Armistice Day
The Great War continues, more than 100 years later
Today is November 11, the anniversary of the armistice which ended fighting on the Western Front of what was then called the Great War. It’s always an occasion for sad reflection on my part, thinking about the pointlessness of the massive sacrifices of the War, which achieved nothing except to set the scene for worse disasters to come.
But it’s particularly sad in a year when the forces unleashed by the War have come back to cause more death and destruction. In one respect, I have a personal link, as my maternal grandfather served in the Australian Light Horse, which played a leading role in the capture of Beersheba and Gaza in 1917. The ensuing partition of the Ottoman Empire set the stage for a century of conflict, still continuing with the brutal destruction of Gaza today.
Great War cemetery in Gaza, now destroyed by Israeli bombing
The end of the Great War also led to the annulment of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk under which the Soviet Union ceded vast territories, including Ukraine, to Germany. With the defeat of the Germans, the Ukraine Peoples Republic sought independence, but was defeated in the Soviet-Ukraine War a defeat which led, under Stalin’s rule to the genocidal Holodomor famine. The Russian claim to Ukraine is being brutally asserted once again.
For much of the world, the decades following the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 were some of the worst in history. Those times may be returning. The most comforting thought I have is that our parents and grandparents managed to defeat the forces of evil unleashed by the War and to leave us a society that, while imperfect, was more prosperous, free and equal than any that had gone before. I hope we can find a way to save it.
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I’m sorry, but I no longer care about the two days in 365 (Remembrance & Anzac Days) where Australia cries crocodile tears for the people who gave their lives, or suffered physical or mentally) in WW1 and subsequent wars, and by doing so, I mean no disrespect to them. I made this decision around 15 yrs ago.
My reasoning is I’m tired of listening to the faux sorrow over past events when in the present we have service personal who have either lost their lives in combat, suffered mentally or physically, such that we have lost more to suicide than actual combat operations. 4 Corners has produced two programs on this and we’ve had the RC and is this situation an election issue? NO, it isn’t, doesn’t even rate a mention, so I’ll not be told by people I’m unAustralian or any other Americanised phrases.
I had a great uncle who enlisted from NZ after leaving home as a young man and working in NZ. He fought at Gallipoli, was wounded, recovered then fought in Belgium, was captured by the Germans and escaped twice from the German concentration camp. He was taken in by Belgiums, hidden from the Germans and luckily made his way back to London. From there he travelled back to Greta South, Victoria and married his childhood sweetheart. However after being mustard gassed in the trenches his health was never the best, he died before he reached 65. He was my maternal grandfather’s older brother.