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Wars and ConflictsΒ  permalink

I didn't know!

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by durham2000 (U2397820) on Friday, 4th November 2005

  Forgive me for taking up your time folks, but I just wanted to share this.
  
  I feel stupid! I am a 31 year old woman and I have gone though my entire life not knowing what has made this country the way it is today. Not knowing about the people who made it this way. I took history at school, but as a way of loafing for an hour or two a week. I sincerely wish now that I had listened more attentively.
  
  I am fascinated, saddened, awe struck and many other emotions which are hard for me to explain, by the wars that have taken place in order to keep people like me in a safe and free environment, and at such a cost!
  
  I really can't believe that I have spent years being so ignorant and indifferent. I am ashamed to say that I was bored to tears by 'war stories' etc.
  
  This is going to sound crazy but as a day out for my young son, I took him to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. I can honestly say that in the 4 or so hours I spent there, my eyes were opened. I am not super intelligent and I certainly have never been able to get my head around politics, but it's the people.
  
  The people who fought for us and still risk their lives for us, and maybe I sound rediculous but it really truly is the saddest feeling I have ever had.
  
  I find it so hard to get my head around the huge concept of one human being killing another and the way in which it is done. I can't seem to understand, it makes my brain ache trying to rationalise the expenditure of even one life. How people can behave this way is beyond me. I know that this sounds so basic and that really and truly I should understand, but I don't. Yes I know the concept of war but still.
  
  I feel pretty humble all of a sudden.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Alaric the Goth (U1826823) on Friday, 4th November 2005

  My father, who died at age 81 last year, and my mother, who is now 82, were both involved in World War Two in the Royal Air Force (Bomber Command). I think it affected my father profoundly for the rest of his life that he had been involved in dropping bombs from his 'Lancaster', bombs which may have killed people, some if not all of whom he recognised may have been no better or worse human beings than he was.
  
  But I think, and my mother shares this view, that that war was against a regime so evil (Nazi Germany) that it HAD to be opposed, and if possible, defeated. The evil only fully came to light near the end of the war, in 1944/45, just the time when my Dad actually flew on active missions over Germany/occupied Europe. My mother dated an American soldier at that time who witnessed the horrors of a newly-liberated concentration camp first-hand, and wrote back to her something of the anguish it caused him.
  
  War should always be a last resort, and the way it is conducted should be as 'moral' as possible if you trtuly believe that your side is 'right'. I do not think the firebombing of the beautiful German city of Dresden in 1945, when it was obvious that Germany was going to lose, was justified, and am pleased that my Dad's RAF squadron took no part in that raid (though I suppose there was no reason why it might not have done if ordeered to). The fact that the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) had done similar things earlier in the War to e.g. Coventry and London did not make it 'all right' to do that sort of thing, but on a bigger scale, to Dresden and Berlin.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Friday, 4th November 2005

  Daer durham2000,
  
  Lots of things can trigger a response such as you have experienced, but only if the individuals concerned are prepared to use a little imagination to consider what it must have been like for the people involved at the time. That is why I am such a history fan. I can remember standing in the scarcely discernible remains of a Roman watchtower, looking over a windswept and bleak valley and trying to imagine what it must have been like for the soldiers who were there. Quite sobering.
  
  You have realised the main point of history. It is about people.
  
  I hope the experience you have had at Duxford, which is an amazing place, I agree, will spur you on to learn a bit more history, whether through books or TV programmes. Your local library will have a lot of general and specific history books and the Discovery / History channels on TV always have a pretty good selection of programmes, although they do tend to concentrate on World war Two because that is what most of their film archive covers.
  
  One bit of advice. Don’t always believe the first book you read on a subject. If it interests you, read a book on the same subject by a different author,. You will be amazed at the different interpretations people can put on the same events.
  
  If you have gained an interest in history, you could also do a lot worse than keep an eye on these message boards. Visiting here is often a humbling experience. I have spent thirty years reading hundreds of historical books across a wide range of subject areas. I have done this for fun, not for any qualifications, just because I wanted to learn more about why we are where we are. Consequently, I have a broad knowledge of lots of areas and detailed knowledge of hardly any areas. And when I see some messages here I think to myself, "I've read about that, but I can’t remember the details". There are some real experts who post messages here, and, however much you think you know, you will always learn something.
  

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by durham2000 (U2397820) on Saturday, 5th November 2005

  I'd like to thank you guys very much for replying...I had no idea what to expect really, maybe someone to laugh at my ignorance perhaps? I was pleasantly surprised.
  
  You are right though, that one visit has given me a huge thirst to learn more and more, now I can't stop watching the programmes, reading books and searching the internet. I want to be able to answer my sons questions and feel more in touch with why/how I am here today.
  
  I have only recently found out that my grandfather was in the RAF during the second world war and actually met my grandmother over in germany. She has always been very reserved in her talk of germany and anything related to the war, she would never even speak german in our presence. We weren't allowed to ask her anything either. We later found out that it was because she felt 'ashamed' even though she, personally had no part to play at all. They moved here with my mother 2 years after the war ended. My grandfather has passed away now but my gran will say nothing of what he did or how they met etc. It would be an interesting story I think....one which I will never get to hear.

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by DaveMBA (U1360771) on Sunday, 6th November 2005

  I'm afraid you are just the age to be a product of the "right on" education sytem, which would rather teach you about the Nazis than take any pride in this country's history.
  
  Certainly Germans have been made to feel ashamed of what happened in WW2 and it continues today - when it only helps to breed some of the unpleasnat elements in the old east at a time, when we should be working together. That is partly down to a jingoism going the other way among the pro-US Murdoch rags, which is not a rational approach to history either. It is a shame your grandmother has not been able to influence you or your children poitively twoards Europe and Germany in particular. Perhaps it might be worth learning a little German and even suggesting she writes something on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WW2 memories board (closing at the end of the year).
  
  I took my mother to the Duxford 65th anniversary of the Battle of Britain - as she was a girl in Surrey watching the dogfights in 1940. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ itself (whioch is also full of the right on types) should be ashamed of its failure to cover what was probably the last event featuring so many Spitfires flying together - my mother said that the sound of the engines was something people of her generation never forget.

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