The Disillusionment of the War

“Vimos la guerra como la oportunidad de demostrar nuestra bondad pues desde los griegos se había establecido la prohibición de destruir cualquier ciudad. Nos la imaginamos como un pasaje de armas que se limitaría a establecer la superioridad de uno sobre otro mientras se evitaba cualquier sufrimiento, garantizando completa inmunidad a los heridos. Entonces la guerra que nos habíamos negado a creer se desató. Y fue más sangrienta y destructiva que cualquiera de las que tengamos memoria…”

Sigmund Freud había escrito Thoughts for the Time of War and Death en 1.915, seis meses después del comienzo de la Primera Guerra Mundial.

En vocabulario encontramos comity, que vendría a ser algo así como cortesía y para ilustrar los efectos de la guerra te mostramos dos fotos que resumen el horror.

 

The war ignores the prerogatives of the wounded and the medical service, the distinction between civil and military sections of the population, the claims of private property…

 

Indios Crow muertos por los Sioux

Paragraphs

The enjoyment of this common civilization was disturbed from time to time by warning voices, which declared that old traditional differences made wars inevitable, even among the members of a community such as this. We refused to believe it; but if such a war were to happen, how did we picture it?

We saw it as an opportunity for demonstrating the progress of comity among human beings since the era when the Greek Amphictyonic Council proclaimed that no city of the league might be destroyed, nor its olive-groves cut down, nor its water-supply stopped; we pictured it as a chivalrous passage of arms, which would limit itself to establishing the superiority of one side in the struggle, while as far as possible avoiding acute suffering that could contribute nothing to the decision, and granting complete immunity for the wounded who had to withdraw from the contest, as well as for the doctors and nurses who devoted themselves to their recovery.

There would be the utmost consideration for the non-combatant classes of the population - for women who take no part in war-work, and the children who, when they are grown up, should become on both sides one another's friends and helpers. And again, all the international undertakings and institutions in which the common civilization of peace-time had been embodied would be maintained.

Even a war like this would have produced enough horror and suffering; but it would not have interrupted the development of ethical relations between the collective units of mankind - the peoples and the states.

Then the war in which we had refused to believe broke out, and it brought - disillusionment. Not only is it more bloody and more destructive than any war of other days, because of the enormously increased perfection of weapons of attack and defence; it is at least as cruel, as embittered, as implacable as any that has preceded it. It disregards all the restrictions known as International Law, which in peace-time the states had bound themselves to observe; it ignores the prerogatives of the wounded and the medical service, the distinction between civil and military sections of the population, the claims of private property. It tramples in blind fury on all that comes in its way as though there were to be no future and no peace among men after it is over. It cuts all the common bonds between the contending peoples, and threatens to leave a legacy of embitterment that will make any renewal of those bonds impossible for a long time to come.

Moreover, it has brought to light an almost incredible phenomenon: the civilized nations know and understand one another so little that one can turn against the other with hate and loathing… (Sobre la guerra y la muerte, de Sigmund Freud)

Hitler ordenó que Leningrado fuera arrasada

Vocabulario

In law, comity is "a practice among different political entities (as countries, states, or courts of different jurisdictions)" involving the "mutual recognition of legislative, executive, and judicial acts."

The idea of comity was introduced into English law by Lord Mansfield, a British barrister and jurist. Mansfield viewed the application of comity as discretionary, with courts applying foreign law "except to the extent that it conflicted with principles of natural justice or public policy."

"Comity," in the legal sense, is neither a matter of absolute obligation, on the one hand, nor of mere courtesy and good will, upon the other. But it is the recognition which one nation allows within its territory to the legislative, executive or judicial acts of another nation, having due regard both to international duty and convenience, and to the rights of its own citizens or of other persons who are under the protection of its laws.

Comity: /ˈkɑː.mə.t̬i/ polite or friendly behaviour that shows respect, especially in public life.

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