How is History Relevant in a Modern Society?

As we finish commemorating the 90th anniversary since the end of the First World War, we are led to question how this war and history in general is relevant to our modern society.

It may be hard to envisage how poignant the carnage of this war is, and how it contributes to how we live now, but it plays a key part in the decisions our politicians make. The aftermath of the World War 1 was so severe that the final death toll for British soldiers alone was estimated to be around 1 million and as a result, a whole generation of men just disappeared. It is impossible to justify the death of so many soldiers, and therefore every year we remember the sacrifice they made for us and our country. There is a famous quote - “those who forget history, are condemned to repeat it”, so the remembrance of this important part of our heritage is meant to prevent our governments from repeating such a monstrous series of events again by their irrational decisions.

As many of the upper sixth-form approach their 18th birthday’s, it makes the remembrance of such young soldiers more relevant to our generation as 18 was the age a soldier could join up for war. As scary as the thought is, this means that the sixth formers at John Masefield could well have been just as experienced as many of the soldiers that fought.

By Esther Dobso