Originally published on the CGS blog on November 11, 2008.
November 11th is Veterans Day in America, marking the official end of “The War to End All Wars” was an unnecessary war created and fueled by the greed and power-hunger of all nations involved. “Never again” people said after it ended, however the treaty of Versailles laid the foundation of World War II, which was even more devastating than the first. It was a failure of the world community itself.
But this Veterans Day, we should also reflect on the positive things that came as a result of such a violent and terrible conflict. It created an idea that there should be other ways to handle disputes, such as international diplomacy, rather than spilling people’s blood. It fueled the creation of international treaties to make sure that it never happened again together with institutions to uphold them alongside its members. Even though the first attempts failed, the ideas of these peaceful solutions survive and live on today.
As long as people die of poverty, diseases and hunger there can be no true stability. As long as people die in internal conflicts that are not classified as wars caused by instability, there can not be a “War to End All Wars”.
