Gallipoli

We went to a lecture yesterday by Glynn Harper, Professor of War History at Massey University, about the Gallipoli campaign, now nearly 100 years ago.

He talked about the muddle of the campaign, and certainly made it clear from the records that it was a disastrous muddle. He also debunked three of the myths about the Gallipoli episode, such as that the troops were landed in the wrong place. And finally he showed by quoting from hundreds of diaries written by the soldiers on the ground that they had undergone a major change in thinking, from anti-Australian and pro-British to anti-British and strongly pro-Australian, and that the New Zealanders had a special serenity and courage that marked them out.

It was a fascinating revision of some of the things we have all heard about the Anzacs on that first April 25.

Apparently there is a major project of study and publication which will see over a dozen books published next year to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.

I don't know if this book is included, but one of our friends, Clare Hall, has just finished a book about the soldiers from the Vietnam War, from interviews she has carried out over the last couple of years. When you read it, you will find an interview with me included, to represent the attitudes of those who took part in the protests against that particular war.

Listening to Glynn Harper I am just as convinced as ever I was that war, any war, is a waste of effort, lives and money. At the end the parties still have to sit down and talk to sort out a workable arrangement over their differences. That is so much easier if there has not been the hate, grief and loss of a war in the meantime.

So, with some niggling minor reservations, I am still basically on the pacifist side.