War Is Victory or Defeat - Vera Brittain - Essay Example

Running Head: Vera…. Topic: Vera Brittain Order#: 295337 Topic: Vera Brittain Introduction: War means differently to different people. For a soldier, war is victory or defeat; life or death. For a sensitive individual, war is a total internal calamity. His/her suffering is immense. The harrowing experiences are too much to bear. The pages of human history, daubed in bloodshed on account of wars and other conflicts related to color and race, theology and religious conflicts, battles for annexation of territory etc. ask the crying question. How to make this Planet Earth heaven-like? The answer is simple and straightforward. Eyes full of understanding, hearts full of love and the life that refuses all sorts of conflicts that create walls between beautiful human relationships—enough, these alone are enough! How long will it take for humanity to realize this only alternative, to establish and enjoy the peace process on permanent basis! Ask Vera Brittain! She tells you everything about the tragedies of war and the value of peace, having gone through the harrowing experiences in the First World War. This novelist and poet, was born in 1893, in Newcastle under Lyme, England. She recalls in her book, “and I still remember seeing, at a very early age, alarming glimpses through a train window, of the pot-blank furnaces flaming angrily against a black winter sky.”(p.18)-- They say, the coming events cast their shadows before! Were the glowing flames the indicators, to the devastating ‘fire’ that engulfed most part of the Western world in World War I and II and the internal ‘fire’ that she carried for life in her heart! “Brutal force has not won anything durable!” was the final observation of Adolph Hitler, with who fighting wars and inflicting untold miseries on the people was kindergarten stuff, during his heydays. Vera has a world of caution for the younger generation—war is not the glorious adventure many young men think it to be! To be a woman has always been difficult in any society all over the world, but to be an ambitious woman is double tragedy for that individual. For, social restrictions will not let her personality bloom! Vera was born in 1893, and life was much more difficult for a woman 120 years ago, than what it is today. Being a female was a handicap, and Vera envied the status of her younger brother, who enjoyed life without restrictions. The year 1913, changed the course of her life entirely. She was accepted to study at Somerville College Oxford, no mean achievement in that era! Destiny played its part; she met her brother’s school friend Roland Leighton, to fall in love with him. Destiny dealt a cruel blow again, to her fond aspirations in life. Vera went to France to visit war battlefields. She saw the cemetery where her fiancé was buried. Her brother Edward too was killed in Italy, where he was buried. He was just 22! The British memorial in Thiepval, for the 73,367 men killed in the battle of Somme, whose bodies have never been found, shook her completely. The result of the maddening pursuits of the combustible younger generation lay in front of her in the graveyards! Such scenes sprouted the peace process in her heart that made her work relentlessly for the wellbeing of humanity. But three weeks after the war began, she wrote: “It was very hard to believe that not far away men were being slain ruthlessly. The destruction of men, as though beasts whether they be English, French, German or anything else, seems a crime to the whole march of civilization.” (Vera…..) ‘Testament of Youth’ tells Vera’s story and experiences. Her first hand exposure to the tragedies left behind by war was when she served as a nurse to the wounded soldiers in England, Malta and France. It looked strange and tragic to her—her assigned duty was to treat German prisoners-of-war; on the other hand, her brother had been trying to kill them. She was unable to find meaning for this absurdity, and the horrible consequences of war changed her thinking process entirely. Those experiences led her to firmly believe in pacifism. Working for peace process and engaging in verbal wars of discussion was as difficult as working in a war front. Mentally sick people were as difficult to tackle like as the physically sick, she realized. She began to work for the peace process after 1918. League of Nations (which later became United Nations) was her hope and the emphasis turned to maintaining collective security and force can be used only as the last resort. The discussions on peace led to more discussions only and nothing tangible happened towards achieving the goal of peace. Fed up of the only procedural aspects of peace proposals, and the never-ending discussions, in 1934 she wrote an article for a ‘real peace crusade.’ But soon, the peace process was back to square one. The peace movement faced a vertical division. Those who rejected war absolutely and those who gave qualified support to peace efforts. From 1937 onwards, she remained the staunch supporter for the rest of her life and was the ardent follower of the pacifist movement. Her inner development and sincere desire for peace took her to the portals at the final frontiers of the mind, but she could not transcend that, to advocate peace from the realm of spirituality. This is the problem with the intellectuals, howsoever sincere are their efforts. To impress the audience is one thing; to make them experience peace, not mere talk about it, is altogether a different issue. Basic conditions need to be created in the inner world of an individual to enable one to understand the vision of peace and bliss. The thought process of the individuals (including the leaders of the society) has to change. When the thought process is changed, the action process will also change. When the man is changed, the society is changed. The nation with such changed societies will make world peace an attainable reality. Unless, sincere efforts are made to reach that position, all efforts will be mere whitewash! Vera always stood by her principles, and acted on them without fear or favor. She protested against the treatment of Jews in Germany, and helped the refugees to escape to Britain. When the Second World War broke out, her relief efforts were in full swing, through the PPU’s food relief campaign. Her objective was to mitigate the suffering of the people due to war. It did not matter for her to which nationality they belonged. Truthful news is the first casualty in war, and propaganda reigns supreme. To let the world know what exactly was happening in the war fronts, from 1940 to 1946, she produced a fortnightly, “Letters to Peace-lovers’, and she provided all information that she could gain. She withstood the extensive anti-propaganda against the pacifists. As a result, she was blacklisted and her movements were restricted. She spent the most of the war years in London. Her important contribution to the peace efforts was when she opposed ‘saturating bombing’, the total bombardment of German cities to destroy them, which included the civilian population, to force the Nazis to surrender. She vehemently attacked the policy of murder and massacre. When war fever is rising, human decency is another casualty. Bereft of reason, reckless adventures of massacre and torture are carried out by the military. In 1944, her book, “Seed of Chaos: What Mass Bombing Really means”, had profound impact on the politicians all over the world, who conducted wars, and also on the mindsets of the military think-tanks. She explained how senseless it was to target the civilian populations on the excuse of seeking quick end to the war! Her peace efforts began afresh, when the war ended. She opposed punishing the German Nation as a whole, for the atrocities committed by Nazis during the war. She was unpopular with the Nazis as well. Her name figured in the Gestapo’s Black Book that listed 2,820 people to be arrested should Germany successfully invade Britain. Nazis did not like Pacifism. In 1951, when she was nearing 60, she decided to retire and devote her attention to writing exclusively. The book, “Testament of Experience” was published in 1957. She died in 1970, from the fall in 1966 through which she never recovered fully. Conclusion: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Vera Brittain belongs to the second category. She has given a very interesting book, and humanity will stand to benefit for a long time to come as for the views expressed and followed by her in letter in spirit. ============== References: Brittain, Vera. Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925 Paperback: 672 pages Publisher: Penguin Classics (September 1, 1994) Language: English ISBN-10: 0140188444 ISBN-13: 978-0140188448 VERA BRITTAINVera Brittain is best known for her book ‘Testament of Youth, in which she tells the story of her harrowing experiences in the First World War. ... www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/people/pst_vera.html - 14k - Cached – Retrieved on April 30, 2009 Read More