The carnage of the Great War the centenary of whose outbreak we will be commemorating in 2014, had far more effect on world history than any other four-year period in the history of mankind. In the realms of geopolitics, economics, class, culture, nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, sexual liberation, female emancipation and the structure of society, the world after 1914 was so different from before it as almost to inhabit separate planets altogether. Of no nation was that more true than Britain, which is why these centenary commemorations will be much more than merely a time for historical reflection. They will also be a moment for Britons to look at themselves as a people, and consider quite how far we’ve come as a result of the wholesale slaughter.
There’s every indication that this is going to be a highly emotional period for Britain, even though Harry Patch, the last British soldier who served in the Great War, died in July 2009 aged 111. The enormity of the numbers – over three-quarters of a million killed from Britain and her empire – the loss of almost an entire generation who could have contributed so much to civilisation had they lived, the beginning of the end of Britain’s role as a leading Great Power, the question about whether the sacrifice was futile (as many of the war poets implied) or justified (as most strategists and historians maintain) will all lead to renewed national soul-searching. Frankly, the sheer number of dead deserve nothing less.
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