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War memorial
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A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.
Symbolism
Historic usage
For most of human history war memorials were erected to commemorate great victories.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.
Symbolism
Historic usage
For most of human history war memorials were erected to commemorate great victories. Remembering the dead was a secondary concern. Indeed in Napoleon's day the dead were shoveled into mass, unmarked graves. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris or Nelson's Column in London contain no names of those killed.
By the end of the nineteenth century it was common for regiments in the British Army to erect monuments to their comrades who had died in small Imperial Wars and these memorials would list their names. By the early twentieth century some towns and cities in the United Kingdom raised the funds to commemorate the men from their communities who had fought and died in the Second Anglo-Boer War.
However it was after the great losses of the First World War that commemoration took center stage and most communities erected a war memorial listing those men and women who had gone to war and not returned.
Modern usage
In modern times the main intent of war memorials is not to glorify war, but to honor those who have died. Sometimes, as in the case of the Warsaw Genuflection of Willy Brandt, they may also serve as focal points of increasing understanding between previous enemies.
Using modern technology an international project is currently archiving all war graves and memorials to create a virtual memorial (see The British War Memorial Project for further details).
History
World War I
During the First World War, many nations saw massive devastation and loss of life. In response, most cities in the countries involved in the conflict erected memorials, and the memorials in smaller villages and towns often listed the names of each local soldier who had been killed. Massive monuments commemorating thousands of dead with no identified war grave, such as the Menin Gate at Ypres and the Thiepval memorial on the Somme, were also constructed.
World War II and later
In many cases, the World War I memorials were later extended to also show the names of locals who died in the Second World War. Since that time memorials to the dead in other conflicts such as the Second World War and the Vietnam War have also noted individual contributions, at least in the West. In the Soviet Union, China, Japan and other nations,
Types
- A war memorial can be an entire building, often containing a museum, or just a simple plaque. Many war memorials take the form of a monument or statue, and serve as a meeting place for Memorial Day services. As such, they are often found near the centre of town, or contained in a park or plaza to allow easy public access.
- Many war memorials bear plaques listing the names of those that died in battle. Sometimes these lists can be very long. Some war memorials are dedicated to a specific battle, while others are more general in nature and bear inscriptions listing various theatres of war.
- Many war memorials have epitaphs relating to the unit, battle or war they commemorate. For example an epitaph which adorns numerous memorials in Commonwealth countries is "The Ode" by Laurence Binyon:
- They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
- Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
- At the going down of the sun and in the morning
- We will remember them.
- Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead.
- There are none of these so lonely and poor of old,
- but dying has made us rarer gifts than gold.
- I have fought the good fight,
- I have finished my course,
- I have kept the faith.
- When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
- For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today
- The Memorial Flag of the Royal Military College of Canada consisted of a Union Jack on a background adorned with 1100 green maple leaves bearing name of ex-cadets who served in war. The red maple leaves in centre memorialized cadets who made the supreme sacrifice. The Memorial stairway in the administration building is lined with paintings of ex-cadets who died on military service, which is visited by about 1,000 people each year
In cemeteries
Many cemeteries tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have an identical war memorial called the Cross of Sacrifice designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield that varies in height from 4.5 m to 9m depending on the size of the cemetery. If there are one thousand or more burials, a Commonwealth cemetery will contain a Stone of Remembrance, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens with words from Ecclesiasticus: "Their name liveth for evermore"; all the Stones of Remembrance are 3.5 m long and 1.5 m high with three steps leading up to them.
Arlington National Cemetery has a Canadian Cross of Sacrifice with the names of all the citizens of the USA who lost their lives fighting in the Canadian forces during the Korean War and two World Wars.
Controversy
Unsurprisingly, war memorials can be politically controversial. A notable example are the controversies surrounding Yasukuni Shrine in Japan, where a number of convicted World War II war criminals are interred. Chinese and Korean representatives have often protested against the visits of Japanese politicians to the shrine. The visits have in the past led to severe diplomatic conflicts between the nations, and Japanese businesses were attacked in China after a visit by former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the shrine was widely reported and criticized in Chinese and Korean media.
In a similar case, former German chancellor Helmut Kohl was criticised by writer Günter Grass and Elie Wiesel for visiting the war cemetery at Bitburg (in the company of Ronald Reagan) which also contained the bodies of SS troops. Unlike the case of the Yasukuni Shrine, there was no element of intentional disregard of international opinion involved, as is often claimed for the politician visits to the Japanese shrine.
Soviet WWII memorials included quotes of Joseph Stalin's texts, frequently replaced after his death. Such memorials were often constructed in city centres and now are sometimes regarded as symbols of Soviet occupation and removed, which in turn may spark protests (see Bronze Soldier of Tallinn).
In Australia, in 1981, historian Henry Reynolds raised the issue of whether war memorials should be erected to Indigenous Australians who had died fighting against British invaders on their lands.
- "How, then, do we deal with the Aboriginal dead? White Australians frequently say that 'all that' should be forgotten. But it will not be. It cannot be. Black memories are too deeply, too recently scarred. And forgetfulness is a strange prescription coming from a community which has revered the fallen warrior and emblazoned the phrase 'Lest We Forget' on monuments throughout the land. [...] [D]o we make room for the Aboriginal dead on our memorials, cenotaphs, boards of honour and even in the pantheon of national heroes? If we are to continue to celebrate the sacrifice of men and women who died for their country can we deny admission to fallen tribesmen? There is much in their story that Australians have traditionally admired. They were ever the underdogs, were always outgunned, yet frequently faced death without flinching. If they did not die for Australia as such they fell defending their homelands, their sacred sites, their way of life. What is more the blacks bled on their own soil and not half a world away furthering the strategic objectives of a distant Motherland whose influence must increasingly be seen as of transient importence in the history of the continent."
Reynolds' suggestion proved controversial. Occasional memorials have been erected to commemorate Aboriginal people's resistance to colonisation, or to commemorate white massacres of Indigenous Australians. These memorials have often generated controversy. For example, a 1984 memorial to the Kalkadoon people's "resistance against the paramilitary force of European settlers and the Queensland Native Mounted Police" was "frequently shot at" and "eventually blown up".
Famous examples
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Turkey
- Zafer Aniti-Turkish Independence War Glory Memorial
- Ulus Cumhuriyet Aniti-Ulus Turkish Republic Memorial
- Guven Aniti-Turkish Soldiers Memorial
- Gelibolu Peninsula (Gallipoli)
- Korean War Veterans Memorial
- Turkish Independence War Memorial
See also
External links
General:
- (Historical markers, memorials, monuments, and cemeteries worldwide)
United Kingdom:
- (from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website)
- (charity working to protect and conserve the estimated 65,000 War Memorials in the UK)
- (charity working to register UK war memorials)
- (public access forum recording all of Scotland's War Memorials)
United States:
- (including Navy Log and naval history information)
- , (Coronado California)
France:
-
- (Pictures of 1914-1918 memorials)(in French)
- (French war memorials (photos and inscriptions), in French)
Ireland:
- , (An inventory of war memorials in Ireland)
Other nations:
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