90 years since the 1st World War and 60 years since the 2nd World War, is it still relevant, or is it time to stop all the pomp and ceremony? Do you buy a poppy every year, if you do, do you wear it?

 

Is this just a day for the older generation, or do the young care about it?

 

Or should we remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us?

 

 

 

 

 

I admit it angers me to see politicians at these ceremonies, when they are responsible for sending in troops today, without the proper kit.

We had a minute silence at work today for remembrance day ^_^

 

i think it still has its place in the world

If it was not for those who defended our country in the wars we would be wearing jackboots and swastikas today not poppies and we certainly would not be chatting on here as freedom of speech under nazi rule would be non existent, we have a DUTY to remember those who took part in WW1 and WW2

It should be apart of British life forever.

 

I think young people maybe feel less about it on the whole, but I also think this is down to the fact things are different now. People still do care, but I just don't think it's as well publised around younger generations now. Personally for me I feel very strongly about remembrance day for personal reasons. Added to this, a lot of my family died in WW2 (I didn't know them, but still...) and also I have people connected to my family who are currently serving in Iraq.

Still relevant to me, 3 out of 4 of my grandparents served in some capacity in the Second World War. I made a pilgrimage to where one of them served just over 2 years ago.

I think everyone should observe the silence and everyone should wear a poppy - whatever age. Make it mandatory, in fact - there's little enough times when this country is as 'one' as it is.

 

It's not just in remembrance of WW's 1 and 2...but all the stupid wars we've been involved in since.

 

Had its day? Totally not.

We certainly should always observe Remembrance Day. We should never forget the sacrifices that have been made for us and it is as relevant today, as always.

If it was not for those who defended our country in the wars we would be wearing jackboots and swastikas today not poppies and we certainly would not be chatting on here as freedom of speech under nazi rule would be non existent, we have a DUTY to remember those who took part in WW1 and WW2

 

What did WW1 have to do with Nazism Craig....? In fact, if you ask me, it's what we and the French did to Germany after WW1, at the Treaty of Versailles, that probably was the chief reason WHY someone like Hitler managed to rise to power in Germany.... Versailles caused anger, resentment and bitterness amongst the German people, something which an opportunist like Hitler was more than able to exploit. Had we treated Germany with more respect and supported the Weimar Republic, then Hitler would probably never have risen to power...

 

 

 

I admit it angers me to see politicians at these ceremonies, when they are responsible for sending in troops today, without the proper kit.

 

Politicians are responsible FOR the World Wars if you ask me mate.... WW1 was fought on absolutely ridiculous subtexts, it was purely about the Empirical powers of France and Britain feeling threatened by German power, using the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as an excuse to go to war; then it was politicians AGAIN which enforced a cruel, capricious and punitive "peace" on Germany at Versailles, which basically tore apart the country and allowed Hitler to come in and use the anger of the Germans to fuel his Third Reich....

 

As for today, Politicians have absolutely NO right to attend these ceremonies if you ask me.. Well, maybe apart from the ones who voted against the Iraq War....

 

If it was not for those who defended our country in the wars we would be wearing jackboots and swastikas today not poppies and we certainly would not be chatting on here as freedom of speech under nazi rule would be non existent, we have a DUTY to remember those who took part in WW1 and WW2

 

 

I think everyone should observe the silence and everyone should wear a poppy - whatever age. Make it mandatory, in fact - there's little enough times when this country is as 'one' as it is.

 

It's not just in remembrance of WW's 1 and 2...but all the stupid wars we've been involved in since.

 

Had its day? Totally not.

 

 

We certainly should always observe Remembrance Day. We should never forget the sacrifices that have been made for us and it is as relevant today, as always.

 

fully agree with these posts, whatever the rhymes and reasons for those wretched wars, the lads did what they believed at the time to be the right thing to do.

 

would they have been so eagre to risk their lives if they could see britian today?... i very much doubt it. britian today isnt what they fought for, as many of the values they fought to uphold have now been erroded.

would they have been so eagre to risk their lives if they could see britian today?... i very much doubt it. britian today isnt what they fought for, as many of the values they fought to uphold have now been erroded.

 

I think people would've still fought an enemy army which was pretty much on their doorstep Rob (ie, the Nazis..), but WW1 was an absolute catastrophic waste of life and SHOULD have been resisted by the workers from ALL nations, as it was resisted by the Bolsheviks who revolted against their leaders.. Of course there were other internal factors in the Revolution, but, the straw that broke the camel's back as it were, was WW1...

 

I'll always maintain that the supposed "war to end all wars" just led to an even more hellish and catastrophic conflict, because even though Britain and France may have won that war, they lost the peace in the long-run and created the conditions for Hitler and the Third Reich...

 

The sheer volume of resistance to Iraq has proven that people aren't just willing to be slavishly obedient anymore and just go along with whatever bullsh!t their leaders tell them.... That aint necessarily a bad thing you know.... My Grandad (who fought the Nazis and also against Franco's facists in Spain) always blamed Thatcher for what this country became, right up until he died in 1991... At least he got to see her humiliated and forced to step down, he once said "I bloody killed people like her, now they're letting them have power in this bloody country, somebody give me a bayonet, I'll show 'em...." :lol:

"Has Remembrance Sunday had its day?"

 

It only will be if someone goes back in time and stops Britain from joining the two World Wars, has all 26 Irish counties breaking away from London, prevents the Falkland Islands from being invaded by Argentina etc.

 

And, much like every year, I bought a poppy and wear it every day - and would do even if my dad wasn't in the Navy during the Falklands War. I'll also be drumming it into my kids as well (when I have them, of course).

What did WW1 have to do with Nazism Craig....? In fact, if you ask me, it's what we and the French did to Germany after WW1, at the Treaty of Versailles, that probably was the chief reason WHY someone like Hitler managed to rise to power in Germany.... Versailles caused anger, resentment and bitterness amongst the German people, something which an opportunist like Hitler was more than able to exploit. Had we treated Germany with more respect and supported the Weimar Republic, then Hitler would probably never have risen to power...

 

Percisely what I was thinking.

has all 26 Irish counties breaking away from London

 

Yeah, people seem to forget about that dont they...? They convieniently blame the IRA for all the ills that happened in Ireland, while totally ignoring the FACT that Lloyd George was chiefly responsible for the "troubles" when he split Ireland apart in the 1920s and partitioned the country. Northern Ireland remains one of UK's oldest colonies....

 

Your dad should never have had to fight Thatcher's filthy war in 1982, it should've been far more resisted... But instead, the r*t**** just waved the union jacks, and carped on about patriotism and "the Empire strikes back", whilst ignoring the facts that we were killing teenaged Argentinian conscripts who had no particular wish to be there, but did so because they had the same bullsh!t about "patriotism" burned into their brains by their fascistic politicians.... It's always been of great sadness to me that we cannot seem to recognise the fact that ordinary Brits, Argentinians, Iraqis, Afghans, Iranians, Germans, etc probably have more in common with each other than they do with their Govts and rulers.... Yet, who is it who does the fighting and the dying, and who is it that sits back and spouts the bullsh!t about "patriotism"....? :(

 

Which is why I believe that "Remembrance Day" should be for ALL soldiers who fought and died, even old foes, because our lads have more in common with them than with the arseholes who send them to their deaths.... Politicians are the ones who have no right to attend if you ask me, because they just use these ceremonies for their own political agendas....

Which is why I believe that "Remembrance Day" should be for ALL soldiers who fought and died, even old foes, because our lads have more in common with them than with the arseholes who send them to their deaths....

 

spot on m8

If it was not for those who defended our country in the wars we would be wearing jackboots and swastikas today not poppies and we certainly would not be chatting on here as freedom of speech under nazi rule would be non existent, we have a DUTY to remember those who took part in WW1 and WW2

I can just see you chanting "If it wasn't for the English you'd be krauts" at football matches. You are assuming fascism in Europe would have lasted 20 years longer than communism did. Maybe it would have done, maybe not.

Politicians are responsible FOR the World Wars if you ask me mate.... WW1 was fought on absolutely ridiculous subtexts, it was purely about the Empirical powers of France and Britain feeling threatened by German power, using the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as an excuse to go to war; then it was politicians AGAIN which enforced a cruel, capricious and punitive "peace" on Germany at Versailles, which basically tore apart the country and allowed Hitler to come in and use the anger of the Germans to fuel his Third Reich....

Wasn't it Austria that declared war on Serbia, meaning that Britain and France came to Serbia's aid (as an ally, i think)?

 

I didn't know the peace was all that bad. I mean the Versailles treaty was quite harsh, but Hitler still led his troops into Rhineland, Sudtenland, the rest of Czech Republic, breaking the treaty and no action was taken. It was only until Poland was invaded that war was declared. That was what i was taught at school.

I didn't know the peace was all that bad. I mean the Versailles treaty was quite harsh, but Hitler still led his troops into Rhineland, Sudtenland, the rest of Czech Republic, breaking the treaty and no action was taken. It was only until Poland was invaded that war was declared. That was what i was taught at school.

But the Versailles treaty left Germans feeling totally humiliated. Hitler exploited that to gain power. The point others have made is that Hitler would have been less likely to gain power in the first place with a different post-WW1 treaty.

What did WW1 have to do with Nazism Craig....? In fact, if you ask me, it's what we and the French did to Germany after WW1, at the Treaty of Versailles, that probably was the chief reason WHY someone like Hitler managed to rise to power in Germany.... Versailles caused anger, resentment and bitterness amongst the German people, something which an opportunist like Hitler was more than able to exploit. Had we treated Germany with more respect and supported the Weimar Republic, then Hitler would probably never have risen to power...

 

In hindsight this is quite true, and it obviously was a major reason why Hitler came to power, but at the same time I can understand why Versailles was so harsh on Germany. Away from France being very nationalistic and not wanting Germany to conquer France at any stage, WW1 caused catastrophic damage. Fathers, sons, nephews, grandfathers, uncles, cousins etc. died and people always want to point the blame at someone, and the easiest person to blame was Germany. British people (and everyone) never wanted another war to happen, and at the time I believed a war would never happen (well, most people... some clever people did actually predict the rough time of when the next war would be after Versailles was signed :lol:) with these same points.

 

But I do agree that Versailles was way too harsh on Germany, especially as Austria got away with a lot of stuff, when they were just as bad as Germany. If the treaty wasn't as harsh then maybe WW2 would never have happened, but we don't know that. Hitler would have created Nazism regardless of the treaty, as he was very nationalistic. But anyway iirc it was the depression what was the main reason why Hitler actually got control of germany in the first place.

I was just watching BBC4 and a documentary about the final hours of WW1. It said an estimated 10000 men died on the last day. The peace treaty was signed at 5 in the morning. Even after this news with less then 6 hours of war left generals still sent men into the meat grinder. The last American died at 10:59.... Even with the fact that they would be able to cross the land infront of them safely they were still forced to fight for it. FUKKING MADNESS.