On the day guns fell silent 100 years ago

One hundred years ago on November 11, 1918, World War I, aka the great war, effectively came to an end, and after four years of bitter, ugly and protracted fighting on land, at sea and in the air (1914 to 1918), military operations and hostilities ceased on all fronts.
On that day the allied powers signed an armistice with Germany at Compiegne, France.
During the British colonial days Armistice Day (November 11), was observed as a public holiday and coincided with Remembrance Day. The last time this day was marked in Uganda was, I think, in 1961.
A formal peace agreement to end World War I was signed in 1919. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany accepted blame for the war and agreed to pay hefty compensation and reparations to the victors for the enormous damage caused, estimated at a staggering £22 billion at current exchange rates.
Germany made the last payment of the war debt in the amount of £59 million in 2010, 92 years after the end of World War I.
While Germany felt that the terms of the treaty were severe and punitive, France was of the view that the treaty was lenient.
Adolf Hitler would, during the 1930s, use the treaty as an excuse to prepare for and launch World War II in 1939.
Some repercussions of the war
In terms of lives lost and human suffering, World War I is one of the worst conflicts in human history. It’s estimated that nine million soldiers died in the war and 21 million were wounded. Civilian casualties are estimated to be almost 10 million! Germany, France and UK suffered the most.
Germany, which lost the war, also lost her four colonies in Africa acquired during the partition of Africa at Berlin in 1884/1885. Cameroon and Togo were given to France; South West Africa to South Africa; Tanganyika (mainland Tanzania) was given to UK and became part of British East Africa.
One positive outcome of the war was the founding of the League of Nations, predecessor to the United Nations. The League was established in January 1920 at Geneva to maintain universal peace and develop cooperation among nations in order to guarantee them peace and security.
The original 32 member states of the League were the signatories of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. The League’s preliminary offices were located in London, England.
The League of Nations started on sound footing and scored many initial successes, such as, resolving peacefully bilateral disputes between Finland and Sweden, and between Bulgaria and Greece.
Despite its early successes, the League of Nations failed to prevent Japanese aggression and invasion of Manchuria in 1932 which emboldened Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini to invade and annex Ethiopia in 1936. Two years later, in 1938, Adolf Hitler sealed the fate of the League when he annexed Austria as part of a belligerent Nazi Germany.
By the time World War II broke out in 1939 most of the then major powers, notably Germany, Italy and Japan had unilaterally quit the League of Nations. This rendered the organisation toothless and totally ineffective.

Lessons learnt from World War I
The primary lesson learnt is about the futility of the use of force, including war of all types, to solve political problems. It is sadly a lesson which has too often been lost or forgotten by politicians and dictators.
It is tragic that here in Uganda after many years of bitter, bloody and useless internal conflicts we still have some misguided politicians who glorify violence and whenever they are stuck due to lack of ideas and ability to reason, they resort to violence and use excessive force against innocent, hapless and unarmed citizens.
Whenever I hear dubious people glorify fighting or threaten to go to the bush, I wonder about the integrity, patriotism and sanity of such people.
Violence and war cannot solve political problems. The best means available to Ugandans for finding just and lasting solutions to their political problems is dialogue.
That is why I endorse and fully support efforts by IRCU and TEFU to convene a national dialogue on November 21. I hope all Ugandans of goodwill who love their country will do likewise.