The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Never forget the lessons of war, says Dan Snow
TV presenter and historian believes memory of First World War must be kept alive
Broadcaster Dan Snow has said it is important to keep the memory of the First World War alive because it is an “enormous warning”.
While teenagers might question what the conflict had to do with them, the lessons are still compelling today, he said.
“It’s a gigantic lesson into looking beyond fake news and propaganda, about trying to find out the truth from multiple sources, not just believing what you are told from a bunch of old white guys who control the governments,” he said.
“It’s a warning of the catastrophic effects of listening to people who peddle nationalism and racism and inter-state competition.
“It’s a giant warning about what happens when societies sleepwalk because they’re told through patriotism or through duty that they have to do exactly what they are told ... and it results in catastrophe ... millions of people died.
“The jigsaw of Europe, the Middle East, parts of Asia were ripped apart and we are still trying to put that puzzle back again.”
The presenter and historian added: “On a basic level, it’s a warning that sometimes everything isn’t OK. You need to take this stuff seriously because in the past decisions have been made, mistakes made, signals sent, people have gone to war almost by accident assuming the other side won’t step up.
“And tens of millions were killed and wounded and traumatised for the rest of their lives.”
Snow has several ancestors who were involved in the First World War, including David Lloyd George, who was prime minister.
He had a “great-uncle who fought on the front line” and another family member “who was a general in the First World War”, with “thousands of men” dying “under his command”.
Snow also had ancestors who were doctors in the trenches and “would have seen the most hideous things”.
With documents from the time, there was a chance the memory of the conflict would not die out, he said.
“The pictures are out there, you can hear the sources, you can see the men suffering. You can ask them from beyond the grave and they will tell you what it is like. They will tell you the price they paid. The suffering was unimaginable, we owe it to them not to forget that,” he said.
Snow said the war was a lesson in “fake news”, adding: “We should reject politicians when they try to sow that narrative amongst us, when Donald Trump is slagging off the UN on Twitter. That’s potentially really dangerous.”
It may have ended a century ago, but the memory of the First World War must be kept alive. With Armistice Day falling exactly 100 years ago, respected broadcaster Dan Snow said the conflict should still represent an “enormous warning”.
Pointing out that the repercussions remain to this day, he states that the lessons are more relevant than ever in this era of “fake news”, which he likens to some of the propaganda of yesteryear.
Certainly the scale of the conflict and the sheer loss of life is hard for many younger generations to comprehend.
However, it is only by remembering the mistakes of the past that we can learn to avoid such devastating events in the future.
While few alive today have any direct memories of the First World War, anyone researching their family tree will not have far to go before establishing some kind of link to the Great War.
As with so many things, education has an absolutely vital role to play.
Modern generations may take the freedoms we all now enjoy for granted, but it is important to understand it was not always thus.
We must remain ever grateful to those who fought for those freedoms – and mindful of the potentially catastrophic risks if we fail to heed the dire warnings of history.