Today is the centennial of the end of a cataclysm that changed Europe and the world forever.
The First World War was both avoidable and an unimaginable tragedy for all the participants, and its effects are still being felt today.
The war took 19 million lives and caused 23 million casualties, and its ending set the stage for the Second World War, and for the Cold War after it.
In Flanders fields the poppies blowJohn McCrae November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918.
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.
1 comment:
I've been following "The Great War" on You Tube. Terrific week by week account of the First World War, highly recommended. During the run-up to hostilities I've wanted to go back in time, lock the Austrian, German, Russian, French and Serbian leaders in a room with the Brits and Americans as the adults, and keep them there until the get their temper tantrums out of their system. Alas, history doesn't give us do-overs.
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