Denmark was not part of WWI, except in the lucrative profiteering role, so WWI is not really covered much in history classes – or at least, it was not when I was a kid. I have tried to make up for this, but I feel that I am not as knowledgeable of WWI as I should be.

One thing I know, however, was that it was an absolutely horrible war, with large numbers of young men getting killed. Reading books about life in the trenches, it becomes clear what an absolute nightmare it was to be there.

I don’t think I have ever come across anything that illustrates this better than this recording.

Even knowing that peace was just a minute away, the armies kept fighting, until silence comes, as the agreed upon time is reached.

Why? It is unfathomable to me why anyone would keep trying to kill other human beings once it has been agreed that there will be an armistice. Yet, the sound clip clearly shows that people kept fighting to the very end.

A hundred years ago, the guns fell silent, and people hoped it would be the last great war. This unfortunately wasn’t the case, as everyone knows, and as Putin, Trump, Brexit and other factors are de-stabilizing global politics, it is easy to fear that another “great” war is in the making.