War or Peace Part Two
- Apr 7
- 4 min read
By Myron Edwards
Now where we. Oh’ yes, the man with the tall hat. This gentleman happened to be President of the United States, well not so united as divided, the reason being, the people in the south of the country, wanted to keep their slaves, whilst the people up north wanted to abolish slavery. Now neither side would agree to a solution, over a nice glass of Port, no they would rather kick hell out of each other until someone won. Actually there was not so much kicking, as outright conflict, with weapons. Eventually after five long years, the North won, but not before some of the most bloodiest battles, had taken place and the man in the tall hat had spoken one of the most outstanding pieces of literary genius ever put down on paper. As great as he was someone decided It was time for him to go, and that man in the tall hat was assassinated.
Europe, about seventy years or so earlier, had a man short in stature, but not in ambition a French man whose CV was to say the least ambitious? As he rose from the ranks, to not only be a General in the army, but also Emperor of France, Napoleon the First he even crowned himself. His lust for power knew no boundaries, he would take on anyone and everyone, and sometimes he would win,sometimes he would lose, and he wasn’t very clever at predicting the weather, particularly in Russia, where his army froze to death. On his return his wife Josephine was all dressed up in her finest lingerie, ready to make it up to him, but he had a headache, saying ‘Not tonight Josephine.’
That was the beginning of the end of BONEY, especially when he was defeated at Waterloo, AH so that’s where the ABBA song came from. But I digress, after these defeats he was deposed and packed off to Elba where he died. some say from poisoned wallpaper, perhaps he shouldn’t have licked it. He was not Willy Wonka.
It looks like war is winning this argument, as there always seems to be someone fighting someone everywhere you look. I read somewhere, as if to back me up, that since US independence there has been only sixteen years of peace, proving that war is inherent in US DNA. But it’s not just the US that’s at fault, the majority of mankind is as well. In history wherever you look, someone is always bashing someone, whatever dynasty you look at, war is everywhere.
Every country and continent has their own conflicts, except possibly Antartica, but the Polar Bears have been known to take on the penguins and seals, But that seems to have calmed down since tariffs came in.
So ask yourself this question, why do we want wars. And as the song goes, ‘War what is It good for!’. The reasons given are conquest, just look through your history books and try to find a war that has no ulterior motive other than conquest.
AZTECS, EGYPTIIANS, PERSIANS, ROMANS, GREEKS, MESAPOTANIANS, HEBREWS, PHOENICIANS, FRENCH, GERMANS, DUTCH, UNITED KINGDOM, SCOTTISH, WELSH, IRISH, ABORIGINES, ZULUS, CZEHS, POLISH, RUSSIANS, VIKINGS. USA, CHINA.JAPAN
These are just examples, there are too many others to list here.
Let’s just play a game, find a country that has never been to war, Sweden though neutral, has so has Portugal. and Spain. See it’s inherent, no matter what century you were born in. Now fast forward to 1914 The Great War, or the war to end all wars, which will be over by Christmas, so we can have a jolly good game of soccer in No man’ land. That is until the guns start firing again. At least some of the songs were jolly, like Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, or it’s a long way to Tipperary, ‘how absolutely spiffing’, as the shells rain down, and the gas covers the ground, ‘Don’t worry lads’ ‘JUST KEEP SINGING, OH THAT WAS CLOSE.’
By the time it was over, the estimation was a staggering 35 to 40 million, dead and wounded, whilst civilian deaths were 6 to 13 million. Now you would think, that would be the end of wars. Time for peace now.
But in 1939, a little Chaplin look alike decided that he wanted to conquer Europe, and as Mel Brooks put it so eloquently. Drum roll. ‘ALL I WANT IS A LITTLE PEACE, A LITTLE PIECE OF POLAND, AND A LITTLE PIECE OF CZECHSLOVAKIA.’ And he got them.
He conquered most of Europe, except for one little island, Great Britain, hard as he tried, that good old British bull dog spirit stayed firm, and the one day he could have invaded he had a headache, we all know how that feels gentlemen. Not only was this little man a maniac and a failed painter, but his hatred for all races that wasn’t pure Arian manifested itself in the murder of millions, particularly those of the Jewish faith. Now the irony of that, is that his own family tree, shows that one of his relatives was Jewish.
That war went on for six years, and it was a World War with all nations involved, one way or another. Italy and Russia changed sides, Japan got involved attacking the US, who signed up with the British. Once Germany looked defeated our little Chaplin, decided he would get married, we don’t know if he had a honeymoon, as he shot himself and his new wife before they cut the cake. Just for the record the total number of deaths in World War Two is 70 to 85 million, 3 percent of the world’s population in 1940. You think war is worth it now. Talk about irony, as I write the US has just started another war!
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