100 years after First World War
On November 11, 2018, many world leaders attended a ceremony in France to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. That war was dubbed The Great War or The War to End All Wars. It started in 1914 and ended with an armistice at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. The official death toll in the global conflict was put at 10 million soldiers dead, 21 million soldiers wounded and over six million persons unaccounted for. No one has accounted for the six million persons missing, even 100 years after the conflict.
The major European countries involved in the conflict - Austria-Hungary, Germany, Ottoman Empire, Russia, France and Great Britain - together lost millions of lives while Africans, Arabs and Asians who were conscripted into the war on the side of their colonial powers also lost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Perhaps one of the most resounding speeches made by world leaders during the anniversary in Paris came from French President Emmanuel Macron. He called on world leaders to eschew nationalism which, from historical accounts, gave birth to World War One. “By saying ‘our interests first and never mind the others’ you stamp out the most precious thing a nation has - its moral values,” he said. The primary cause of World War 1 was nationalism. To accompany it was military build ups by numerous European powers who wanted to protect or expand their national interest and territory.
The militarisation was supported by imperialism, which provided the fuel for unquenchable conflict after the assassination of Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand. It is in this context that the French president’s warning against the revival of the spirit of nationalism from America to other parts of the world was very apt.
The First World War was significant in history because it was the first time that technology replaced the use of hand-to-hand battle which the old world was known for. The application of weapons powered by technology led to mass killings. Therefore, the design by European leaders to lord it over each other and to rule over a huge chunk of Africa, Middle East and Asia led to more deaths than peace. Unfortunately, even after the killings and the euphoria that greeted the armistice as the war that would end all wars, the Second World War broke out on September 1, 1939 and would not end until after six years on September 2, 1945.
There are many lessons to be learned as the world marks the centenary of the end of World War One. The first lesson is that conflicts are not tackled by killings and other forms of violence. Conflicts are brought to an end at the round table. It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war. In local and international conflicts, leaders should embrace dialogue and give-and-take solutions instead of insisting on having their way. Secondly, the idea of one nationality claiming to be superior to others, which was the basis of imperialism, has led to wars. Also, it is dangerous to underestimate the longevity of a war. When the First World War began, most world leaders thought it would be dealt with quickly - like a one hundred metre dash. But because leaders of countries clung to their pride, they continued to fight for years. It was the same case with the Second World War. It lasted for six years. It is better to dialogue over disagreements than to allow disagreements to degenerate into war.
The centenary of the First World War is a challenge to the United Nations and all the permanent members of the Security Council to ensure that the world is not pushed into another war over nuclear arms race, economic competition and terrorism. What humanity needs now is not a war to end all wars, but a dialogue to end all wars.