"We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields."
~ Lt Col. John McCrae
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields."
~ Lt Col. John McCrae
The Great War was a tragedy unlike any other. It was tragic because it could have easily been prevented at any point in the five weeks leading up to the war if reason and prudence had halted the avalanche of events. It is tragic because it destroyed a culture of general peace and prosperity, ruined and ended the lives of millions Tragic because it left a legacy of political and racial hatred that could only be consummated in a second war.
Nearly every community, church, and cathedral in France and England have a war memorial inscribed with the names of those that did not return. The acres of graveyards in France and Britain bear solemn testimony to this. This "lost generation" of young men would leave 630,000 war widows in France alone and deprive a generation of young women the opportunity for marriage. By wars end, there would be 45 men for every 55 women, on average, in the general population.
France and Belgium would build monuments and graveyards to their own and England's brave boys, and ploughmen in Northern France would always stop in reverence when they came across "English dead". England was granted sepulture perpetuelle for their cemeteries, which would become a chain of permanent graveyards along what had been the Western Front.
Germany was not allowed to mourn her dead in such a way. The battlefields to the east were forbidden to them by the Bolshevik revolution. To the west, Germany was awarded no such courtesy. No graveyards were dedicated to their eternal rest; France and Belguim would only reluctantly allow Germany to retrieve and bury bodies, which were usually interred in mass graves out of site. Their war memorials were relegated to churches and cathedrals, often integrating Hans Holbein's The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb.
Indeed, for nearly 100 years, Germany has not been permitted grief over its loss. Britain, France, and most of the rest of Europe have forgotten that despite the crimes committed by Germans in both wars, they were people as well. They "loved and were loved" the same as all people, and German mothers, wives, daughters and sisters lost sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers. Even Germans themselves did not allow their fellow countrymen to mourn. In 1924, the Germans attempted a national memorial to the dead as other countries had. Its dedication caused a outpouring of political protest. The dedication speech by President Fredrich Ebert, who had lost two sons in the war, was thankfully heard out, but the two minutes of silence that followed was interrupted by the shouting of pro- and anti- war protests, which then descended into a riot that lasted all day.
The greatest number of counted dead did not belong to Germany, the winner of that macabre contest is Serbia, the country where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated and which started the whole thing. Serbia's population before the war was 5 million, 15% of this was lost to war and disease, compared to 5-10% of France, Britain, and Germany. Fifteen percent! If any country has a Lost Generation, it would be Serbia.
Historians will argue that the First World War had less of an effect than the Second. In part, that is true. Certainly there was less material damage, the rural fields where battles were soon returned to farms and pastureland. There was no bombing of cities like in Germany and Britain. Civilian populations were largely shielded from the worst and carried on with life as usual. And, save for the Armenian Christians of the Ottoman empire, no populations were forced to relocate or subjected to genocide. The effect that the First War had on the culture, however, was far greater than anything else, and far greater than the its successor. The rational and generous culture of the European culture was permanently damaged, and through it human culture as a whole was damaged. Pre-War Europe was defined by constitutionalism, rule of law, and representative government. Post-War Europe relinquished confidence in these and gave rise to totalitarianism, which had cropped up nearly everywhere by the time the War was only fifteen years gone. Totalitarianism really was just a continuation of the war, because it is war by other means. War by menace and deprivation of rights, rather than war by guns and battlefields.
The Second War was really the latent infection of the culture damage coming to a head. Commanders in the Second World War were the junior officers of the First, who had marched of to war confident they would be victorious "before the leaves fall". The Second War was worse than the first, because the world had already been broken.
France and Belgium would build monuments and graveyards to their own and England's brave boys, and ploughmen in Northern France would always stop in reverence when they came across "English dead". England was granted sepulture perpetuelle for their cemeteries, which would become a chain of permanent graveyards along what had been the Western Front.
Germany was not allowed to mourn her dead in such a way. The battlefields to the east were forbidden to them by the Bolshevik revolution. To the west, Germany was awarded no such courtesy. No graveyards were dedicated to their eternal rest; France and Belguim would only reluctantly allow Germany to retrieve and bury bodies, which were usually interred in mass graves out of site. Their war memorials were relegated to churches and cathedrals, often integrating Hans Holbein's The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb.
Holbein's Body of the Dead Christ
Mathis Grunewald's Lamentation and Entombment of Christ was also often used for German war memorials.
Indeed, for nearly 100 years, Germany has not been permitted grief over its loss. Britain, France, and most of the rest of Europe have forgotten that despite the crimes committed by Germans in both wars, they were people as well. They "loved and were loved" the same as all people, and German mothers, wives, daughters and sisters lost sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers. Even Germans themselves did not allow their fellow countrymen to mourn. In 1924, the Germans attempted a national memorial to the dead as other countries had. Its dedication caused a outpouring of political protest. The dedication speech by President Fredrich Ebert, who had lost two sons in the war, was thankfully heard out, but the two minutes of silence that followed was interrupted by the shouting of pro- and anti- war protests, which then descended into a riot that lasted all day.
The greatest number of counted dead did not belong to Germany, the winner of that macabre contest is Serbia, the country where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated and which started the whole thing. Serbia's population before the war was 5 million, 15% of this was lost to war and disease, compared to 5-10% of France, Britain, and Germany. Fifteen percent! If any country has a Lost Generation, it would be Serbia.
Historians will argue that the First World War had less of an effect than the Second. In part, that is true. Certainly there was less material damage, the rural fields where battles were soon returned to farms and pastureland. There was no bombing of cities like in Germany and Britain. Civilian populations were largely shielded from the worst and carried on with life as usual. And, save for the Armenian Christians of the Ottoman empire, no populations were forced to relocate or subjected to genocide. The effect that the First War had on the culture, however, was far greater than anything else, and far greater than the its successor. The rational and generous culture of the European culture was permanently damaged, and through it human culture as a whole was damaged. Pre-War Europe was defined by constitutionalism, rule of law, and representative government. Post-War Europe relinquished confidence in these and gave rise to totalitarianism, which had cropped up nearly everywhere by the time the War was only fifteen years gone. Totalitarianism really was just a continuation of the war, because it is war by other means. War by menace and deprivation of rights, rather than war by guns and battlefields.
The Second War was really the latent infection of the culture damage coming to a head. Commanders in the Second World War were the junior officers of the First, who had marched of to war confident they would be victorious "before the leaves fall". The Second War was worse than the first, because the world had already been broken.
