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| Canadian troops bring a wounded comrade through the mud of Passchendaele, 1917. Fortunately, Patria stayed out of this so-called "war to end all wars". |
The centennial of the Great War was referenced in Patria's Fiftieth Congress inaugural address. But on the first weekend of August, Patria once again paused to remember the hundredth anniversary of the world (the mighty European macro-powers and their colonial empires, at least) going to war over the assassination of a stupid Austro-Hungarian archduke. On this week in 1914, the newly inaugurated Twenty Fifth Congress met in a Special Session held before the convening of the First Session in September (1·XXV 1914-15) in order to affirm Patria's neutrality in the conflict that would later become known as World War I.
They would still be dodging bullets and poison gas in the rat-infested mud-filled trenches four years later, as the 26th Congress was inaugurated during Patria's centennial year 1918. But by then, the USA had become involved, making the Great War a true World War.
To remember is to end all wars. Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu.
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