I WAS heartened to read John Boaler’s letter (Gazette, August 10) disputing my MP, James Gray’s assertion that “young men had to die” (Gazette, August 3) at the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele.
While I agree we should always “fight for what is right”, it is difficult to see anything “right” about neither that dreadful battle nor, indeed, the First World War itself.
Remembrance and commemoration are essential processes to 
help us come to terms with that calamity. But surely it is also important that we learn from the past to prevent us from repeating the same mistakes.
Sadly, we continue to present the same tired myths that we fought the 1914-1918 war for freedom, and that we did so, initially at least, to defend Belgium from German attack.
With an Empire on which “the sun never set”, Britain had no cause for European intervention. Britain alone honoured the 1839 treaty guaranteeing Belgian independence and neutrality by declaring war on Germany. Belgium’s neighbour, the Netherlands, also a guarantor, did not, demonstrating that the treaty, by then 75 years old, had exceeded its sell-by date. The German chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg’s incredulity that Britain would go to war over “a scrap of paper” strongly suggests an excuse.
The real reason Britain declared war in 1914 was to protect its 
Empire. The Kaiser’s quest for Germany’s “place in the sun” and the huge expansion of its 
navy threatened Britain’s supremacy on the seas. The then chancellor, Bismarck, had rightly feared German colonial ambition in Africa would alienate Britain and had unsuccessfully warned the Kaiser, “Here is your map of Africa: France is on the left, Russia is on the right; and we are in between!”
British schoolchildren were taught their letters with examples like, “N is for Navy we keep at Spithead, it’s a sight that makes foreigners wish they were dead”. Xenophobia and imperial pride helped to create a desire for war unthinkable today.
The First World War was essentially a war between rival empires. Freedom had very little to do with it. We did not “fight for what is right”.
NICK BAXTER
Northway
Calne