As I was photographing it, a local man pointed out to me that the memorial features the names of 18 villagers who had laid down their lives in the First World War.
Why did 18 men from this tiny village have to die because an Archduke got shot dead in Sarajevo?
Need I say more?
"Kipling got it right; albeit, perhaps, for the wrong reason. "If any question why we died,/ Tell them, "Because our fathers lied.""
ReplyDeleteHyper-Borean from The empty tomb
"AL, how true! But if it hadn't been the Archduke, ti would have been some other spark.When I bring my swedish friends across I always make a point of getting them to read the names on the memorial of whatever village that e have stopped in - three MacDonalds, likely the same family, 4 MacCree, etc., etc. They are usually thoughtfully quiet for a bit after that."
Barney from Swithiod "never again"
"I remember being taught at school that we had to fight WW1 because the Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. At least, that's a slightly more sensible excuse than that "Weapons of Mass Destruction" drivel. And what have the Swedes to do with it? I thought they were the only people clever enough to keep out of the war. I suspect that WW1 was a squabble between rich English and rich Germans over the pickings to be made in Africa. One hundred years later, and we haven't learnt a single thing."
malkie from Glasgow