Of Wars Both Cold and Hot

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, an event that marked the end of an era, The Cold War. Tomorrow is Veterans Day, a day that honors soldiers who have served this country in wars both cold and hot, but initially began as Armistice Day, a day remembering the end of "The War to End All Wars." Both events are worth remembering. Both events signal the end of something that cost a great many lives because of political differences in the world.

The Cold War was, in many ways, one of the most brutal, protracted military engagements between two nations in the history of the world. While the two main combatants, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., never really went to war with one another, they fought from 1945 until the late 1980's or early 1990's. They fought through proxies in Vietnam and in Afghanistan. They fought through spy games around the globe. They supplied arms and monetary support to 3rd world nations around the globe. People suffered, people died for nearly 50 years because of the argument over capitalism vs. communism. If you hadn't heard, the capitalists won. The communists oppressed their people, and imprisoned and killed the dissenters. The capitalists merely stole from theirs, and kept a great many in poverty, but that's another story.

It is incredible to me still, that the great conflict known as the Cold War came to a screeching halt not in a hail of bullets, not in a nuclear holocaust, but without a shot being fired, as the communists gave up and the people celebrated on the symbol of the East-West Divide, the Berlin Wall. Communist governments one after another simply ceased to exist without civil strife. New governments were built. The iron curtain was put away, and East and West Germans became, just Germans. Soviet Communists became Russians once again. As the old order crumbled, nations that hadn't seen self-determination in decades and decades once again became sovereign.

The armistice at the end of World War I, however, ended only after the first "Total War" in human history. Millions of soldiers died of trench warfare, poison gas, machine guns, bombs, and ugly disease. Millions of civilians died of starvation, disease, and unrestricted submarine warfare. It came as the result of global competition for colonies, wealth, domination, and empire. At the end, Woodrow Wilson had a vision for the future, a future without war, and where nations had the right to determine their own fates.

Armistice Day was set out to remember the end of that great tragedy that was World War I, in the belief that we could avoid further conflicts, in the belief that technology had reached a point where war was unthinkable. Sadly, the end of World War I sowed the seeds of World War II and even more people died in more unthinkable ways. World War II sowed the seeds of the Cold War. Now we find ourselves remembering all veterans, not just those who fought the war that was supposed to end all wars.

In our ignorance and humanity we have not found a way to end wars. They go on and on. There is always another big one. Now the war de jour is the war between radical Islam and the Western world that they believe threatens their way of life. There are yet more casualties every day. One day, we will have a day commemorating the end of the Crusades, Part II. Until then we have Veterans Day to remember all soldiers, from all conflicts. Take a moment and remember that The Cold War ended when a whole group of people simply tired of the whole thing and realized the stupidity of the conflict. They simply stopped.

Now if the radical Islamists could be made to see the futility, the stupidity of their condemnation of everyone not just like themselves. If they could be made to see the economic sense of ending war, the benefits to be reaped from a peaceful interaction with the rest of the world, regardless of culture, belief, or way of life. If our own government could be made to see that we cannot possibly pound everyone who disagrees with us into submission. Trying to do so simply costs needless lives on both sides. Until then, we have Veterans Day.