Day 314. Induction then destruction. (10/11/13)

I'm beginning to believe that the older I get, the less I actually know.

I used to understand the causes of  the First World War, I was familiar with the Balkans question that had already rumbled on for decades before it's explosion in the early twentieth century, studied all this for A Level history (failed).

Now? Gavrilo Princip. Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. The Black Hand Gang. And that's it. Nothing else at all. Just a blank. Where did all the knowledge go?

This became an issue this morning. I was in the car when the clock turned to 11 and the two minutes silence started; just me, the atmosphere broadcast by the BBC and the unavoidable sound of the road.

And I started thinking.

How many wars have ever actually been truly justified? How many have seen a clear stand against evil and a fight for liberty rather than merely an excuse to prevent one country's expansionist policies prejudicing those of your own?

From this remove I'd have to posit that it's World War Two and nothing else (and you could argue that the true extent of the horror that was fought against in WWII was unknown at the outset, the fight was for far more than was realised at the time)

Certainly Harry Patch, who will be remembered in history forever as the final survivor of The Great War, was of the opinion that the war that he fought in was unnecessary, stating that, "the politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves instead of organising nothing better than legalised mass murder"

History will always show that the victims of war have been and always will be the working classes either conscripted as cannon fodder or voluntarily enlisted as their only employment option, their fates sealed by the incompetence of leaders from higher social classes than themselves and left uncared for when returned and no longer of use.

I have two Uncles (have or had, I genuinely have no idea whether they're still living - we lost touch a long time ago) who served in the armed forces; Joey saw service in Aden, a conflict that's generally forgotten and of which I certainly know absolutely nothing. Phillip served in Ireland. Two terms if I recall correctly. I know enough about the Troubles to know that we should never have been there but that has nothing to do with my Uncle Phillip; he signed up for a career, he did the job that had become his duty.

I have no idea what he went through in his terms of duty, no idea what effect it had on him. I never will. I know that he came home. I know many others either didn't or were never the same.

I don't support any military action that we are currently involved in and will never subscribe to the idea that everybody that serves is fighting in my name or for a cause or nation that I believe in but for one day each year I will wear a poppy and pay some small tribute to any who have been lost, injured or damaged in conflict.

It's the least that they deserve.