Sadly, war is still big business
And we continue to invest our sons and our daughters.
South African Regiment members pay tribute to the fallen during the annual National Civic Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in Harrison Street, Johannesburg, 10 November 2019. It is the 80th Anniversary of the start of World War II in Poland. National Civic Remembrance Sunday service honours all South Africans who made the supreme sacrifice for their country in wars and conflict, including the struggle for democracy. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the “war to end all wars” ended as the guns fell silent on that day in 1918.
World War I was so gruesome in the scale of its slaughter of the young men of Europe (and latterly, the United States), that “never again” was the prayer on the lips of many.
Yet, the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed the following year and formally endorsed the Armistice, sowed the seeds of the following, even larger conflict, World War II, which began in September 1939.
Versailles humiliated the losing Germans, something Hitler was able to capitalise on when he rose to power in the 1930s and which set the stage for the next conflict.
Although the Soviet Union – once feared by the West for its military power and that it would launch World War III – fell apart 30 years ago this week, the world is still a long way from seeing the end of the war as those shell-shocked soldiers may have dreamed of in 1918.
Wars are fought for religion, national pride, oil.
War is still big business.
And we continue to invest our sons and our daughters.
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