BRITAIN'S FORGOTTEN CONFLICTS - AND THE STORIES OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THEM. A LOOK AT BRITAIN'S MILITARY PAST THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF WAR MEMORIALS

After all the media coverage of World War One it is easy to think that war was all about trenches and the Somme, but Britons have been fighting for their country for hundreds of years, all over the world, and their deaths did not end with World War Two.

NEW: THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE, FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS, 1794

This site is an attempt to look at Britain's plethora of military campaigns using memorials to those who died in them as a starting point. I am avoiding the more obvious conflicts, or at least their most obvious aspects, as they are so well covered already, and am trying to identify instead the more obscure campaigns. Having said that, there are some World War 1 stories here, as it appears to be easy to ignore the naval side of that conflict, and fighting was not restricted to Western Europe and Gallipoli.

Some of these stories are of heroism and fortitude, of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty that can only be admired. Others are about bad luck, the moments of sheer chance that allow one person to live while another dies. But as I have written these stories two features stand out for me as recurring themes. One is the ineptitude, ignorance and arrogant foolishness of so many of the so-called leaders in these stories - the famous phrase "lions led by donkeys" comes to mind; the other is the brutality of the British Empire, dominated by a dreadful combination of arrogance, viciousness, cupidity and self-righteousness. As a child and young man I was proud of the Empire, entranced by the pink-dominated globes and the magic tales of the Raj and the Dark Continent. Now, I am ashamed. We can still honour those who died, but for the cause for which they fought  I have, with a few exceptions, nothing but anger and contempt.


Jon Dewhirst
November 2024





 © Jonathan Dewhirst 2020