194. The pity of war

The First World Was over. Or was it?

First of all, does it deserve the name First World War at all?

Secondly, was it really over in 1918? That depends a lot on when we think the Second World War started. There are lots of possible dates in the thirties. One of the most striking suggestions, however, backed by some eminent historians, is that it was really only a continuation of the First. In which case, both wars share the same start date, in August 1914.

That’s because of what happened to end the fighting in 1918. It was an armistice but not a defeat followed by surrender. The way that happened, the subject of this episode, would play a fundamental role in how things panned out in Germany and in how they led to the Second World War.

Which, as we’ll see later, concluded the First.

Meanwhile, to help us wrap up on the end of the fighting in 1918, and in the spirit of a single death being a tragedy but millions of them simply being a statistic, the episode takes us through the last few deaths of Allied soldiers. And then to Wilfred Owen and how his death contributed to the idea he made his, the pity of war.

Illustration: Conrad Veidt and Claude Rains in a still from Casablanca.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.