It is an undeniable maxim that there are no real winners from wars but only long-term losers.
It was on July 28, 1914 that the Austrian-Hungarian Empire sent a telegram to the Serbian government declaring war. Guns started blazing early in the morning of the following day.
It was supposed to be a short war, of a few weeks at most, until all the major nations joined in the fray and the war lasted 52 months.
All sides rejected efforts for peace made by Pope Benedict XV who declared the war as “the suicide of civilised Europe”.
The Pope declared the neutrality of the Holy See and attempted from that perspective to mediate peace in 1916 and 1917. Both sides rejected his initiatives. German Protestants rejected any “Papal peace” as insulting.
French politician Georges Clemenceau regarded the Vatican initiative as anti-French. There were other efforts, namely by the American President Woodrow Wilson and the famous Henry Ford, but the belligerent parties did not seek any peace, just the annihilation of their opponents.
The fifth deadliest war in history involved the mobilisation of 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, in the first truly global war.
Nearly 39 million soldiers died, suffered injury or were lost without trace or identification. During that long war, there were many memorable and deadly battles. There were 173 land battles, six air battles and 12 naval ones. There were many atrocities, ethnic cleansing, deadly gas attacks and large-scale massacres.
Wars are started for many reasons, including the acquisition of more land, better agricultural fields and food production, supply of water, material and other resources and above all power and grandeur, and worse of all, the excuse of religion.
Recent history has seen the human race suffer two global wars, the last of which is still within living memory. These wars have resulted in the destruction of many tribes, religions, countries and empires.
Wars impact the people involved, even after the fighting is over, in the form of diseases and destruction, hence nearly all the world population is affected in a very bad way. I ask: “What is the net balance after any war?”
I encourage readers to remember that an honourable peace is always better than massacre and destruction.