Day 209 -- the war to end all wars

One hundred years ago today the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia -- one month after 'the shot heard around the world' -- the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, the Duchess, in Sarjevo. That same day, Russia began to mobilize, ostensibly against the Austro-Hungarian empire, and thus began the cascade of events that led to a war that would last just over 4 years. This war resulted in the deaths of  about 8-11 million and wounding of 22-24 million combatants along with over 7 million civilian deaths due to combat, crimes against humanity, malnutrition and disease. Making sense of these numbers is difficult.

A forgotten group of combatants, though, are the service animals. With a recent movie and stage play, the plight of horses in WWI has been brought forward again. During that war, 8 million horses and countless mules and donkeys died. That is on par with the number of soldiers killed (8-11 million). Among the animals serving the fighting forces were messenger pigeons, dogs, and others. I've always been struck by the service provided by non-humans. When I was in London last year, one of the first memorials I searched for was the Animals in War Memorial at Brook Gate, Park Lane. This is a stunning visual metaphor showing animals working in battle on one side of a large concrete wall and animals walking upright in freedom on the other side. This appeared to me as animals walking through the openings in the wall to the freedom of an afterlife. I am so glad that I found it albeit on the meridian in the middle of a very busy street on a cold and snowy afternoon.

So, today I reflected on those who didn't choose to join the conflict -- conscripts, civilians and animals -- who found themselves thrown into a major conflagration with many not seeing their lives through to their natural ends. Choosing a song for today was not easy. Only one came to mind even though it is from a conflict far past WWI. It is very short and to the point. Enjoy!




Korean War Song -- Father Mulcahy