Get ready to commemorate half a century of man's inhumanity

The centenary of World War I reminds us of what happens when we believe men and society can be perfected. It isn't pretty.

Poppies
(Image credit: (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images))

One hundred years ago this week, Sir Edward Grey, the foreign secretary for the British Empire, delivered a speech to Parliament in which he informed the nation that war was inevitable. German troops were marching even then. After the speech, he returned to his office with a newspaper editor and friend, John Spender. In a remark that could never be given so freely — or so literately — in the more democratic age to follow, Sir Edward said, "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."

That line — so foreboding, prophetic, and sad — was the chief inspiration for events marking the centenary of World War I in Britain this week. From 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Aug. 4, lights were put out all over the United Kingdom. The gesture commemorated Grey's words, but it also invoked the lights-out orders given to civilians in the Second World War when the Luftwaffe dropped bombs over English cities. Many living today can recall the shattered buildings and craters that still dotted English cities into the 1970s.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.