On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the guns stopped firing.
Sounds such an innocent statement doesn't it? But at that point in time the carnage of the First World War finally stopped. In total between 20 and 40 million people died (according to Wikipedia), this is soldiers, and civilians from both sides. A whole generation was wiped out. This was the first of the "modern wars" and was all the more brutal for it, it led to the invention of all sorts of wonderful things, but cost millions of lives. at the time it was thought that it was the wars to end all wars, and never again would families live in fear of letter and telegrams.
In hindsight we know this isn't true, many more people have died in wars, that's why at 11.00 today we need to remember, not just the soldiers who fought in a war 90 years ago, but those who have fought in every conflict ever since.
(In case you're wondering why the poppy? After the carnage of the First World War over the fields of Flanders ended the first thing to start re-growing were poppies. )
love the photo. I never knew that that was why the poppy - a good reason if I ever saw one!
ReplyDeletein the US we celebrate Veteran's Day rather than Remembrance Day, but I have to say that I wish it were the other way around - not that I don't appreciate all veterans (both my dad and grandpa are veterans) but I'd like the focus to be on this particular war itself - maybe by limiting the focus people might actually pay attention to the reasons we celebrate - but that's just my opinion based on the apathy I see around me :(
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