Good Morning, S!
It's Saturday, November 8th, and I've got a bone to pick.
I strongly hope that you remember to take a minute at 11 o'clock this Tuesday to remember the fallen soldiers in all the wars that Canada has participated in.
Last night, I went and saw a Canadian made movie called Passchendaele, whose plot was obviously based on the very battle for which it was titled. Like most horrific historical events, the screenplay has a romantic thread to lighten it up a bit (think Titanic, but less cheesy). Let it be known to you and to all you random blog buttoners (I think I'm going to shorten that to RBB) out there that I was terrified and disgusted of this movie. I don't pretend to understand the minds of men and women as they enlist themselves for war - but holy hell, what is wrong with these people? There were young men sitting waist deep in a mud trench, trying to concentrate on erradicating the Axis while a dead body of a fellow soldier - A FRIEND, was right beside him, bobbing in the water with a bullet through his head. The fact that people still want to war, and believe that it's just the bee's knees to fight for our country is beyond me. Don't get me wrong RBBs - I'm terribly proud of our soldiers, and their sacrifice for our country! There is no job that is harder - that is what I'm trying to get at here, than killing people for the sheer will of their country's leaders. It all seems so random to me...
"Why do we need to take this hill?"
"Because it will allow our fronts to move up 10 inches."
"We'll still be sitting in muddy trenches for days at end though...?"
"Oh yes, most definitely!"
"When is it going to end, then?"
"Umm..."
It's kind of an abstract idea, isn't it? The end of a war is no farther off than when the leaders, sitting far off from the battle lines, decide it's going to be. It's honestly a game of chicken!
"Oh yes. We've defeated the Germans now!"
"But how do we know? We've probably lost more soldiers than them..."
"Well we have more land than them."
"But before, they had more land than us. Had we stopped the war then, they would have won."
"Yes... but we didn't, so we win."
"Umm..."
I completely break down when studying "recent" war because I can put myself in the shoes of enlisting young men, triage nurses and soldiers in the trenches. I know I can't imagine what it would actually be like, but it's heartbreaking and terrifying for me to even think about. That many men didn't even really know what they were getting into- that they thought killing Germans would be a laugh and then they could come home and be a hero just kills me. Not only that, but these men and women had to come home from the wars they fought and suddenly they were outcasts. People who didn't fit in to the social norm - people who were broken. War is disgusting and useless and a ridiculous exploitation of citizens who just want to do right by their country.
I completely digressed from what I wanted this post to be about. I wanted to explain the movie, and then tie it in with a little tour of the famous European battle grounds that are marked today as Canadian victories for the Allies. I forgot about my complete disbelief of war, and the way it sparks something in me. I'm sure many people have different opinions of war, and the reasons for war, and now you know mine.
"War is a calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings." - Harry Patch, last british surviver WW1
I'll write about the famous Canadian battles on Rememberance Day, S.
Sorry for all the links!
Don't forget to be awesome.
-xo
Ps: footage that you probably don't want to see, but I'll make you watch anyways.
3 comments:
Hi C,
The problem with trying to understand why ordinary men were prepared to go to war in 1914, is that we try to understand using our present day values and way of life as a background.
In those days, death was an everyday occurrence - even in normal life. TB and starvation were just two of the reasons children would be lucky to make it to their 10th birthday.
Add to that the fact that their normal lives were often awful - stuck in factories and mines 12 hours a day, seven days a week actually made the army with its change of routine, travel and promise of adventure, an attractive proposition.
In the UK, they thought they'd be sent to sort out an evil enemy and be back to talk about it by Christmas. Men who didn't sign up would be handed "white feathers" to denote cowardice by women who passed them in the street.
So it seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course, they had no idea of the horror which was to befall them - but once they were in it, national pride forced them to continue.
The French, of course, DID mutiny. The Russians simply stopped fighting. But the British and its allies never did - whether or not they should have done is a matter of endless debate, but we'll never be able to put ourselves truly in their position.
When you hear numbers of casualties bandied around, it means nothing - for example, 20,000 men killed on the first morning of the Somme is just a figure, a number. But last year I visited the Thiepval memorial for the missing - on this huge memorial (google it) are carved the names of just some of the missing (just the missing). When I saw it, the scale suddenly came home to me and I cried - simple as that, my wife and I both stood there and cried.
Hi to whomever commented!
I wish you left your name!
You made really good points. I was looking at their lives from my present day point of view, which I should learn not to do since I'm a history student (oops).
When I wrote this, I was actually thoroughly researching my term paper on WWI poetry, and learned about a lot of the little facts you mentioned. The white feathers that you mentioned was also mentioned in “Recruiting” by E.A. Mackintosh and I became really interested in it... I learned it was started by Baroness Orczy, who then founded the Active Service League to continue the practice (had to go back to my essay notes for that!)
I've never gotten the privilage of going to an actual war memorial, but I hope to eventually. I've heard from everyone I know its a really moving experience.
Thanks again for commenting! I really appreciate the time you took to write this all out! :)
Hi C,
Yes, sorry about that - very rude of me - my name is Paul.
You've taught me something about the white feathers!
I heartily recommend a visit to the memorials. Being Canadian, I suspect the Tyne Cot Cemetery at Passendaele would be the most interesting to you. I wouldn't call it a thrilling day out(!), but it's a must for anyone trying to understand the how and why of the carnage.
I haven't seen the movie you referred to and I probably wouldn't want to. From the snippets I've seen, it's fairly 'Hollywood' and doesn't do the battle justice - but that's fair enough, it's entertainment.
Unfortunately, from what I've heard, the movie gives the impression the, so called, victory at Passendaele was an entirely Canadian affair which, of course, it wasn't.
That said, the Canadians were absolutely brilliant, probably the bravest and hardest fighters there - so in your hatred of war and slaughter (quite understandable), please try not to resent what your countrymen did. They gave their lives for what they thought was a just cause and I firmly believe that if we do anything other than respect what all ordinary soldiers did, we cheapen their sacrifice.
Good luck in your studies :-)
Paul
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