A Necessary War?

The challenge this week is for me to discuss my favourite war film. I don’t watch war films often, so I am going to have to go with ‘War Horse’, as it’s the only one I remember seeing. Nevertheless, I am ashamed to admit how much I cried, and I am saddened to find out how much better than me horses are at acting.

I had a lot of trouble with this week’s post. Whenever I found myself trying to explain my intended topic, the Persian and Avar attack on Constantinople, and the badassry that fought them off, I felt myself getting excited to write about it. Yet I couldn’t justify to myself posting, only a few days after the 11^th, such a romanticised view of such a bloody conflict. Because while we wear poppies to remember WWI and WWII, there is no fundamental difference between those terrible wars and those fought throughout our history.

War is terrible. War is devastating. Yet, war is, above all, political. I remember being stunned when in my history lessons, as it struck me the lie I had been told my whole life. The soldiers who had died in WWI did not die fighting for our freedom. They died because the British government saw Germany threatening their interests in Africa. They died because Kaiser Wilhelm believed in Weltpolitik. They died because of Tsar Nicholas, and because his pride wouldn’t allow him to let the Serbian government down again. That’s not to trivialise the deaths from all of our wars, and the ones still happening, but rather highlight their tragedy.

Donald Kagan has argued that the Peloponnesian war, a conflict between Sparta and Athens in the 400s BCE, started just as in 1914, through misunderstandings and rivalry. And to an extent, he is correct. As with the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, the whole affair began when Athens fought with Corinth over Corcyra, and a delicate system of alliances forced Sparta to declare war on Athens. Nevertheless, just as in WWI, it would be ignorant to suggest the catalyst was the only cause. Innate distrust between the two city states, radically different political ideas, insults, revolution and a change in leadership all contributed to Sparta attacking Athens. The conflict, initiated by a clash of interests and ideals between two powers went on to last years. As with any war, the political scene led to those deaths, and they can’t be justified.  

This is merely one example however. Politics has dominated warfare for millennia, because how many wars have been started by farmers and bakers? The War of the Roses happened because Henry VII felt he should be king instead. The American War of Independence began because of taxes, and despite the clear horrors of slavery, modern historians have argued it was instead the economy that shaped the start of the Civil War in the USA. Even the so called ‘cold war’ was based on the ideology of the leaders, and had it not been for the deterrent of Nuclear weapons I have no doubt we would now be learning about the Russo-American war in history lessons. Clearly, this is an over-simplification of many factors that contributed to our historical conflicts, but politics has always been a leading cause. And even now, while we wear poppies to commemorate the dead of two of our countries greatest military tragedies, we still face more conflict. Until a few weeks ago, we were in Afghanistan, and only a few years ago we were in Iraq. As oil and the economy, and politics, define our interests in the Middle East, I doubt it will be long before we are fighting in Iraq again.

Throughout history, war has been started by politicians, won by tacticians and fought by the soldiers. Innocent men who rarely have anything to do with the conflict beyond where they were born.

And that is why we wear poppies.

It is why we must remember them.