The Purpose of Warfare is to Memorialize the Dead

The purpose of war is to create memorials to the dead.

The First World War was the occasion of massive slaughter—with an estimated 9 million dead, 21 million wounded, and 8 million missing in action. What was the purpose of this monumental episode of collective self-destruction?

The prominent historian Jay Winter concludes his video series stating that the Great War “solved no problems.” Its effects were negative, disastrous and economically destructive. It was the outstanding example in European history of “meaningless conflict.”

For four years, men were asked to get out of trenches and run into machine-gun fire and artillery shells. They were treated as cannon fodder; promiscuously sacrificed. Substantially more care was devoted to cemeteries honoring the dead, which were showered with meticulous, loving care.

Memorials testify to the reality of our sacred ideals. Death in warfare proves these ideals are real. If so many human beings have died for some thing, how is it possible that this thing could be a fantasy?

Soldiers are sent to war in order to sacrifice their lives. Memorials honor the dead. Wars are undertaken to persuade us that nations are real.