This headline caught my eye yesterday:
This week has marked another grim milestone in the nearly four-year long Russia-Ukraine war. The conflict has just entered its 1,419th day - which means it has officially surpassed the entirety of the historic Soviet campaign against invading Nazi Germany, which lasted 1,418 days from June 1941 to May 1945.
Red Army forces eventually drove Nazi troops back from the Volga River all the way to Berlin, before seizing the German capital. But in today's war, the 1,419th day is just another in a long one in a tragic and grinding war of attrition, where it is believed each side has lost literally hundreds of thousands.
. . .
On both sides, a whole generation of young men is being wiped out.
There's more at the link.
We too often focus on the geopolitical and/or military and/or strategic and/or statistical aspects of the Russia-Ukraine war. However, that misses the human tragedy that is playing out for both countries.
All nations involved in the two World Wars lost a significant proportion of their brightest and best young men. After those wars, their absence was noteworthy in that the performance of most of those countries (in any sphere you care to name) was less than expected, and lower than pre-war forecasts would have anticipated. My father, who fought in World War II, often said that the reason Britain descended into socialist chaos so fast after the war was that too many of the future leaders who could have kept her on track were dead. Leaders tend to make themselves vulnerable simply by leading, because they're priority targets in war. An army without effective leaders at all levels - NCO, junior officer, field officer, etc. - is a losing army, and, by extension, so is the nation that uses it.
We don't know what the future holds for either Russia or Ukraine, but we do know for certain that a lot of their young men aren't going to be there to help them. Both countries will suffer from this loss for decades to come.
May the dead of both sides be forgiven their sins, if that is possible, and may they rest in peace.
Peter
No comments:
Post a Comment