Remembrance Day

During the First World War more than 1.3 million soldiers volunteered from India and it is estimated that more than 70,000 lost their lives.  Of course India at the time included Pakistan and Bangladesh.  I briefly mentioned this in a previous post about a debate I attended at the Royal Society of Arts.

Millions of people died during the First World War which ended at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month 1918 (11 o’clock on the 11th November 1918).  Remembrance Day helps us to reflect and not forget those that sacrificed their lives for a common purpose, regardless of their religious background and beliefs.

A report published by British Future, a government think tank, states that more than half of young people and their parents don’t know when the First World War started, ended, how many people lost their lives or about the important role of other nationalities in the war effort.  Wouldn’t such knowledge, if it became general, help us in tolerating each other a little better and make us feel proud of our shared history?

Bubbly

Tags: Bangladesh, Britain, British Future, British India, Education, First World War, India, Pakistan, Poppies, Raj, Remembrance Day, Royal Society of the Arts, RSA, shared history, think tank, tolerance