11 November 2018

100 Years Since The Armistice

I was in time to see the moment yesterday where Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel were together in the replica of the carriage used to sign the Armistice in the morning of 11 November 1918, resulting in the guns falling silent at 11am that day. The end of that war started a very turbulent century for the latter's home country, something that she experienced all too well as she grew up in the former East Germany.

The world isn't perfect, not by a long chalk. There are threats to the international order from many directions. I won't name them, everyone knows who they are.

However, seeing that sight today showed us just how far most of Europe has come since the horrors of the two world wars. Because people didn't forget. They worked to build bridges and tear down walls, both metaphorical and literal. 

Today, German built high speed trains transport passengers from London to Amsterdam through what was once the land of mud and death.

Those who fought there are now all in the next world. It is our job to make sure that the events of the first half of the 20th century are not repeated in the 21st.

When all have gone, we will need to take up the torch of Remembrance and remember those who gave their lives.

We will remember them.

No comments: