British style poppy for November 11.

[O'Callaghan]

On the whole, I am against most wars. WW2 was well justified, but WW1 was one of the most pointless ever. Even then, I mean pointless in that it should not and need not have happened. Defence of our allies was still justified once it got that far. It just never should have. My grandfather served in the Royal Artillery in the Somme, with horse drawn guns.

The best thing we can do in our current conflicts is get out. Nothing further can be served by remaining, and the Iraq invasion was based entirely on lies, or fiction at best, depending on how charitable one wishes to be.

I always wore a poppy until I emigrated to America over twenty years ago, but since I have been here I have never once seen one. I will try to seek out the American Legion. From the pics here theirs look a bit different, but that's not the point.

[ThistleDown]

I suggest caution here. Canuck of NI now has his poppy, the purpose of his thread, and any deviation from that purpose into areas leading to conflict between members will cause the thread to be closed.

Rex for the Staff

[BoldHighlander]

On a somewhat related note, I noticed in photos yesterday of the young stars of "Harry Potter" wearing red poppies...good for them!

Seeing Red: Why the 'Harry Potter' Stars Wore Red Flowers on the Red Carpet

While fans of the "Harry Potter" series headed to the Web on Thursday to catch the London red carpet premiere of the latest movie, others wondered why the actors wore matching red poppy boutonnieres...

Read more of the story here.

[tripleblessed]

Mike, I stayed in Rondebosch my first trip to SA, found the campus quite pretty and pleasant, don't
recall that building. I think I prefer it that way.

On topic, I always had poppies when small, very affected by the poem and the cemeteries, glad my
family members came home from WWI. Heavily damaged, but home. Don't see the poppies as much
anymore, and the last few haven't gotten out in it much, having buried my father (WWII) 11/11/05
at 11AM. That needs to change.

[macwilkin]

On the whole, I am against most wars. WW2 was well justified, but WW1 was one of the most pointless ever. Even then, I mean pointless in that it should not and need not have happened. Defence of our allies was still justified once it got that far. It just never should have. My grandfather served in the Royal Artillery in the Somme, with horse drawn guns.

The best thing we can do in our current conflicts is get out. Nothing further can be served by remaining, and the Iraq invasion was based entirely on lies, or fiction at best, depending on how charitable one wishes to be.

I always wore a poppy until I emigrated to America over twenty years ago, but since I have been here I have never once seen one. I will try to seek out the American Legion. From the pics here theirs look a bit different, but that's not the point.

Some historians wouldn't agree with the more conventional wisdom about the pointlessness of the First World War:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwa...igins_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwa...tions_01.shtml

This isn't necessarily my opinion, but I do have my students read these articles as a counterpoint to the more traditional view of the "War to End All Wars". From the German perspective, Lt. Ernst Jünger's memoirs Storm of Steel also contradicts the views of Jünger's comrade, Eric Maria Remarque.

I'll shut up now. My point was not to enflame, but to provide an alternate viewpoint, one that I don't necessarily hold. As I tell my students, it's up to them as to whether they accept it or not.

T.

[Mike_Oettle]

Thanks, Todd, for that contribution. As you say, the history of both wars is complicated, and I am uncertain how close I am to overstepping the guidelines.
But I do feel it necessary to mention that the end of the 1914-18 conflict was not, as Hitler and many of his compatriots wanted the world to believe, an act of internal sabotage in Germany, but an actual military defeat in the field on the western front.
It was military defeat that triggered the collapse of the German and Austrian governments (at several levels) and their replacement with republican regimes and, in many instances, separatist nationalist aspirations (as in the lands that became Czechoslovakia).
And over and above the Mitteleuropa plan, pre-war Germany also had a Mittelafrika plan, in which the Germanised Belgium would cede its Congo colony to Germany, which would then link up its African holdings through the annexation of Angola and the French colonies between the Congo River and Kamerun.
So, for instance, the South African seizure of German South West Africa was not purely an act of British imperial expansion, but also a defensive move against an aggressive enemy.
The German forces in SWA had already invaded South African territory before the South African army turned its attention to that country.
Regards,
Mike

[Lallans]

Update on the white poppy issue that came up earlier: the local leftist ladies did deposit two white poppy wreaths on the Canadian National War Memorial and local TV news that evening showed a young chap removing them while remarking that they consitituted a "desecration." This was NOT me.