Nearly everybody who visits this blog has lived a postwar life, untroubled by bombs or bullets. We haven't had to heed sirens before scrambling into air-raid shelters and we haven't had to wait for the knock on the door that precedes the sombre announcement that a loved one has died fighting for our country. We have been very lucky but peace is not something we should ever take for granted.
I copied the following from Yahoo News UK last week. The item was covered by all serious British newspapers.
Britain should be prepared to “train and equip” a “citizen army” that could take part in a land conflict, the head of the British Army has said, sparking fears over a third world war.
Tensions with Russia remain high amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine and General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing chief of the general staff, said that other countries are already “laying the foundations for national mobilisation” to counter the “Russian threat”. The military top brass said Britain should “train and equip the citizen army that must follow".
He added: “We will not be immune and as the pre-war generation we must similarly prepare — and that is a whole-of-nation undertaking. Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them.” Sanders said he was not in favour of conscription – forcing citizens to undertake military service – but suggested that volunteers could sign up for a potential land war.
It might be said that General Sir Patrick Sanders has been a military man all his life, rather invested in the business of preparing for potential battles and even wars. However, that is not a reason for dismissing his warnings. Others have been suggesting the same thing - that World War Three may be just around the corner.
It is a scary prospect but it's not some crazy fantasy. Look at Putin and look at Kim Jong Un. Look at the possibility of a second term for Trump. Look at Iran. Look at the effects of climate change and the movement of people. This is not Nirvana. It is not La-La Land. Keeping some kind of peace since 1945 has been difficult enough over the last eighty years but stretching that out for another eighty years may be too much to expect.
What we have is so very fragile. It could easily fracture so that in the future people may look back and say - Those days between WWII and WWWIII - that was the best time for us, our golden age.
What do you think?
I think that with all the high tech detecting devices that it would be difficult to attack as in the Ukraine. Drones have changed war. War has been changed because of high tech. I don't think anybody would try full out war as it's risky.
ReplyDeletePeople who know more about war than I do are predicting World War Three.
DeleteI think you're right sadly and it scares the shit out of me.
ReplyDeleteIt might start to happen sooner than we think.
DeleteIt's a scary world. Let's hope out worst fears are never realised
ReplyDeleteTwenty or thirty years ago, things seemed less chaotic and more certain.
DeleteI agree all countries should have a "Citizen's Army" ready to help defend, at the same time I dread the thought of another world war breaking out. In my family there are six young men old enough to be called up to go and fight and I don't want that to happen. And that doesn't include any children of my inlaws, I don't know how many of those young men are over 18. I'm sure I'm not alone in this dread.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to guess what they might be fighting for - maybe just the right to exist.
DeleteI don't agree and I hope I'm right. The world has too much to lose, with sophisticated missiles pointed in all directions and nuclear weapons at the ready. As I recently read, I am not sure I would want to survive a nuclear war.
ReplyDeleteI would like to join you in the "don't agree" camp but evidence seems to be pointing in a different direction.
DeleteAll it would take is for some idiot to accidentally lean on the wrong red button.
DeleteHmmm... I don't know how "Ukraine [...] illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them". As far as I can tell (and it's on our main news almost every night), the war in Ukraine is still going on and far from being won by either party, regular or citizen army.
ReplyDeleteIt does worry me, of course - Ukraine is not all that far from Germany (which explains the great influx of Ukrainians seeking refuge in this country). We all see the effects this particular war is been having on us every day, be it the cost of living or the large numbers of children entering our education system without knowing the language.
The situation in Gaza is VERY worrying, too. In fact, if one were so inclined, one could be worrying 24/7 - but it wouldn't change a thing.
Not sure how much you are aware of what is going on in Germany these days, Neil. Unlike my usual posts, in my current post I am actually talking politics.
Okay. I am coming over to read that Meike.
DeleteTony Benn said that there can not be a conventional war in Europe because of all the nuclear power stations. I think if there is a WW3 the infantry will be the ones pressing the nuclear weapons buttons.
ReplyDeleteWith nukes maybe it's like chess - you reach a stalemate as a more conventional war gathers apace.
DeleteWell, I really don't know what to think. It is just too awful to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteLet's all turn off The News and purchase some blinkers.
DeleteNobody would sign up. Like the Ukrainians who have left the country.
ReplyDeleteThe brave ones who stayed are in the majority I think.
DeleteThey are trying to set up a pan-European army so maybe all this fear-mongering has something to do with that!
ReplyDeleteI had not thought about that.
DeleteSadly there have always been wars throughout history - there is always conflict somewhere in the world. Lately things seem to have been hotting up and have come nearer to home for us in Europe. It just needs one mad man convinced he can take over the world to start things off and we seem to have several at the moment. Man seems, by nature, to be a warmonger.
ReplyDeleteWoman seems, by nature, to be a tidier.
DeleteCoincidentally, I am reading Erik Larson's Splendid and the Vile about Churchhill and World War II at the moment. Combined with this post, I wonder if the U.S. would come and rescue England a second time. I'm guessing sending soldiers would be out this time around but I'm sure we would be sending lots of weapons and equipment. Perhaps the citizen army there needs to read up on the manuals before they arrive.
ReplyDeleteNo British man who fought in WWII ever thought that the Americans came to "rescue" us. They were more likely to have said that the Americans came to reinforce our efforts to defeat the Nazis and it's a shame that they took far too long to get involved.
DeleteMy apologies, I didn't word that very elegantly.
DeleteSadly I think it is inevitable, in some form or other. So scary I try not to think about it but it's hard to ignore.
ReplyDeleteIf only we could live in total ignorance of what is happening in the real world.
Delete"Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them.“ seems a premature conclusion.
ReplyDeleteGood point.
DeleteRussia is struggling to fill the ranks an put boots on the ground in Ukraine. Cyberwar is a greater threat.
ReplyDeleteUkraine will be seen as a tiny skirmish when the real thing (possibly) happens.
DeleteThe thought of Trump becoming president again sends me into an incredible funk. Not only will it be bad for the USA, but the rest of the world as well.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. His return to The White House would make the entire globe less safe.
DeleteI think I don't want to think about it.
ReplyDeleteI guess that worrying about the prospect is certainly not good for our mental well-being.
DeleteThere's a lot of talk of war and "being prepared" (for just about anything) here in Sweden as well lately (on the brink of joining Nato now, after Turkey recently approved there's only Hungary left that haven't yet done so). After decades of disarmament we're certainly behind with a lot of things of that kind. (State as well as individual citizens.)
ReplyDeleteSweden's easy-living neutrality may be becoming part of history.
DeleteI think none of us know what will happen and I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I don't see myself as a citizen-army type (probably too old, for one thing), but I'll do my part one way or another.
ReplyDeleteBeing a citizen means that we have obligations if and when the shit hits the fan.
Delete"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
ReplyDeleteHis theory was relative.
Delete