00:00 - MINI-DOCUMENTARY: World War One in Indonesia - written by Adrian
World War One in Indonesia - or the Dutch East Indies as the sprawling archipelago was called back then - was a relatively quiet time even as Europe tore itself apart in such a ghastly and meat-grinding way. The Netherlands remained neutral in WW1 and so its colonies around the world were not involved in the war either. So, we are talking about a very different story than the one in World War Two when the Netherlands was invaded and occupied in 1940 by Germany and the Dutch East Indies were invaded at the end of 1941 by Germany's Axis ally Japan. In the next four years up until 1945, maybe as many as 4,000,000 Indonesians died as a direct result of the Japanese occupation. That's five Indonesians dead between 1941 and 1945 for every one of the 740,000 U.K. soldiers who was killed in the Great War.
But World War Two was a different war. And we do have to admit that the statistics never fail to take one's breath away. Take World War One's global curtain call, The Spanish Flu which swept the world in 1918-19. It may have killed more than 5,000,000 people in Indonesia in the space of a year and that was from a population of only about 50 million at the time. The same flu, which didn't come from Spain by the way, took 250,000 lives in the UK, including thousands of people in Colchester and the rest of Essex. [The town where this will be broadcast!]
The South and East Asian and Pacific regions were not really a prominent theatre during the Great War. Japan was on our side of course. There were some naval battles. And the Germans were dispossessed of their modest colonial territories, one of which was part of New Guinea island and shared a border with the Dutch colony. So the Netherlands stayed out of the first world war although it did have to reaffirm and indeed prove its neutrality over and over again. Something that involved the war's combatant nations monitoring what was passing through Dutch ports.
Back in the Dutch East Indies, this meant that there was much-disgruntled uncertainty in some quarters about whether the local people would be dragooned into serving in the Dutch military to fight or at least support the fighters in the trenches of the far-flung continent of Europe. Nationalist agitators in Java were able to exploit this discontent.
Exports from the Dutch East Indies to Europe of sugar, rice, oil, cotton, tobacco, tea and pepper came to a standstill as the first world war progressed. There were shortages of machines and medical equipment. This economic depression persisted well after the end of World War One as Europe staggered under the weight of its own economic and social woes. Famine and rebellion on the archipelago always seemed imminent.
It was in this atmosphere and these grim circumstances that the Indonesian independence movement started to find its feet. There were the nationalists, there were the Islamists and there were the socialists and communists who may have taken some inspiration from Russia's abrupt exit from ww1 in 1917. The Dutch spent the interwar years suppressing these movements.
Nevertheless, less than 30 years after the movement kindling impacts of World War One, and in the wake of the atomic bombs and the Japanese surrender, while also taking advantage of the Netherlands' weak state after five years of brutal occupation by the Germans, Indonesia finally declared its independence.
04:41 - SONG: Won't Get Fooled Again - Richie Havens (cover of the song by The Who)
We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't be fooled again
07:06 - INTERVIEW: 14-year-old schoolgirl Ruby from Colchester, UK, talks about her visit to a World War One military cemetery in Belgium [Part 1]. Background Music: Won't Get Fooled Again - by The Who.
09:50 - POEM: Adrian reads 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen, one of the most famous anti-war poems written in 1917.
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
[Translation: It is sweet and honourable to die for your country]
12:00 - What's a Few Men? - Hunters & Collectors (an Australian band)
The colonel said "these bodies stink
won't someone come and drag them away"
we try to clean them up but they mow us down
and the English colonel looks the other way
oh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
well I ran for the trench but I had no time to speak
well my heart said yes
but my head said no
when the English colonel said "its time to go"
He said "Whats a few men?"
He said "Whats a few men?"
He said "Whats a few men?"
The colonel's job is never done
So he declares timeout on Christmas Day
We held the enemy in our arms
and we ploughed each others dead into the clay
well the Lord said death will be no longer
and all of these things will pass away
He said "Whats a few men?"
He said "Whats a few men?"
He said "Whats a few men?"
14:10 - INTERVIEW: Ruby talks about her school trip to the World War One trenches - Part 2.
16:48 - MUSIC & POEM: Adagio by Albinoni (the music used in a famous 1981 war film about the Australians fighting in the Gallipoli campaign in World War One starring Mel Gibson. POEM: "Attack" by Siegfried Sassoon - read by Gemma Arterton
Attack
At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun
In the wild purple of the glowering sun
Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud
The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one,
Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.
The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed
With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear,
They leave their trenches, going over the top,
And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,
Flounders in the mud. Oh Jesus, make it stop!
In the United Kingdom, the importance of the end of World War I is highly commemorated through the Remembrance Day and the Armistice Day, a joy to behold for the people of United Kingdom. The poppy used throughout the Commonwealth nations has been globally recognised as one of the most iconic emblems of peace. In correlation with the article, the importance of the symbol has been a subject of discussion. The prominent leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, highlighted the importance of the day to those who lost their lives in combating fascism. Corbyn however, has been criticised, due to his reluctance in committing highly to the heyday. Corbyn apparently showed up at the Cenotaph wearing the “smallest poppy that he could find“, and he did not bow low enough to match the standards of the Conservatives. His motives, though, is still unknown. What confuses me is the media’s attention towards his attire, particularly the notorious The Sun and the Daily Mail, in which it is not important at all.
ReplyDeleteAfter Germany’s defeat of Russia, and American entry on the side of the Allies, both in 1917, the Germans reinforced their armies in France with troops from the east, to strike a final decisive blow, before the new American army could arrive in force. These were the Spring Offensives of 1918. The German Army, using new tactics, converted a war of stalemate and attrition into unprecedented territorial gains and were actually bombarding Paris with long-range artillery, bringing the French government to the point of evacuation. The German advance on Paris was halted and then pushed back, by newly arrived American units that had been sent to assist the French army. The United States Second Infantry Division in particular, at Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry and then Soissons, not only stopped the German advance in its tracks, it then seized back heavily defended ground, something the Allies has seldom achieved in the preceding 4 years. The growing American Expeditionary Force then independently attacked and dislodged a tenacious defence of the essential German supply lines and frontier, and mostly caused the German defeat. While the British naval blockade of Germany and Franco British advances in Belgium and France were also decisive, it was the bloody American victory in the Meuse Argonne campaign (which is 6 weeks cost the United States 26,000 battle deaths and 96,000 wounded, by bullets, artillery and poison gas) that ultimately forced the German capitulation. It should be remembered that this bloodletting and sacrifice, though in aggregate less than other nations who fought longer, was sustained by a country barely a third of its present size.
ReplyDeleteLet’s agree on looking at the subject of war generally, unbiased, and seeing through both side of views. War is cruel. War is unfair. The winners claim everything and get to write the history. The losers do not even have the privilege to earn their rights in the circumstances of war. War turns a boy to a man they said. Truthfully, war turns a boy to a wounded man if lucky, if not then it turns him to a corpse. War is not just a battle conducted by people from a lot of different countries using guns and everything they have to turn the situation into their favor. War is a weapon. A weapon to rule. To gain power that is mostly untouched unless you do something harsh enough to bend the people. To break other nation’s territory and laws, that is what war does. It is structured well enough, that everything has to be done in the name of whatever country the soldiers are fighting for.
ReplyDeleteThe early 1900s, it was the time of wakening of the industry for the people in Europe. They made everything, the sciences were evolving so fast at that time. It was not just good businesses in vehicles industry, or fabrics industry, or even households tools industry, oil and coal industries, but also guns industry. Each country developed as good as technology possible to catch things up. Great countries had great pride to get the respect and the power needed to rule the people. United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Soviet Union, France, and Turkey were great countries that was feared by the people all around Europe. And then the war happened. Everything turned into chaos. People killed each other, even brothers. Houses were burnt down, destroyed, or even banished. Lands were polluted, infrastructures were hurt. A lot of city’s critical buildings were hit. The war did not just kill the soldiers in the battlefield. It also killed the hopes of a lot of people to live in peace.
DeleteEconomy went down, food allocation in the countries that went to war was disturbed. It was not just great hunger and suffering felt by the soldiers, but the civilians felt it too. Like it or not, everybody was a victim of the war. The World War I was a work of evil. And the people of Europe got in together and agree to be in a state of peace. Never to go to war again. Until Germany, the ones who lost the first World War, rushed in for a revenge. A party called “Nazi” won the election in Germany and they began to rule. Germany’s advancements in technologies were excelled. They became bigger and stronger in the matter of military strength. And the leader of the Nazi, Adolf Hitler, got the full backing of the people of Germany. September 1939, the second World War started. The horror and the misery of war came back haunting the people. As I said before, the winners get everything. The losers suffer. And that was how it occurred in the Europe. Eventually, the strongest side got weakened. The ally defeated the axis pole of the war. The World War II was finally over. Millions of lives became a sacrifice symbol of the human’s ego, human’s hunger to rule. Lets hope another World War don’t come across our live time ever again.
DeleteWorld War I and World War II both had huge impact in many countries, however I mostly know the impact in France and Europeans countries; in France during history class we mostly talked about the consequence of those wars in France with the “poilus” of the World War I, and the German occupation during World War II and the complex situation of that time with a government which collaborate with the German invaders and many civils who resist this occupation and try to fight the German in secret.
ReplyDeleteWe don’t talk a lot about the world-wide impact of those wars, we only talk about the Americans who help us fight against the Nazis and Japan which was part of the Axis, the side of the German; But we never learn about the impact on countries such as Indonesia for example, I think it is important to remember those war affect all the countries of the planet and how precious peace is and the importance to protect it.
From my past experiences as a student who has studied overseas, there are a lot of things that I learned especially concerning the history of the two great world wars. When I studied the history of World War 1 the subject was not so much concentrated on the impact of it on the world as a whole. But they educate and put much more emphasis on the series of events that happened and the main countries that participate in the war. Much of the blame and scrutiny of the war was blamed on the Germans for the majority of the lesson. Another example would be the battles fought by the Allies and the sacrifices that they made. But less emphasis of the effects on countries that were colonized and force to contribute to efforts in the war against the Axis was placed. Even though history is written in various perspectives, historians should try to have a much more wider perspective.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the events of World War I and World War II heavily impacts the whole world I feel as though that most of the aftermath of the events are still being felt on European countries more specifically Northern European countries. Even now the topic of The World Wars are still considered to be a sensitive subject in the minds of Europeans, and even making a Joke or a satirical comment about it can cause anger in the masses. The example I'm talking about is the incident of 2016 when Youtuber and Internet Comedian Markus Meechan or known by his internet persona Count Dankula apparently made a joke by teaching a pug to do the Sieg Heil or the Nazi Salute, He was arrested and put to trial by the British government for suspicions on breaching the Communications Act of 2003 despite him claiming it was a prank. Although he was released based on lack of evidence it still shows us how much the topic of Nazis and the events of World War II leading to the Auschwitz tragedy still affects the minds of modern day European.
ReplyDeleteIt was really touching every time I remember or even hear stories when Indonesia was still occupied by The Dutch and The Japanese. At that time not only Indonesia suffered crisis, but also the whole world due to the rising tension produced by the World War and the occupation by the powerful countries. I personally really do admire the spirit, will, and tenacity of Indonesian heroes who fought ferociously against the invaders that stand in the way of Indonesia's freedom and independence. It really gave me a hard lesson that you must fight for the greater good of all and everything that are precious to us have to be protected with all costs. I really wished and hoped that all of Indonesian citizen will always remember the efforts that our past heroes have done and also I really wished and hoped that our new generation can keep maintaining the burning spirit of our past heroes.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I do not really understand what story that the song is telling us and what value that the song is trying to bring to our lives. But after I read the lyrics closely again and again, I really think that the song is trying to tell us that we need to stand up for what is right and we also need to stand up and protect what are very precious for us. I really find the lyrics of the song really gave us the spirit to retaliate when our right and our belief for the greater good is offended by someone else. I really think that the song will surely give motivation for those people who are being oppressed in any kind of way. And also it is very righteous that he song also reminded us to pray to the God that we can enjoy the fruit of our efforts and pray to the God so that those bad things will never happen again.
ReplyDeleteThe poem of "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is really full of meaningful and beautiful words. From what I can understand, the poem is trying to make us imagine the situation of war where the soldiers are desperately struggling for the victory and the glory of their causes. I really just cannot imagine if I were one of the soldiers that fighting on the frontline and willing to die for the greater good of my people. Those people really have a noble and heroic attitude that should be paid with high appreciation. Maybe the poem is also trying to tell us that war will only bring us pain, suffering, and chaos to our world. But I really hope and believe that in the future, people can negotiate everything without confrontation and violence. The poem also told us that the new generation should not experience the cruelty of war and they should live in this world with peace and tolerance.
ReplyDeleteI have studied the poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" in an English class when I was in Bristol, and I still remember when the teacher read out the poem to the class but none of us understood. It is such a great poem when we pay homage to the soldier who sacrificed their lives in World War, especially the Great War. I think we had to analyse the poem and understand what the poem is about. It tells us a lot about what happened during the war, for example the phrase "GAS, gas, gas, quick boys!" emphasise the situation where they were trapped in a toxic gas which at that time was very dangerous and it took a lot of lives. When you are reading that poem you can feel the atmosphere as if you are in the war itself because the poet did such a great job describing the event in detail.
ReplyDeleteWorld war one affected many countries, but Indonesia was not one of them. Being Dutch East Indies at that time, we followed our masters’ (the Netherlands) war policies and therefore remained neutral in the war. This neutrality proved to be very advantageous for us as post World War One saw the rise and shine of Indonesian independence movements. There have been plenty of independence movements in the Dutch East Indies prior to World War One, but all have been suppressed and contained by the colonial forces. This was suppressed during the time of World War Two, but was regained when the Japanese allowed for the independence movements to grow under Japanese supervision. The leading political actors took advantage of this as the troops, social entities, and political organizations created by the Japanese was used to create the basic foundations for a new Indonesian state. The timing of the two atomic bombs and the Japanese surrender to the United States was also crucial as it allowed Indonesia to proclaim independence in the following days.
ReplyDeleteWorld War I, The Great War, The War to End All Wars, many names were given to the great conflict that occured in 1914-1918 ; a conflict so great even a British newspaper, if I recall it correctly, reported in its headline that “War Declared By All ; Ottoman Empire Almost Declares War On Itself”. World War I was a demonstration of a “justified” mass killings, all for nothing but a small patch of land scattered all across Europe.
ReplyDeleteThe German and Austro-Hungarian Empires’ decision to declare war on Serbia created a spark that caused a chain reaction amongst Serbia’s allies ; even so, I have a hypothesis that Austro-Hungarian Empire was trying to ride in the momentum to fulfill their expansionism. As Gavrilo Princip pulled out his gun and shot at Prince Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian saw this as an opportunity to annex Serbia into its territory. Enlisting the Germans into an alliance, and the Ottoman Empire at the later stages of the war.
Unfortunately, for the Central Powers to achieve victory throughout the war was a futile attempt since the beginning, and it created the movements that would forever change the course of history. Even though the Ottoman Empire achieved a pyrrhic victory at Gallipoli, it was also the beginning of a revolution that would overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamid II from his throne. On the European fronts, Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved, and the German Empire was no more as Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated when the war ended. The Treaty of Versailles required that Germany was to cover a massive portion of losses caused by the war, and restricted the mass-production of weaponry, on which Adolf Hitler expressed his ideas of restoring Germany into its former glory, only to meet the same fate as his predecessor : defeat.
War is a much more worse than it sounds, people lose their lives without knowing the real motive or real purpose of doing that. Some people believes they go to war to protect their country's sovereignty but actually the motives are coming from their leaders with their high ego and declares war like a flip of a hand. 18th and 19th centuries were an era aged by wars from small war to massive war that includes millions of people into effect. Europe, which was the most advanced region in the whole world in that time, was also waged by war such as the famous French revolutionary war and many others. In that time, monarchies of Europe believed that to achieved domination and to increase their influence in the region the only way is to take control as many lands as possible which only can be achieved by devastating war itself.
ReplyDeleteBy the early 20th century, Europe was still torn by war and the tension between them was just a time bomb waiting to be exploded. Many parts of Europe has been the fake motives of big monarchies to waged war, for example the Balkans has been a conflict region since monarchies of Europe which are the ottoman empire, Austro-Hungary, and the Russian empire constantly tried to conquer it. In 1914, a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip assassinated the archduke of Austria-Hungary named Franz Ferdinand and it triggered the monarchies of Europe to act, the king of Austria-Hungary was immediately declared war against the Serbian, and it was the start of the world war 1. Soon, the German empire led by Kaiser Wilhelm II allied with the Austro-Hungary and the ottoman empire to formed what is called the central power. Then the British empire and the Russian empire led by King George V and Tsar Nicholas III allied themselves with the French to formed the Triple Entente.
DeleteThe war was happened all across different parts of the world but the main theatre is the Europe. First, the central power gained victories both in the eastern front and the western front and automatically gained lots of territories. This war was happened from what is called trenches where troops stayed there and moved out and charged when they told so. These trenches were not proper for living habit and disease started to exist and killed many soldiers. After 1915, the war started to slow down its pace and both sides were not gained any significant benefits, but then the central powers had a shortage of both men power and resources to took part in this war so they were struggling at that time, by 1917 the triple entente pushed the central power back and the US now has allied themselves with the triple entente and it resulted a significant shift of power to them.
DeleteAfter that the Germans tried to salvage themselves and they sent Lenin to the Russia to revolt against the monarch and established a communist Russia. This was a success, Russia suddenly involved in a bloody civil war and pull out from the world war 1. But it was too late for them because the allied powers had already pushed forward and dominated the war itself so defeat is unavoidable for the central powers. The ottoman empire and the Austro-Hungary both surrendered under no condition to the allied powers and soon the Germans followed and signed an armistice. World war one was resulted millions of people lose their lives and their houses, although it was a win for the allied powers it was a lost for the humanity itself because ego of the rulers being pay by millions of innocent people whose lose their lives without any clear cause or motives.
DeleteI have a very big admiration towards the Great War and the Second World War. Many names is given to these wars, such as the Great War, The War to End All Wars and World War 1. Both wars had a very big impact for the world, particularly in the industrial and weaponry sector. During the war, the world saw what they have never seen before in terms of weapon development and manufacturing, the kind of development that were not used for the greater good of people. That’s why I sometimes wonder, what is the purpose and the cause of war? War is a very cruel thing, it only brings bad memories and trauma, and you know what? In war, winners get everything that they wanted and also they get repayments for all of their expenditures during the war whilst losers hold the burden of those who win. And for that, I think war is very unfair and unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteThe First World War was provoked by the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife while they were in Bosnia. It is said that they were killed by a bunch of Serbian rebels who wanted to throw the Austrian monarchy. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand then created a big tension between Austria and Serbia, which in later stages, also joined by the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire. There were some conspiracy theories that the declaration of war between the Austro Hungary and Serbia and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was a move of expansion for Austria looking to claim Serbia as their territory. The German Empire was also looking for a way to defeat Great Britain with a very clever strategy, if done right. The German Empire was looking to starve Britain by using their U-Boat and they were using chlorine gas on battlefield. They were sinking a lot of supply boat for Britain and killed a lot of Britain’s young men, and this clearly affected the morale of their troops and citizen.
DeleteUnluckily, Germany U-Boat hit and sunk Lusitania, a cruiser that were carrying a lot of occupants from Great Britain and USA, angering a lot of American and triggering them to join the war. America, the world’s strongest country due to importing and producing munitions during the war, who were reluctant to join the war, now had join the war. The German and Ottoman campaign in Africa and Middle East was also proven not successful due to their lack of ammunition and capable senior officer in the field. The Ottoman Suffered a great loss on Gallipoli and they blamed the ethnic Armenians for this lost, leading to a genocide of more than 2,000,000 Armenians. This prolonged loss of the Ottoman Empire cracked them and making them the first one to surrender to the allies. With enforcements and troops coming from all over the place, The German Empire and Austro Hungarian Empire were forced to surrender and sign the treaty of Versailles, which limit the size of Germany military force and that the Germany had to cover a massive portion of losses caused by the war, that in later stages will cause Germany to succumb to an economic crisis after the World War 1.
DeleteThis economic crisis suffered by Germany after the World War 1 was also one of the cause why the World War 2 broke out. Hitler, a war veteran, felt cheated by the allies and he felt that he has the responsibility to bring back Germany into its former glory. He sees himself as the savior of Germany and he went megalomaniac for it. He started to break the treaty of Versailles by establishing the Luftwaffe (Germany Air Force) and started recruiting troops for his future aggressions. In 1939, he launched a strike against Poland and Poland was occupied by the Germany 2 months later. This was the beginning of a very terrible incident, The Holocaust. Hitler started ordering his troops to persecute Jews and kill them if necessary. This happened because of his views on lebensraum, a goal set by Hitler to expand the Aryans, eliminate Jews, Expand German territory and chunk up a big portion of Europe. Hitler set up an alliance called as The Axis, which fought against the allies fighting for freedom of the world. After many successful attempts, the Germany eventually started a losing streak when they decided to occupy Stalingrad. From this point, German troops never gained back its glory and eventually lost World War 2 to The Allies. After this, Germany was separated to two sides, West and East Germany, one controlled by the free and liberal west while the other was controlled by the communist Soviet Union.
DeleteSuch a big scale of war could shape and shift the world stability, economy and even emphasize the power of a country in the world. World War 1 and World War 2 has proven that massive technological and industrial leap can cause such a big destruction. Weapon like tank, chlorine gas and atomic bomb has showcased us that this kind of weapon is very lethal and dangerous when it is held in wrong hand and for wrong purpose. A lot of young men with bright future, family, race and even religion faced persecution and deaths during the world war. A war of ego and greediness of the then leader of the country. Many people suffered trauma from battling in the frontline and because they lost their family members, and for this reason I strongly oppose against the war and I certainly hope that there will be no upcoming war in the future.
DeleteThe events of world war 1 has brought so many impacts to the world especially in the european countries. It created new nation, encouraged independence movements in Europe’s colonies, forced the United States to become a world power and led directly to Soviet communism and the rise of Hitler. World war 1 also plays a important role in technology history, technology became an important element in the art of war with airplanes, submarines, weaponry, and tanks, all playing important new roles. Mass production techniques developed during the war for the building of armaments revolutionised other industries in the post war years in order to win the war. All these technology that were build in world war 1 still have an impact untill this day. The real aftermath that world war brought was the world war 2 which is directly related to the world war 1, It was the greatest and deadliest war in human history.
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