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[Read about the futility of war in the context of World War One.]
The notion that there can be such a thing as a 'just war' might be one way to reconcile the different opinions on the relative horror and glory of war. If to fight means that, in the long term, the peace will be protected then it is possible, although paradoxical, to be both a pacifist and a soldier. This was the opinion of many combatants during both of the World Wars. However, whatever the rights of conflict itself, the manner in which it is fought may outweigh its morally virtuous intentions:-
Move him into the sun--
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.Think how it wakes the seeds--
Woke once the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides
Full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
--O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?
Futility by Wilfred Owen
[Read about the futility of war in the context of World War One.]
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Page created 10 August 2004 and last updated
21 August 2004
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