World news – AU – recalls a distant past to manage a troubling present – The Manila Times

10/11/2020

Today, 11 November, is traditionally mentioned in most Western countries as the date that marked the « end » of World War I around 5:45 a.m. on the morning of November 11, 1918, the generals met The French, British and Americans with their German counterparts on a railway bus in Compiegne, France, and signed an armistice to take effect that day at 11 a.m.M – the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month – to stop the fighting in what was until that time the most destructive war on earth.

The first Armistice Day was celebrated a year later, on an official visit by the President of France to King George V in Great Britain after a hundred years. The celebration has changed somewhat in some countries even though France and Belgium still celebrate Armistice Day (or more correctly, “L’Armistice de la Première Guerre mondiale”)

Remembrance Day is celebrated in Britain, with special rituals held on the second Sunday of November (November 8 of this year) Poland marks history as the National Independence Day, as the end of the Great War witnessed the restoration of the Polish Republic It was a national holiday in Serbia – Which has suffered the highest casualty rate of any allied country in the war – since 2012 in the United States, Veterans Day has been celebrated, as the original holiday is changed after World War II to honor American veterans of both World Wars and in Kenya, which played a role in Fighting German colonial forces in East Africa during World War I, the holiday is celebrated on the second weekend after Armistice Day, because news of the original armistice between the Allied and German forces took a long time to reach Africa in 1918

History deserves to be remembered in and of itself – about 20 million people, more than half of them civilians, were killed in the 1914-1918 conflict – but also for the lessons of what followed in the years immediately following the armistice

On the one hand, the armistice did not actually stop the fighting Although most soldiers on both sides laid down their arms at the appointed hour, there were still pockets of intense fighting along the western front until nightfall on November 11, 2018, and frequent skirmishes in the weeks that followed. The original armistice was only in effect for 36 days. It had to be renewed several times until the war was formally ended by the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. Meanwhile, new wars broke out in several places, the worst of which were in Russia, as the counter-revolutionary forces (with the support of the Allies) attempted to overthrow the new Soviet government.

And as everyone knows of our time now because of our similar shared experience, by the time the armistice was signed, the world was already in the grip of a deadly fast-spreading Spanish influenza pandemic this pandemic, helped by residents who stupidly considered effective public health measures such as quarantine Wearing face masks is an insult to their personal freedom and will eventually kill an estimated 50 million people before it takes its course sometime in 1920

Then there was the Treaty of Versailles itself, which paved the way for the next, more destructive war, by imposing harsh punitive conditions on Germany and its allies. An end to the institutional cult of personality represented by the German and Austrian monarchies was necessary, as was the elimination of their toxic militarism; Do not kneel down to their already battered people trying to rebuild their communities

Each victory carries within it the seeds of its final defeat. This is something that the people of the United States and billions around the world who indirectly share their victory should remember. Intolerance, immorality and deliberate stupidity does not need acceptance or forgiveness. It certainly should not be, but it cannot be achieved. Anything constructive by being destructive.