On This Veterans Day 2015

A summation about the War:

Edmund:   Do you mean "Why did the war start?"

Baldrick:   Yeah.

George:   The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building.

Edmund:  George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika.    I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.

George:   Oh, no, sir, absolutely not. [aside, to Baldick]   Mad as a bicycle!

Baldrick:  I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry.

Edmund:  I think you mean it started when the Archduke of Austro-Hungary got shot.

Baldrick:  Nah, there was definitely an ostrich involved, sir.

Edmund:  Well, possibly.   But the real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort not to have a war.

George:   By Golly, this is interesting; I always loved history...

Edmund:  You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other.   The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent.   That way there could never be a war.

Baldrick:  But this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?

Edmund:  Yes, that's right.   You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.

George:   What was that, sir?

Edmund:  It was bollocks.

There you go, kiddies. Any of you studying for AP European should be set to go. /owstophittingme

Though Poppies Grow

The poppy flower grows when the seeds are disturbed, and the ground is turned, when a war rages.

Today is Veterans Day.  Generally recognized as a day of remembrance for the soldiers who fought and for the ones who didn't make it back.  On this day, the poem In Flanders Fields is read, and the red poppy flower worn.

And as always, the final clip of Blackadder Goes Forth, one of the downest of Downer Endings a show ever had:

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  It meant an end to the fighting, but it didn't mean an end to all wars...

For Veterans Day: A Thought On Armistice

Oh to hell with it, here's the last scene of the BBC Comedy Blackadder Goes Forth:




Everything you need to know about war in 5 minutes.
That this was the closer of a comedy series remains heart-rending, only less so than the real-life madness that World War I really was.  England lost over 800,000 of their young men to that war: entire towns wiped out of a generation of sons and husbands.  In some ways, this war and not World War II - which in itself was a "Good" or necessary war and thus accepted with some cheer and satisfaction - is the more painfully remembered war in England.  Because of the insane loss of life over a war involving treaties and the lust for empire (Britain's to defend, Germany's to win).
As for this show... in England this episode was shown originally on Armistice Day... It's called Remembrance Day there (Veterans Day stateside).  They only had one complaint.  Everyone else was probably too busy crying as the poppies rise up from the debris of No-Man's Land...