Armistice Day

When we think of the First World War, one of the clichés that comes to mind is the phrase "the futility of war", whereas for World War II it might be an expression such as "the struggle against fascism". Whatever the feelings against the Germans at the time - and one only has to look at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles to see how deep they ran - there is nowadays more of a pacific, if not actually pacifist, ring to Armistice Day commemorations.

All the more surprising therefore, at first sight, to learn how little attention is paid to November 11th in Germany. But when you come to think of it, it is not really all that surprising. For one thing, Germany lost the war and nobody wants to be perpetually reminded of a defeat. Secondly, one has to remember that the First World War was not fought on German soil, so there is little geographical trace of the war; no cemeteries, no battlefields... I think it is the combination of these two factors that go some way towards explaining the relative "downplaying" of the Great War in Germany. The other explanation, in my opinion, is that the real 20th century trauma for the Germans is Hitler and the rise of Nazism.  At the very time that we in Britain, France and the USA are commemorating the dead of the 1914-1918 War, the Germans are confronted with the memory of the horrors of Kristallnacht.

That is not to say that they are not interested in the Great War. I understand that the German translation of Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers is a best-seller in Germany. That book, which I have yet to read, traces the causes of the war. Of more interest to me would be an attempt to explain the collective paralysis at political and military level. From a purely military point of view, one can at least understand long drawn-out carnage when it is mostly suffered by ONE SIDE. This is basically what happened at Leningrad and Stalingrad. But when the slaughter is allowed to drag on for the BEST PART OF FOUR YEARS with roughly equal casualties on BOTH sides....