The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.

Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, August 1914

Lights Out

Photo Copywright – www.1418now.org.uk/lights-out/

Lights Out

The outbreak of the First World War was a cataclysmic event in world history. We know now that the enormous losses, huge economic cost and unprecedented political upheavals incurred by the conflict would change the world forever. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems extraordinary to us that no one was able to intervene to halt the slow descent into war triggered by the unexpected assassination, in distant Sarajevo, of a foreign royal by a 19-year-old terrorist. Were Europe’s statesmen blind to the catastrophe that they were bringing down upon the world?

The British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, was among those to glimpse the enormity of the imminent war. For almost ten years he had aligned Britain into a deepening friendship with the great European powers of France and Russia. Although this new relationship had alienated Germany, Grey had tried to keep Britain free from any firm commitment to intervene should a wider European war break out. Yet in July 1914 he stood at the heart of the crisis as ultimatums came and went, and the political and military decisions were taken that made it increasingly likely that Britain would stand beside France and Russia if either was attacked by Germany or Austria-Hungary. The German invasion of Belgium en route to France finally tipped the balance, making Britain’s entry into war inevitable.

Late in the afternoon of 3 August, on the last day of peace, Grey stood at the window of his office in Whitehall and was overwhelmed by a sense of foreboding tragedy. As he looked out he saw that the streets lights were being lit down below. He turned to a visiting friend and observed, ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.’

ON MONDAY 4 AUGUST 2014, EVERYONE IN THE UK IS INVITED TO TURN THEIR LIGHTS OUT FROM 10PM-11PM LEAVING ON A SINGLE LIGHT OR CANDLE TO MARK THE MOMENT THE UK ENTERED THE FIRST WORLD WAR, ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 3rd 2014

12 Responses to “Cherie’s Place Thought for the Week”

  1. Sean Jeating says:

    Wars are no volcanos. They do not outbreak! Wars always are incited.
    The peace of the night.

    • CherryPie says:

      I think wars are decided…

      100 years on I think perhaps we are on the cusp of another large war being decided.

      However it is important to remember. Remembering is the only chance not to repeat past mistakes…

      The ‘Powers that be’ sadly work to a different agenda…

  2. He exaggerated, strangely enough… just showing how life picks up and carries on even after four years of slaughter, then gets the lamps lit ready for the next slaughter, then the next one…

    • CherryPie says:

      and the current slaughters!

      I wonder if man as a species will ever learn and get past the hate/slaughter phase. There are so many of us who do not subscribe to that, so why does it keep happening…

      • Sean Jeating says:

        Past is. Is presence. [Just look at all these memorials, memorial days, Imperial War Museums]
        Impossible to let bygones be bygones or even forget about. It’s there. Is presence. And maybe herein lies the reason that we remain unable to learn from the past.

        • CherryPie says:

          I think that you and I and others like us do learn from the past.

          I think that our leaders perhaps do not find it beneficial to learn from the past…

  3. Amfortas says:

    SOME will not let bygones be bygones.

    SOME will always covet.

    SOME will always see themselves as ‘better than me’ (as if !!!)

    The rest of us will always have to bear the brunt and deal with them.

    We do not stand on the shoulders of Giants. We stand on the graves of ordinary men.

  4. Wars are terribly awful.
    When can Israel and Gaza stop fighting?

  5. J_on_tour says:

    People seem to forget the reasons why we got involved in WW I, I being one of them. I can recollect my history teacher from my last year in school talking about this. Such pain, destruction and tragedy though.