How long are we likely to commemorate the world war events?

[SprigatitoYouAndIKnow]

Seeing the footage of the D Day today made me wonder how long this will go on for. My generation had grandparents who fought and some parents who were young children in WW2. I remember grandparents saying about their parents experienceof WW1 too. I feel lucky to grow up in a free country, but my kids don't have the same links or memories.

We don't still commemorate ancient battles that were won, or any infighting between the nations of our island. The world wars were on a much larger scale and had a very clear and evil enemy, so I would expect more collective remembering. I very much hope we don't have an equally big, or bigger, conflict in the future, so I assume that these things will go on for many years to come. Is there precedence from history?

I was thinking the same today. I think when all the WW2 veterans have died we will probably stop lot of it although there will probably be a centenary celebration.

Sorry but your post is distasteful today.

My grandfather fought at the battle of the Somme, at 16 years old. Just - for a single moment - try to imagine that. 16,
I’m only 60. I’m incredibly thankful. You and your children ought to be, too.

How insensitive can you be.

I don’t think it’s distasteful at all.

I think remembering is important but I worry in the future it will become more and more of a celebration and a platform for politians to push their agenda.

I don't think this post is very respectful of all the people who lost their lives. Especially today ffs

There are no words. Well there are but they're all rude. Shameful post OP, today of all days.

We think about it forever....don't we?

I talked about it with my class of 6 year olds and they agreed the people that died for us shall always be remembered!

They are 6!

It's a good question.

But OTOH, WW1 and WW2 were such major events. Unlike anything that happened before.

I am sure that many people aren't aware of conflicts that happened 100 years before they were born.

Forever, hopefully.

Lest we forget.

I am not trying to be disrespectful, I said I was thankful to them. I am not objecting to the commemerations, I think they are very well done. I am grateful to live in a world where the bad guys were defeated by brave people, including my grandparents and great grandparents. I am just wondered how things will continue to be viewed in future.

I agree.

At some point in the future, we won't be remembering the events of WW1 and WW2.

We may have other events to remember instead.

It might not be our children's generation - but at some point, it will be history.

We still haven't learnt the lessons from history though. Even though we remember the people who died in war.

No-one is saying we shouldn't be recognising D-Day or honouring the veterans, but it's a valid question to wonder if, in a decade, when no-one is still alive who fought in either war, whether those days of remembrance will lose some significance. My opinion is that they will. The involvement of veterans is a huge and poignant part of remembrance day and D-day and what makes it "real" vs something intangible that happened before most of us alive now were born. Additionally, the political and cultural legacy of the world wars (post war consensus) is becoming increasingly distant and less relevant and that will impact how much the two world wars remain part of the European narrative and thus part of what is "relevant history".

I don’t think it’s “disrespectful” to ask this question. Get a grip.

OP, I think WWI and WWII will continue to be commemorated far into the future, even once all the veterans have died. Even once all their children have died, too. Fact being, they are world wars. The world had never seen anything so catastrophic before, with involvement from so many countries, and (hopefully!) never will again. That’s why it’s not comparable to other past conflicts you have mentioned.

Even if we have a WWIII with millions of casualties (hopefully unlikely!), I think we would continue to commemorate WWI and WWII.

I think it’s very important to commemorate the world wars and the people who fought in them. If Nazi Germany had won, what would life be like in the UK and Ireland today? And I say this from the perspective of an Irish person, from a neutral country (though Ireland still gave help to the allies in a quiet way and quite a few Irish fought in WW1 and 2). Without those brave men I can’t imagine the Ireland we would have today.
We need to learn about these wars so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

But realistically we don't remember as fervently forever and it isn't awful to think about why and how collective memory is formed or important. No one is saying that the sacrifice wasn't great, tragic or noble.

However, we don't foreground the Crimean veterans of the C19th or those who died fighting the 7 Years War. People's eyes aren't welling with tears thinking specifically about people that died in the Anglo-Dutch wars. They just aren't the 'veterans' of popular memory.

That said, DDay has become important in our perception of ourself as a nation so perhaps it will be important for longer?

at some point the modern wars would then become part of our anicent history , im guessing as long as people remember then there will still consider of those historical events

How long do you think we will commemorate them for?

I think it's amazing how we have moved on, how Europe emerged as friends who work together now.

And as for learning from the mistakes, I think we are repeating them at the moment.

The American Civil War ended nearly 100 years after I was born. I guess that was a very big event in US history.

I wonder how much of that is remembered or commemorated now in the USA.

In Ireland we are still commemorating the 1798 rebellion and the 1916 rebellion. Some people in Northern Ireland attach great importance to the Battle of the Boyne from 1690 and commemorate it fervently (although that is very politicised). So at that rate, I’d say at least for 300+ years after the event. Given they were World Wars, I’d guess at even longer because the course of world history depended on the result of WW2 in particular.
And yes, I agree, mistakes are still being made. Clearly Ukraine and Gaza are the blindingly obvious ones. I also think that Brexit was a backwards step in the European context. The original idea of the EEC/EU was to bring countries closer together and avoid war.

I think the difference is there are people alive today who were there both fighting but also living people who might not have fought but were living through it and losing people.

my feeling is once all of those people have died and our collective memory is historical rather than from our own actual experience then the way we remember will shift.

personally though I think why we remember these events particularly are so we don’t forget or undermine the lessons we learned from these events.

we can’t and shouldn’t ever allow amongst other things another holocaust to take place.

@cakeorwine I'm not saying that events are totally ignored (English Civil War and even the Norman invasion!) but I think we tend to remember more dispassionately and consider impact rather than sacrifice and the nature of personal loss.

It's not disrespectful at all. We cannot commemorate everything infinitely. I don't see it being commemorated on any scale beyond the next decade tbh. Other more recent events will take over. I don't think it will have the same significance to my children's generation - there have been/are/will be, plenty more world changing conflicts to remember.

• Dispassionately or as a political bit of flag waving to make a more modern point.

But do you think the longevity of the Irish commemorations are also because they're still pissed off with the English about it, whereas the English aren't still pissed off with Germany and Japan over WW2, so there's a greater chance it sort of fades away. It's kind of ironic that our mayor WW2 ally is now the greatest threat to European peace.

ps not saying Ireland doesn't have a right to be pissed off- just an observation on how sentiment re the aggressor might affect things.

We still commemorate Guy Fawkes day...........400 years on. I cant see any reason not to continue remembering both world wars as well as other 20th and 21st century struggles around the world. It would be terribly wrong imho not to continue.
My grandmother was only 2 when her uncle died on the Somme. She is also dead now but I think of him often.
Lest we forget.