Thanks John. Standing there this morning listening to the last post as an ex-serviceman who has struggled with this debate in the past, I am finally content to have finally come full circle and now clearly understand whom is to blame for these tragedies.
It reaffirms my desire to maximise every conversation I can for the remainder of my days to hold to account those in power and ensure to the best of my ability that those who now wear uniform never have to commit to offensive action ever again.
Great column John, but another factor why the Ottomans supported Germany and the A-H Empire was that in 1914, Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, ordered the seizure of two dreadnought battleships (Sultan Osman-ı Evvel and Reşadiye), which were built in British yards for the Ottoman Navy, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
Imagine the alternative history we could have seen if Churchill didn’t seize the dreadnoughts!
Thanks John. As an aside on Imperial carve ups Peter Fitzsimons notes in his book on Monash that when Billy Hughes met with Woodrow Wilson in 1918 Wilson proposed German New Guinea go to Japan. Now that would have led to an interesting change in history as well as Japan getting a chunk of China, Australia would have been on the list
Sorry for the senior moment. I intended to continue:
The standard gravestone of the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission has been a neutral curved-top stele, with the symbol of the soldier's faith carved on the front. This design correctly gives priority to the common humanity, service and loss of the fallen, while respecting their religious diversity. Example: https://i.cbc.ca/ais/1.6642637,1699027909000/full/max/0/default.jpg
The design was by Edwin Lutyens, the architect of imperial Delhi. The servants of the colonial Raj had at least learnt from the great Indian rebellion of 1857 to be careful with religious symbols.
As far as I can tell, modern day ANZAC ceremonies match your sentiment. I have been to a few dawn services in recent years and there has been a marked absence of any sort of jingoism. The themes tend to be (i) a broad sense of gratitude that many modern Australians live a life of relative peace and comfort, and (ii) well judged reminders that Australia is a work-in-progress in terms of a shared identity and set of values.
Yes. Thank you.
“Stranger, go tell the Spartans we died here obedient to their commands.”
— Inscription at Thermopylae
Linger not, stranger. Shed no tear.
Go back to those who sent us here.
We are the young they drafted out
To wars their folly brought about.
Go tell those old men, safe in bed,
We took their orders and are dead.
~by A.D. Hope, Inscription for a War
Thanks John. Standing there this morning listening to the last post as an ex-serviceman who has struggled with this debate in the past, I am finally content to have finally come full circle and now clearly understand whom is to blame for these tragedies.
It reaffirms my desire to maximise every conversation I can for the remainder of my days to hold to account those in power and ensure to the best of my ability that those who now wear uniform never have to commit to offensive action ever again.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est
So very apt.
Excellent. So much of what we read or are told is bereft of context and curated to support an underlying agenda.
Great column John, but another factor why the Ottomans supported Germany and the A-H Empire was that in 1914, Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, ordered the seizure of two dreadnought battleships (Sultan Osman-ı Evvel and Reşadiye), which were built in British yards for the Ottoman Navy, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
Imagine the alternative history we could have seen if Churchill didn’t seize the dreadnoughts!
Thanks John. As an aside on Imperial carve ups Peter Fitzsimons notes in his book on Monash that when Billy Hughes met with Woodrow Wilson in 1918 Wilson proposed German New Guinea go to Japan. Now that would have led to an interesting change in history as well as Japan getting a chunk of China, Australia would have been on the list
https://blotreport.com/2018/04/26/anzac-day-2018/
Where exactly are fhe jcrosses
Sorry for the senior moment. I intended to continue:
The standard gravestone of the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission has been a neutral curved-top stele, with the symbol of the soldier's faith carved on the front. This design correctly gives priority to the common humanity, service and loss of the fallen, while respecting their religious diversity. Example: https://i.cbc.ca/ais/1.6642637,1699027909000/full/max/0/default.jpg
The design was by Edwin Lutyens, the architect of imperial Delhi. The servants of the colonial Raj had at least learnt from the great Indian rebellion of 1857 to be careful with religious symbols.
I don’t know, but almost certainly in France or Flanders. I couldn’t find an ideal image
As far as I can tell, modern day ANZAC ceremonies match your sentiment. I have been to a few dawn services in recent years and there has been a marked absence of any sort of jingoism. The themes tend to be (i) a broad sense of gratitude that many modern Australians live a life of relative peace and comfort, and (ii) well judged reminders that Australia is a work-in-progress in terms of a shared identity and set of values.