The commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War has been moving but totally lacking in political context. 


The appalling loss of life in this grotesque conflict marked a total breakdown of the international political system. 
Listening to some, it would seem that the ludicrous propaganda that this was the war to end all wars is still believed.


The reality is that 20 years later an even bigger and more costly war broke out. 


What the past century has really marked is the evolution of ever more deadly weaponry.


By 1939, war could be taken much further into civilian centres, thereby increasing the number of civilians killed. 


Out of the Second World  War came the ultimate weapon – the nuclear bomb. That could destroy the whole planet. 


The progression of ever more dangerous weaponry continues with drone warfare. 


This remotely controlled technology allows the leaders of the aggressor nation to operate even more easily in their own moral vacuum. 


Unless checked, in time drone warfare will make the slide to total war even quicker to achieve. 


Then the final great irony of this commemoration is that it comes at a time when thousands of people are being slaughtered with high tech weaponry in Gaza, whilst the world looks on. 


So maybe the real reflection should be what has really changed in 100 years, other than the sophistication of the weaponry.


Paul Donovan, 
Dangan Road,
Wanstead.