TWO articles in the NST (“Sarajevo marks WW1 killing” — June 29 and “Looking back to look ahead” — July 6) remind us that this is the 100th anniversary of the start of World War 1 (WW1).
The assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire by a Serbian on June 28, 1914 led to a month of sabre-rattling and diplomatic failures, resulting in war being declared by the first week of August in 1914.
The declaration of war was greeted with great enthusiasm in many countries. Young men rushed in the thousands to join the army, looking forward to an exciting adventure. They feared the war might be over before they saw action. Instead, it dragged on for four years and 30 million young men became casualties.
At that time, the war was not known as the First World War or World War 1. Few would have thought a second world war would come soon after. In fact, the first world war was touted as the war to end all wars. However, a highly punitive peace treaty at its conclusion inevitably led to World War 2 (WW2).
WW1 was initially called the Great War because so many countries were involved. Almost the same number of countries was involved in WW2, but in different alliances. The Great War saw for the first time the mass use of machine guns, aeroplanes, tanks, submarines and poison gas.
Malaya, then, did not commit troops to the war but many individual Malayans served in the Commonwealth forces. Some even saw action at the famous Gallipoli landing in Turkey.
There was a mutiny by Sepoy soldiers in Singapore in 1915, which the Johor Military Force led by the sultan of Johor helped put down. The force suffered a few casualties.
In 1915, Penang was raided by the German warship Emden. It bombarded the harbour and sank a Russian and French warship.
The expatriate community in Malaya collected funds and donated a warship HMS Malaya to the Royal Navy. After the war, the captain of HMS Malaya donated a sports trophy to us, which began the interstate HMS Malaya Cup football tournament. This was our premier league for a few decades.
The end of WW1 in 1918 was commemorated by many countries at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month every year until today. The last known surviving combatant of WW1 died in Australia in 2011.
Wan Abu Bakar Wan Teh Ibrahim, Dengkil, Selangor