VETERANS DAY - ARMISTICE DAY - REMEMBRANCE DAY

By Debbie Bulloch



World War I, the "war to end all wars," was the most brutal and bloodiest war ever fought by man. Roughly 20 million people died as a result of the hostilities – making WWI the deadliest war on record. In addition to the killed, countless other soldiers and civilians were horribly injured during the war. The use of protracted trench warfare, mechanized armor (tanks), bombing raids using the recently invented airplane and gas (mustard) bombs combined to increase the death and injury toll.

The "War to End all Wars" exacted a horrible toll on the combatant nations. Of the 60 million European soldiers who were mobilized from 1914 – 1918, 8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria–Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%. About 750,000 German civilians died from starvation caused by the British blockade during the war.

The war had profound economic consequences. Additionally, a major influenza epidemic spread around the world. Overall, the Spanish flu killed at least 50 million people. In 1914 alone, epidemic typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia.

By the end of the war entire nations had been devastated by the carnage - the world was ready for peace. Finally, on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918 an armistice was signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Rethondes, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front. While this official date to mark the end of the war reflects the cease fire on the Western Front, hostilities continued in other regions, especially across the former Russian Empire and in parts of the old Ottoman Empire.

In 1919 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11. The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting the President issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies. An Act approved by Congress on May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."




Unfortunately, however, WWI was not the “war to end all wars." Real, lasting peace continued to ellude Europe and the rest of the world. Twenty years later, the same nations who fought in WWI went back to war. On September 1, 1939, following Germany’s invasion of Poland, the world was once again plunged into the dark abyss of war.

Tomorrow, Veterans Day (or Remembrance Day as it is called in parts of the British Commonwealth, including Canada, Australia and the U.K.) will be observed to commemorate all the men and women who have died fighting in wars. In Poland Armistice Day is known as National Day, and more recently as Polish Independence Day. in Poland (also a public holiday) called Polish Independence Day. Armistice Day is an official holiday in France. It is also an official holiday in Belgium, where it is known as the Day of Peace in the Flanders Fields.

In many parts of the world people take a two-minute moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. as a sign of respect for aqll the men and women who have died in armed conflicts. In the U.S. all Federal government offices are closed; likewise, most state and local government offices are closed. The day is generally observed with patriotic speeches and parades where veterans of our country’s most recent wars march.

War is a nasty, brutish and dirty business. Men and women are killed and maimed fighting for causes that, more often than not, they do not understand. Whether war is necessary, or even preventable, is a topic for another day’s post.



Tomorrow I ask each and every one of you who reads this to take a minute to honor the memory of the men and women who have paid with their lives so that we do not have to endure the tyranny of a mad man or the brutality of an ideological system. They died, sometimes-horrific deaths, so that at night you and I can sleep comfortably safe. If you know a war veteran, give him or her a hug and a handshake and thank him for yourself and for your children for their bravery in the face of mortal combat.



Later on, however, I will ask each of you to reflect upon what you have done to stop the reoccurrence of war in our lifetime and in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren. If you have done nothing, then now is the time to take action and eliminate war forever.



Thank you veterans - we will work so that your sacrifice will not have been made in vain.

Editor’s Note: Arc’s comments about the horrible conditions of trench warfare during WWI prompted me to add the following (taken from the Wikipedia):

Trench warfare is mainly associated with World War I, when it lasted on the Western Front from September 1914 until the last weeks of the war. By the end of October 1914, the whole front in Belgium and France had solidified into lines of trenches, as it became clear that infantry assaults were futile in the face of rifle, machine gun and artillery fire. Both sides concentrated on breaking up enemy attacks and on protecting their own troops by digging deep into the ground. Trench warfare was also conducted on other fronts, including Italy and Gallipoli.

Trench warfare has become a powerful symbol of the futility of war. Its image is of young men going “over the top” into a maelstrom of fire leading to certain death, typified by the first day of the Somme (on which the British suffered 57,000 casualties) or the grinding slaughter in the mud of Passchendaele. To the French, the equivalent is the appalling attrition of the “Wringer of Verdun” in which they suffered 380,000 casualties. Trench warfare is associated with needless slaughter in appalling conditions, combined with the view that brave men went to their deaths because of incompetent and narrow-minded commanders who failed to adapt to the new conditions of trench warfare. Class-ridden and backward-looking generals put their faith in the attack, believing that superior morale and dash would overcome the weapons and moral inferiority of the defender. The British and Empire troops on the Western Front are commonly referred to as “lions led by donkeys”.