The Great War: 100 years of memories?

[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]esterday was the annual day on which we remember the ending of the Great War. Today, people will be removing their crumpled poppies and throwing them in the bin, putting behind them the sadness inspired by the memorial service they attended, if indeed they attended one at all.

This year is the centenary of Britain’s declaring war on Germany, in what was to be the beginning of a gruelling four-year conflict. Across the globe, 15 to 17 million people are estimated to have been killed throughout this war alone, with a
further estimate of 60 to 85 million deaths during the Second World War.

Last year, the university’s chaplain ran a memorial service on the piazza. It was simple: there was no music save for the last post, no members of the forces offering their respects, no war memorial on which to lay wreaths. None of this is surprising, as the university wasn’t founded until well after the Second World War.

I asked all of my closest friends if they would like to come with me, and they all said no; not because they had lectures or prior commitments, because most of them were just working in the learning grid or library.

It seemed that the fact I ended up standing on my own on the piazza steps with what appeared to be mostly staff, not students, was down to our generation’s apathy towards what a remembrance service is and its significance for us today.

While the fact that this year is the centenary of the start of WWI is great in terms of a rise in the number of events, articles and general hype revolving around war discourse, it also signifies that the memory of the war in the collective mindset of this country will continue fading from here on in, and I worry that one day we will no longer have a day of remembrance
at all.

Now that almost everyone who was alive at the beginning of the First World War is dead, it is paramount that we do not forget simply because it is easy to. Remembrance Day is not just about the First World War, which now feels distant, and
a remnant of a society long since changed, but about all conflict, of all kinds, all over the world.

The world wars should be remembered because of their extensive cultural impact: millions of young men were killed off in their prime – men who were mostly the same age as all of us;

women and the disabled had an opportunity to prove that they were valuable to society in spheres other than those assigned to them by stereotypes;

technology development in areas such as aircraft and shipping was rapidly accelerated.

Remembrance Day is also an important time to think about the service men and women who are still risking their lives today, all over the globe, and it provides us with the opportunity to consider more deeply the conflicts that this country is entangled in, despite the fact that they seem to affect us so little in day to day life.

Finally, the simple importance of a two minute silence on one day each year cannot be overstated. Regardless of how much you know about the wars, how much you think their impact does or doesn’t affect your life,

it’s unbelievably valuable to take two minutes out of our busy lives and consider the world in a context wider than our own personal problems.

We are the future of this country, and will determine whether or not the lessons learned from conflicts as far-reaching as the two world wars will be carried forward. It is our responsibility. A day of remembrance is a day of respect, and if nothing else it teaches an increasingly self-centred society to branch out in its thoughts and think of its history, its roots, and mistakes to be avoided at all costs.