"The war to end all wars"

Today is November 11, 2018.  That is meaningful for two reasons.  The first is fairly easy, but the second is perhaps less obvious.  First, the easy one - today is Veteran's Day (known as Remembrance Day in Canada and other countries outside the U.S.), an official holiday on which we honor our nation's military veterans (those who served in the Armed Forces).  What is perhaps less obvious is that today also marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, "the war to end all wars."  Veteran's Day was originally known as Armistice Day, for November 11, 1918 was the day that hostilities ended after more than 4 years of war.  Peace officially began on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

The phrase, "the war to end all wars" is often attributed to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who in fact only used the phrase once (along with his phrase "make the world safe for democracy").  However, the phrase was probably first used by the British author, H.G. Wells.  Wells had published a series of articles on the war in a London newspaper that were subsequently published collectively in a book called The War That Will End War. The phrase was used with some amount of skepticism and cynicism - the British politician, David Lloyd George, reportedly said, "This war, like the next war, is a war to end war."

History, as it seems, has a sense of irony.  Reflect for a moment on some of the causes of World War I.  While the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Bosnian Serb on June 28, 1914 is often considered the crisis that led to the outbreak of war, historians agree that the growing militarism and nationalism during the years preceding the summer of 1914 (the July Crisis) played a major causative role leading to the outbreak of worldwide hostilities.  What is ironic is that we are experiencing some of these same militaristic and nationalistic tendencies today, on this hundredth year anniversary of the end of the "war to end all wars." 

Just today, French President Emmanuel Macron warned of the growing and disturbing trend of nationalism in a speech commemorating the end of World War I ("Macron warns against nationalism in apparent rebuke of Trump at WWI commemoration").  Macron said, with several world leaders, including the U.S. President, in attendance, "Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism."  He went on, "By saying, ‘Our interests first, who cares about the others,’ we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what gives it grace and what is essential: its moral values."

Today, of all days, we should recognize that we need each other.  We live in a global age, where the success or failure of each and every nation is both intertwined and interdependent.  We can't "go it alone", nor should we try.  The growing trends of nationalism and militarism have no place in this new world order.  Today, of all days, we should learn the lessons of our past.  Today, of all days, we can best honor our veterans by taking the necessary steps to avoid war and find global peace. 

Leadership is about doing the right thing, even when its not popular.  Today, of all days, we need leaders who will steer us in the opposite direction of the prevailing winds of nationalism and militarism.  Then, and only then, will we truly understand the meaning of patriotism.  Then, and only then, can we honor those veterans, many of whom gave their lives in the "war to end all wars" and all the ones after.