Part 1
Many thousands of people have
been to the Tower of London to view the growing number of poppies in the dry
moat. Between 4 August and 11 November
2014 a total of 888,246 hand-made ceramic poppies were planted. “Each one represents a British military death
during the First World War”. It was
called ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’.
The very many people there walked quietly along the path above the moat
taking photographs. Described
erroneously by someone on television as “pretty” it was a thought provoking
piece of art. The poppies were offered
for sale at £25 a time. All have
sold. (See also http://poppies.hrp.org.uk/ and https://poppies.hrp.org.uk/buy-a-poppy/
).
These photographs were taken
on 1 November 2014.
Part 2
Sir Tony Robinson came to the
Essex Record Office in September to speak at an event jointly organised by
Ancestry, the family history website.
The Lecture Theatre was full. In an
entertaining and informative talk he spoke on the subject of researching the
Great War.
The Internet has given
unparalleled access to archives. “It is now a million times easier to research [family]
history”, Tony said. (He does not like
being called Sir Tony.) His grandfather
fought in the Great War but never spoke of the hardships endured and sights
witnessed. “There are whole stories we
thought might be lost, but we are starting to re-find them”. So we can now celebrate “the rediscovery of
these stories”.
Sir Tony Robinson gave four
reasons why we should remember the Great War.
“Firstly, there is the ‘never
again argument’. We should observe
history and not repeat past mistakes.
“Secondly, ‘war is a massive
engine of social change’”. The First
World War saw the movement of people on a scale not seen before and inventions
of weapons of mass destruction. It was a
mechanical and industrial war bogged down in the trenches of the Western Front.
It was a different type of war with junior officers leading the charge and
senior officers doing their best to organise in the face of mayhem.
“Thirdly: ‘the impact of a
major war stays and stays’”. The breakup
of the Ottoman Empire and the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 devised by the
major powers which arbitrarily redrew boundaries to create Syria, Iran and
Iraq, but ignored cultural ethnicity.
“Fourthly: ‘to honour our
dead’. We know that our ancestors had
the same characteristics, same humour, same DNA as ourselves”. They are
remembered in the 120 war grave cemeteries, the 20 million WW1 records on
Ancestry (with more photos added as they are being discovered) as well as our
War Memorials.
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