, or those whose lives were violently ripped apart during this War, should be remembered.  Entire generations, if not branches of families, were lost to this War.  The Military Dead deserve, at the very least, a place in our memories.

I am starting this month of prayers and honoring of the Warrior and Military Dead by cutting out my biggest distraction.  For me, this means completely cutting myself off from video games.  It is the least I can do; soldiers certainly did without a great many creature comforts I have come to enjoy as a matter of modern life.  I will be spending my extra time doing other things, such as reading, writing, and doing devotional work for the Warrior and Military Dead.  I will also be attending the graves of the local Military Dead and making offerings.

May the Warrior Dead and Military Dead never be forgotten.  May They be remembered.  May Their sacrifices ever be remembered.  May Their lives be marked.  May offerings for Them be made.  May Their memories live on.  Hail the Warrior Dead!  Hail to the Military Dead!

 

 

References

1  In Flander’s Fields. (2014).  The Great War website.  Retrieved 2:48, Nov 03, 2014, from http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm

2  All Quiet on the Western Front.  (2014).  Amazon book website. Retrieved 2:50, Nov 03, 2014, from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DAD25O8?btkr=1#

3  The Necessary War. (2014).  Youtube.com website.  Retrieved 2:45, Nov 03, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg5LWHQYIrY

4  World War I casualties. (2014.)  Wikipedia.com website. Retrieved 3:03, Nov 03, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties

5  WWI Casualty and Death Tables. (2014.)  PBS.org The Great War website. Retrieved 02:58, Nov 3, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html

6  The Necessary War. (2014).  Youtube.com website.  Retrieved 2:45, Nov 03, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg5LWHQYIrY