Bellicose American neoconservatives invariably accuse Europeans of appeasement and reluctance to face combat in America's foreign wars. Few of them have ever seen combat.
Europe fought from 1870 until 1945 and understands all to well the costs of war. In fact, the fierce militarism and warlike spirit that used to characterize Europe is dead. World War I and II knocked the stuffing out of Europe and made it see the folly of trying to advance political policy through war and the unsustainable expense of maintaining colonies.
Equally, Europeans understand that western armies are simply too expensive and immobile to be used outside the continent.
Which brings me to Armistice Day, always a very solemn event here in Paris and across France. Even the weather usually provides a dramatic backdrop: dark, thick, low-lying clouds and rain showers add to the aura of wartime loss and tragedy.
But this year's ceremony held special significance.
Last week, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November, France's heart-stirring `La Marseillaise,' originally called the `War Song of the Army of the Rhine,' was played as usual beneath the nation's most hallowed site, the Etoile, or Arc de Triumph, beneath which burns the Eternal Flame that commemorates France's war dead.
But then Germany's national anthem also rang out. For the first time, a German chancellor joined the president of France to commemorate the ghastly losses of World War I. Bells tolled to remember the nearly six million French and German soldiers killed or wounded in the Great War.
A few years ago, France's then president, Jacques Chirac - who remains France's most popular, respected political figure - had invited Germany's former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, to attend an Armistice ceremony at the Etoile. But Schroeder declined, fearful of provoking anti-German sentiment.
Not so this time: the stolid German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, stood shoulder to shoulder with France's President Nicholas Sarkozy to proclaim Franco-Germany amity a `national treasure' and vow to defend it at all costs.
Twenty-five years earlier, Franco-German reconciliation was cemented by two great European leaders, France's Francois Mitterand, and Germany's Chancellor Helmut Kohl. In 1984, they met on a dark, windswept day on the nightmare battlefield of Verdun, the graveyard of nearly a million French and Germans soldiers.
In an impromptu gesture, these two most formal of statesmen silently linked hands, bowed their heads and stood before the ossuary containing bone fragments of 120,000 unknown soldiers. I have never seen a more moving spectacle. Millions of French and Germans wept as they saw the ceremony on TV.
There could have been no fitter nor more touching a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation than their `beau geste. The two leaders swore on the dead before them that henceforth France and Germany were brother nations. Teuton and Gaul would never war again.
Most Europeans now understand that in 1914 Germany was dragged into a great war it did not want. In 1918, it was forced to bear full responsibility for the war begun by Serbia and Austria-Hungary, then torn apart and humiliated by the British and French victors. Adolf Hitler was the inevitable reaction to the folly of the wicked Versailles Treaty and its companion pacts. The modern Mideast and Balkans are still roiled by this rapacious treaty.
Yet most North Americans still mistakenly believe - and are taught - that Germany bore sole responsibility for World War I.
In 1994, in another remarkable first, a contingent of German soldiers led by a German general marched down the Champs Elysee in the national 14 July military parade, cheered on by Parisian crowds.
Such a gracious act would have been impossible in North America where the constant incantation of World War II myths has become a virtual state religion for the Republican right. Imagine a German or Japanese general leading a Veteran's Day parade up Pennsylvania Avenue.
It used to be said: `Germans love the French, but do not respect them. French respect the Germans, but do not love them.'
That was long ago. The new generation of French and Germans has been educated to esteem and value one another as the core members of united Europe. Each summer, French schoolchildren used to be sent to towns in Germany that were twinned to their home towns, and the same for German children. It was this kind of patient peacemaking that eventually healed the scars of three wars and dispelled seventy years of accumulated hatred and nationalist hysteria.
As one who has walked almost every Franco-German battlefield, these ceremonies on the Champs Elysee filled me with awe, profound emotion - and hope.
Hope that if France and Germany, who lost millions of their sons in fratricidal wars can truly become genuine brother nations, there is hope for Arabs and Jews, Pakistanis and Indians, Turks and Armenians and other warring peoples.
The Franco-German border hardly exists any more. Only an occasional discreet sign marks the frontier over which millions of French and Germans fell.
Today, the Berlin-Paris entente is the world's most important alliance.
NATO is clearly unwinding as its `raison d'etre' no longer exists. Germany and France united together form the keystone of the European Union.
Much of the credit goes to France's President Charles De Gaulle, who had the courage and foresight to surmount wartime hatreds and lay the foundations for a peaceful, modern Europe. And to Robert Schumann, who created the European Steel and Coal Community, which developed into the Common Market, then European Union.
Britain would have made the ideal third key member. But Britain is so tied to America, it has become a negative influence on the European Union. - critics say a Trojan Horse. The EU should demand Britain act as a full member or leave the union.
Today, the European Union (not counting its new, often deeply corrupt East European members) leads the world in human rights, environmental protection, culture, respect for law, mercy towards animals, and general civilized behavior.
As Europe continues its slow, painful process of continental unification, by sad contrast, we see the US slipping ever backwards into a permanent war mentality.
The imperial war in Afghanistan is consuming Washington and now threatens to undermine the presidency of Noble Peace Prize winner Barack Obama. The US continues to follow the heavily militarized foreign policy begin by George W. Bush.
Europe long ago learned the painful lessons of colonial wars - and wants no more of them. America, it seems, still has many lessons to learn. The painful lessons of Vietnam have clearly been forgotten.
But Mr. Margolis is quite wrong about Germany being dragged into a war it did not want in 1914. The German high command wanted it very much and worked behind the scenes, threatening any politician or royal who attempted to prevent the declaration of war. Nor, in 1918, would most Germans accept that they had lost it. or that they should give up territory to "lesser" nations like Poland.
Yes, sir.
Nothing is inevitable in history. Historical events only appear become inevitable to those unfamiliar with basics of historical analysis.
The world depression and resistance to communism had a lot more do with rise of Hitler than the Versailles treaty.
Europe long ago learned the painful lessons of colonial wars The painful lessons of Vietnam have clearly been forgotten.
That's a lot of pain for one paragraph. :)
and if anything, the Stasi alone should remind the Europeans that there are some wars and fights worth fighting.
Eu starting to fall back into secrets?
controlled Media
One look at Italy and how the PM controls how much of the MEDIA and Europe should be having flashbacks
As long as there is something to be gained from wars, there are always sociopaths in leading positions ready to wage them. These kind of decisions should always be taken by people who have experienced the reality of war, instead of war profiteering imperialists who exploit the ignorance of the public by waving a flag over their real agenda.
I frequently watch "Euro News" via Dish satellite & am favorably impressed not only with its coverage of current news of the day, but also its cultural, scientific, technological news items. I am also impressed with the background scenery of European infrastructure, public transportation, high standards for food products, drugs, cosmetics; social programs to aid Europeans as well as economic partnerships with those in developing countries. As an American it really does make me unhappy about the contrast between our military adventurism, lack of concern for public infrastructure, dearth of health care, good social programs & the like. Many Americans scoff at Europe, but have little idea about how much better life is in Europe. I blame our media with its feel-good nonsense perpetuating myths about how great life is here, when in fact it is getting harder by the day.
Now, saying, "most people in North America think America won both WWI and WWII for the Europeans" might be more accurate, but I think that most people who think that don't really think about who started the wars.
This is not to discount the huge sacrifice the Russians made during the second war, which as we all remember, they themselves help start. 35 million people ain't (to mix metaphores) chump change.
The Brits and Canadians were heroic in their own way. We didn't do it alone and nobody thinks we did, and only those who wish to denegrate our troops claim we even say we did.
As Gore Vidal pointed out recently, the US turned up late in the 2nd world war after most of the work had been doneand only when they could be sure that they'd be on the winning side.