Freedom is never free, says US in remembrance of World Wars

By YANGE IKYAA

Inremembrance of the sacrifices made by men and women to free humanity from the march of tyranny during the First and Second World Wars, the United States Mission in Nigeria has said that this disturbing piece of history serves as a reminder that freedom is never free.

A statement on the official Facebook page of the US Mission in Nigeria also made reference to activities that took place in Lagos on Sunday to reflect on these two devastating wars in the 20th Century that dramatically changed the cause of world politics and international diplomacy.

“Today, we joined officers of governments across the world at the British Deputy High Commission, Lagos, to reflect, remember and honor the sacrifices of all the men and women who lost their lives during World Wars I & II, and other conflicts of the modern age,” the statement read in part.

“This a solemn reminder to us all that freedom is never free,” it further read.

World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, and referred to by some Anglophone authors as the Great War or War to End All Wars, was a global conflict which lasted from 1914 to 1918, and is considered one of the deadliest conflicts in history.

The belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia.

An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.

On its own part, the Second World War, also called World War II, was conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years between 1939 and 1945. The principal belligerents were the Axis Powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allies—France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China.

The war was in many respects a continuation, after an uneasy 20-year hiatus, of the disputes left unsettled by World War I. The 40 million to 50 million deaths incurred in World War II make it the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in human history.

Along with World War I, World War II was one of the great watersheds of 20th-century geopolitical history. It resulted in the extension of the Soviet Union’s power to nations of Eastern Europe, enabled a communist movement to eventually achieve power in China, and marked the decisive shift of power in the world away from the states of Western Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union.