Is it just me or do you think an important part of HM The Queen’s VE Day Message to the Nation received hardly any coverage in our media?
She talked about “the greatest tribute to all those who did not come back from the war was to ensure it didn’t happen again,” “Once sworn enemies”, she said, “were now friends working side by side for the peace, health and prosperity of us all”.
Do you not think that one of the greatest contributions of the generation who enabled VE Day, my own parent’s generation, was that they did ensure that war in Europe, on the scale that had dominated the previous five centuries became a thing of the past.
I am very conscious that my generation and that of my sons have not had to go to war in Europe, unlike my forebears over many previous centuries.
Reflect a bit on war in Europe since the 1600s and I could go further back:
- Thirty Years War 1618-1648
- Dutch War Louis XIV 1672-1678
- War of the League of Augsburg 1688-1697
- War of Spanish Succession 1739-1748
- Seven Years War 1755-1763
- French Revolutionary and Napoleonic War 1792-1815
- Crimea 1853-1856
- (Britain in 27 wars in 1800’s in Asia and Africa)
- World War I 1914-1918
- World War II 1939-1945
The generation of the Second World War, I believe, said never again. And so, they developed an international community that forged a new foundation out of all that had been learnt from that suffering and built human rights and international law and rules to preserve peace and cooperation.
And, don’t you think, it’s an amazing achievement that they delivered?
The longest period of continual peace in Europe for centuries; not to mention all the other achievements to reduce war and increase cooperation as described in my second post ‘International Collaboration & Cooperation’.
Should this not be the centrepiece of such celebrations, especially at a time when around the world there signs of new brands of nationalism and a fascination with authoritarianism; both of which could lead to distrust, isolationism and hostility between nations?
Mark Roberts 