World War - II

History channel is bombarding with programs celebrating the end of World War II for last whole week or so. The WW-II was certainly horrific. It was nadir for humanity. It consumed almost 5, 50, 00,000 lives and changed the future of the world drastically. NAZI power couldn’t become a superpower but it wounded British Empire so badly that Britain ceased to be a superpower. (And instantly attained the third world status, as the saying goes!) And, though the Cold war began, at least, the colonial era ended with the conclusion of world war.

The disturbing element of History channels WW-II programs is constant referral t the Allies member as torch bearers of freedom and democracy. Most of the allied members were definitely democratic, (barring, glaring example of Russia) I do not believe that Allied members were ‘freedom lovers’. The reason behind it is simple, the allied members had whole world shared among themselves and Germany challenged their supremacy or the delicate power balance among the powerful allies. And, the concomitant reason for waging war against Germany was to save their colonies and the ruse was the redemption and protection from the Nazi Satan.

I am in no way suggesting that Germany would have liberated the world from Colonial rule. Germany was itself a colonial power. And now looking back at NAZI doctrine, we can certainly say that colonial powers were benign compared to what Nazi’s would have been, had they won the war. Actually the conquered world had no choice or they had choice between rulers who were competing to plunder them. But the allied members were in no way fighting for the world. The horrific crime the allied members did near the end of world war were equally reprehensible as NAZI war crimes. Of course the Holocaust can not be compared with anything and at the same time I am not comparing Allied nations with Nazi Germany. Because, I think there can’t be any comparison among them as all of them were in same basket. Whether Nazi’s killed insanely under the spell of racial supremacy or Allied nations killed insanely under the spell of ‘liberating people’, ultimately it was the innocent bystander who was slaughtered.

I am not a peace activist andI believe that conflict is part of the nature. But at least in WW-II there was no liberator and victor but everyone was a victim.