Information Related to "When Will Mankind Find Peace?"
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When Will Mankind Find
Peace?
Some 80 years removed from the horror of his youth, an old soldier turns his thoughts
to peaceful pursuits. His story echoes an unrealized hope for mankind.
by Joel Meeker
His name was Ferdinand. He was 97
years old when I met him in the war-battered underground fortress of Vaux in northeastern
France. He was slowly and carefully signing books in the shop of a fortress museum
that commemorated some of the great battles of the First World War fought on this
site--battles in which he had participated. Ferdinand willingly spoke to the visitors
who, like me, came to see the battle sites first hand.
It's hard to imagine the violence of the battle that took place on the fertile plains
of Lorraine during what the French call the '14-'18 War. Here, around Verdun, one
of the oldest cities in France, French and German troops clashed in a series of horrendously
bloody battles running through the spring and summer of 1916. In successive seesaw
attacks, hills, forts and strong points were taken, lost and retaken many times by
both sides.
Many of the battles centered on the underground fortresses at Douaumont and Vaux.
These giant reinforced-concrete bunkers had huge metal turrets that could rise above
ground level to fire 155-mm. and 75-mm. cannons, then drop back underground for the
protection of gun crews. Hundreds of men could be housed underground to service the
huge cannons, armored machine-gun nests and observation bells that made the forts
so formidable.
On a nearby hill stands the sobering Douaumont national war cemetery, in which 15,000
French soldiers are buried in neatly aligned rows. In all, 43 French military cemeteries
lie in the region of Verdun alone, containing more than 80,000 graves. Nearly 55,000
German soldiers are buried in 29 German war cemeteries.
A Staggering Human Tragedy
The combined number of dead in the Verdun sector alone is estimated to be as
high as one million. Of these, fewer than a quarter have been identified and
buried in marked graves.
So many dead were lost and left unburied in the no man's land between the lines of
battle that, after the war, huge piles of unidentifiable remains were gathered and
interred in a large monument called the Ossuaire (from the French word os,
"bone"). Through small portals at the base of the monument, visitors can look into
the burial chambers and recognize heaps of human bones representing some 130,000
soldiers.
If the numbers of those killed in this small area defy imagination, it is because
World War I marked the first time many modern weapons were used on a mass scale.
The newly developed machine gun made frontal charges little less than suicidal. But,
since neither side could find any more successful tactics, both continued sending
waves of young men forward to the scythe to gain a few meters of ground.
Artillery shells containing poisonous gases brought blindness, respiratory failure
and gruesome chemical burns to thousands. High-explosive artillery shells carried
greater destructive power than ever before. Several villages in the area around Verdun--such
as Fleury, Douaumont and Vaux--were destroyed so completely that not even the foundations
of buildings could be found. Not one stone was left upon another. Even the grass
and trees disappeared.
Monument to Futility
Near the Ossuaire another monument testifies to the murderous power of the big
guns. It is called la tranchée des baïonnettes: the bayonet trench.
In this trench on June 12, 1916, the 137th French infantry regiment was in place,
bayonets fixed to the soldiers' rifles, ready to defend the line against the German
advance. German observers called in an artillery barrage and gas attack against the
French position. The shelling was so violent and powerful that those not killed outright
were buried alive by the dirt thrown from the explosions.
After the battle all that was left to identify the site of the trench were the points
of bayonets and gun barrels sticking up through the dirt. A monument now stands over
the trench; visitors can still see the gun barrels and bayonets.
The fighting in and around the fortress of Vaux, where I met Ferdinand, was intense
during the first week of June 1916. German troops had already occupied the covering
fort of Douaumont, making it much more difficult to defend Vaux. Under commander
Raynal a small garrison of 250 men defended the fort against heavy, repeated assaults.
On June 2 German forces occupied the superstructure installations and began attacking
the interior of the fort room by room. Hand-to-hand fighting progressed slowly through
smoke- and gas-filled corridors. The combatants used flame throwers, grenades and
small arms until thirst finally rendered untenable the defenders' resistance. The
heroic opposition ceased June 7, and the French garrison had to surrender.
During the rest of the war, the fortresses of Vaux and Douaumont were taken and retaken.
Soldiers were sometimes cut off from supplies and could not go outside the masonry
structure because of the artillery attacks. At times hundreds of dead soldiers could
be buried only by being placed in the end sections of tunnels and walled in.
A Survivor Reminisces
Ferdinand Viviès was the youngest man in Comdr. Raynal's unit and the
last survivor. I met him when I noticed him signing books there in the fortress museum.
I asked him to sign one I had bought. I looked at him curiously, this survivor of
another, apocalyptic, age.
He responded to my questions about his recollections of the war. But the longer we
conversed the more it became clear that he was more interested in talking about his
garden. Though he came to Vaux every year to commemorate the battles in which he
had fought and the friends who had died in them, he always worried about whether
the neighbors in his village in the south of France were taking proper care of his
tomatoes, green beans and other garden plants.
They needed lots of water and care in the hot, dry climate of his region, he explained
to me earnestly. Although he didn't want our collective memory to fade about what
he and his comrades had gone through or how many had died so horribly, he was more
interested in growing things. He didn't wish to discuss the horror and death of his
youth. His thoughts turned to the life he could nourish and bring from the soil.
He enjoyed providing the fruits of his garden to friends and neighbors.
I admit I was surprised by this turn in our conversation. I'm not sure what I expected,
but for some reason it surprised me that this aged war hero should be so interested
in something as simple and peaceful as gardening. This brought to my mind the life
and experiences of the prophet Isaiah.
An Ancient Prophet Experiences the Horrors of War
Isaiah, although of noble birth according to Jewish tradition, was acquainted
firsthand with the horrors of war. Living in the kingdom of Judah seven centuries
before the time of Christ, he witnessed the great Assyrian army of King Sennacherib
sweeping through the Holy Land.
Sennacherib had already conquered and assimilated Syria and Israel, Judah's neighbors
to the north. Isaiah 36:1 says succinctly that "Sennacherib the king of Assyria came
up against the walled cities of Judah and took them." Underlying these few words
are long periods of agonizing and bloody siege warfare; weeks and months of fighting
in places such as Lachish, the fall of which is graphically depicted in Assyrian
carvings now on display in the British Museum in London. Sennacherib boasted of having
taken 46 such walled cities and more than 200,000 captives. His armies killed and
maimed countless thousands of others.
Ancient monuments, along with archaeological digs on the sites, allow us to reconstruct
how ancient forces fought these battles. Armies surrounded fortified cities one after
the other, closing them off from any external food or water supplies. Clouds of arrows
swept over the walls as the besiegers built giant ramps up to the defensive fortifications.
A few years ago I had walked through the archeological site at Lachish, where excavations
show that the defenders desperately tried to build their walls higher on the inside
to prevent the enemy ramp from reaching the top of the wall and breaching their defenses.
Ramp and makeshift defenses alike could be clearly recognized once excavated.
As soldiers and engineers on both sides of the walls raced to complete their constructions,
the town's defenders shot arrows and hurled spears, rocks and anything else they
could find to slow the attackers, but to no avail.
One by one the cities fell. No doubt many friends, acquaintances and perhaps relatives
of Isaiah were killed or captured. The smoke from some of the nearby battered and
burning cities, perhaps even Lachish, would have been visible to Isaiah in Jerusalem.
Though God ultimately delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians by miraculous intervention,
the thrill of deliverance must have been tempered by a great deal of mourning, sorrow
and personal loss. Friends, acquaintances and family members had been killed or taken
into captivity, never to be seen again.
Promises of Peace
Yet, through it all, Isaiah could be encouraged by the divine promises of world
peace that God had inspired through him. Though the prophet did not see these astounding
prophecies come to pass in his time, he knew they would someday come true.
Isaiah no doubt longed for the time when God would accomplish what He had inspired
to be recorded for us in Isaiah 2:4: "He (God) shall judge between the nations, and
rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war anymore."
Isaiah knew of the promised King to come, "the Prince of Peace," who would bring
a final end to war: "Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no
end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it
with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts will perform this" (Isaiah 9:7).
Under the divine rule of Jesus Christ as King of the earth, peace will break out
all over the world. "He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations
afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more" (Micah 4:3, emphasis added throughout).
The next words of this Hebrew prophet bring to mind Ferdinand Viviès' love
for his garden: "But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and
no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken" (verse 4).
These divine promises had not come to pass before the time Ferdinand Viviès
and his comrades fought and bled at Verdun. They still haven't come to pass. During
the time it takes you to read this article, men, women and children will die either
directly in or indirectly as a result of wars and conflicts around the world. But
God will keep His promises through Isaiah: "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform
this."
The Bible assures us a time will come when "they shall not hurt nor destroy in
all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). This is a promise of peace, not only
for the land of Israel, but for Europe, Asia, South America--the whole world.
This world will finally see peace, but not through human efforts and intentions.
Divine intervention will bring an ultimate end to war: "Lord, you will establish
peace for us," Isaiah said confidently (Isaiah 26:12).
Enemies United as Allies
Isaiah was even allowed to see how the traditional enemies Israel, Assyria and
Egypt would become peaceful neighbors, all worshiping the one true God: "In that
day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into
Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.
In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria--a blessing in the
midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt
My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance' " (Isaiah 19:23-25).
This prediction may have seemed hard to believe for Isaiah and those of his generation
who had suffered so much at the hands of the Assyrians. Their memories bore the scars
of the cruelty and suffering they had seen at the hands of these invaders. It may
have seemed impossible that those hated enemies could one day be appreciated, friendly
neighbors. But this was what God promised.
These are truly words of hope when we consider the seemingly insoluble political
and ethnic conflicts or our 20th-century world. A solution will become apparent for
the tensions between Serbs and Bosnians, between Hutus and Tutsis, between the warring
political factions in Asia and South America and even for the complicated situation
in the Middle East. One day the violence will end.
War's Victims to Live Again
Not only will war cease to exist, but the millions of people who have suffered
and died in wars through the centuries will get another chance at life--not a life
cut short by hate and bloodlust, but an existence marked by peace and fulfillment:
"Your dead shall live; together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing,
you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall
cast out the dead (Isaiah 26:19).
God said through the prophet Ezekiel of this momentous event: " 'Then you shall
know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought
you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will
place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it
and performed it,' says the Lord" (Ezekiel 37:13-14).
Hundreds of years after Isaiah lived, the apostle Paul spoke of this time of promised
peace, showing it would be so not only for Israel and Judah, but for everybody: "For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive . . .
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death" (1Corinthians 15:22,26).
Those who fought and died in the walled cities of ancient Judah, in the fortresses
and trenches of Verdun during the 1914-1918 war and in the hills and cities of present-day
Bosnia and Rwanda, and those who will yet die in future wars, will experience a better
way. The promises God transmitted through Isaiah allow us to look beyond this violent
world to the time of ultimate peace.
A Soldier at Rest
Ferdinand Viviès died a few years after I met him. But he, like all those
of his brothers in arms who died at Verdun and all of his fellow human beings who
have died violently down through the ages, will one day awake to a marvelous time
of peace.
It is wonderfully comforting to know that someday all mankind will turn from war
to positive, uplifting and constructive pursuits. Just as Ferdinand Viviès
wanted to turn his thoughts from the sufferings of war to the peaceful cultivating
and caring for his garden, so the promises God gave through Isaiah show that one
day humanity will forever forsake the ways of war and live peacefully and in harmony.
The painful, bad news of today will be forever swallowed up by the good news of the
world tomorrow.
Recommended reading
Is it really possible that mankind will ever see lasting peace? A bright future
for mankind lies beyond today's headlines of horror and suffering. To discover how
it will come about, request your copy of The Gospel of the Kingdom. It's yours
free for the asking when you contact us at the office in your country (or the country
nearest you) on page 2 of this issue. To learn more about the biblical promise of
the resurrection, be sure to request What Happens After Death? It's also yours
free for the asking. Discover this wonderful good news for yourself!
Possible side quote: Verdun was "the anvil upon which French manhood was to be hammered
to death"--Winston Churchill (source Ency Brit. Article "Verdunî).
©1999 United Church of God, an International Association
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Keywords: Isaiah soldiers Verdun
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