REMEMBRANCE OF THE FALLEN MULTICULTURALISED
The above picture is of a bronze memorial plaque in the grand domed Eighteenth Century Karlskirche in Vienna. The plaque is to the fallen of one of Imperial Austro-Hungary’s Dragoon Cavalry regiments. The ringing epitaph is “Treu Bis in Den Tod” which means:- “Loyal even unto Death”.
That loyalty was to the Hapsburg Emperors, Franz Joseph and Karl; the last two Emperors of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Empire was dismembered as a result of one of many of those unwise decisions taken at the end of the First World War which fed into the causes of the Second World War.
Here in England the traditional Remembrance Day service included “O Valiant Hearts”, the words are here:-
O Valiant Hearts, who to your glory came
Through dust of conflict and through battle-flame,
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
Your memory hallowed in the Land you loved.
Through dust of conflict and through battle-flame,
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
Your memory hallowed in the Land you loved.
Proudly you gathered, rank on rank to war,
As who had heard God’s message from afar;
All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave
To save Mankind – yourselves you scorned to save.
Splendid you passed, the great surrender made,
Into the light that nevermore shall fade;
Deep your contentment in that blest abode,
Who wait the last clear trumpet-call of God.
Long years ago, as earth lay dark and still
Rose a loud cry upon a lonely hill,
While in the frailty of our human clay
Christ, our Redeemer, passed the self-same way.
Still stands his cross from that dread hour to this
Like some bright star above the dark abyss;
Still through the veil the victor’s pitying eyes
Look down to bless our lesser Calvaries.
These were his servants, in his steps they trod,
Following through death the martyr’d Son of God:
Victor he rose; victorious too shall rise
They who have drunk his cup of sacrifice.
O risen Lord, O shepherd of our dead,
Whose cross has bought them and whose staff has led-
In glorious hope their proud and sorrowing land
Commits her children to thy gracious hand.
So here we have encapsulated, both on the Austro-Hungarian side and on the British side, what the generation who had gone to War actually thought about the War that they had been involved in fighting in.
By contrast those that are now in charge of political and cultural and media institutions that dominate our country, and those in other European countries, did not fight in either War. Most have not served at all in their country’s forces. In many cases they also played no role in the Cold War either (which followed the Second World War). If they had done so I doubt that many of them would now dishonestly claim that the European Union had any role in preserving peace in Europe after the Second World War. That role properly belongs to NATO and not the European Union at all.
Indeed the first test of the European Union’s ability to keep the peace occurred in Yugoslavia where the European Union and, in particular, Germany triggered a vicious civil war by their unwise and undiplomatic behaviour. Also armed Dutch “Peace Keeping” troops stood by whilst thousands of civilians were massacred at Srebrenica. We are nevertheless now urged that what the European Union actually needs is its own armed forces!
At a more symbolic level there was a mixed German/British choral remembrance event in Westminster Hall recently, which the political editor of the Sun on Sunday, David Wooding, tweeted about saying how wonderful it was. My email exchange with him went as follows:-
@DavidWooding
Oct 31
““Mozart’s C minor Mass performed in Westminster Hall to mark the centenary of the 1918 Armistice. The Parliament Choir teamed up with the German Bundestag Choir and the Southbank Sinfonia.”
@RobinTilbrook
Oct 31
Replying to @DavidWooding
“No ‘Hymn of Hate’ then?
We have all but a single hate,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone — ENGLAND!”
@DavidWooding
Oct 31
“This was a classical music concert, not a political rally.”
@RobinTilbrook
Oct 31
“The ‘Hymn of Hate’ was part of the German First World War propaganda effort; rather a contrast to “It’s a long way to Tipperary” don’t you think?”
@DavidWooding
Oct 31
“As I said, this was a performance of glorious music. You’re on the wrong thread here.”
As you can see he claims that I missed the point. Actually I think that my point was better than his!
Obviously a mixed choral event in Richard II’s great hall which has been at the very heart of English public life for over 600 years is a profoundly political statement. It is very deliberately symbolising the “reconciliation” of the Nations and is therefore the very opposite of what those wars were about, in which our Fallen are supposed to be commemorated on Remembrance Sunday.
I think that it is no coincidence that this event took place in a building which is now surrounded by all those well-entrenched Europhiles and Remainers in the British Political Establishment.
It was no doubt also people like them who decided to give £100,000 worth of “Heritage Lottery Fund” money to a multi-culturalist organisation called “Diversity House” in Sittingbourne, Kent, which is trying to promote the lie that the First World War was fought with millions of black troops!
The subtext of this is the British Political Establishment is trying to downplay the role of the real people of the real nations who actually fought that War.
It is true that some Indian troops were used from the British Imperial Indian Army. They were used mostly against the Turks in the Ottoman Empire but some were used on the Western Front for a while but were withdrawn because they could not cope with the awful conditions and especially the cold.
I think what is striking here is the anachronistic and inaccurate rewriting of history to make current political points. We have seen this too in France where President Macron falsely claimed that the wars were caused by “Nationalism”.
Just consider that the historic fact was that the British Government entered both the First and the Second World War in pursuit of England’s traditional foreign policy. That policy was to make sure that no one power dominated in Western Europe. We had fought numerous wars to stop the French from doing so and the Spanish before them, but in the 20th Century our wars were to stop the Germans from dominating in Western Europe.
The current British Political Establishment surrendered that policy and instead reinforced dominance of one power block over Western Europe. That power block is the EU of which the most dominant Nation is Germany. They have therefore put us in exactly the position that English Statesmen for centuries have tried to avoid, with a dominant power block right next to us on mainland Europe!
To anybody who is rationally applying Realpolitik in considering what England’s diplomatic position should be, I would say that the answer is blindingly obvious.
We should revert to our traditional policy. We should seek to make every effort to break up the European Union. We should not pursue Theresa May and her Government’s pure-blind policy of friendship with the European Union.
The EU have never been our friends and are certainly not our friends now. They are now more like enemies than friends.
There are plenty of Europeans however who would be happy to be friends with us if we were showing any real leadership.
Whether it is possible for the British Political Establishment however to show any real leadership that is another question. I do think Brexit has given us a clear and unequivocal answer, that is that they are quite incapable of leadership. The sooner the British Political Establishment are ejected and replaced with proper patriots the better!
