One of the most
eloquent summaries of the causes of the First World War and all of it's
unfathomable,
horrific madnesses was put
forth in a
comedy. The below excerpt is probably the most
poignant, and most well
remembered scene of all of the
Blackadder episodes. The episode as a whole is probably one of the
greatest anti-war televisual moments, this scene in particular shows how the men who would die had no idea why they would be
dying, in a war that could not by any stretch of the
imagination be
justified or
rationalised. Which is why Edmund
cannot dispute Baldrick's "
personal" interpretation of the cause of the war, for it could
only ever equal the madness of the truth. In the end it all
boils down to one word. Please read on :
Edmund: Do you mean "How did the war start?"
Baldrick: Yeah.
George: The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire- building.
Edmund: George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganiki. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.
George: Oh, no, sir, absolutely not. (aside, to Baldrick) Mad as a bicycle!
Baldrick: I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry.
Edmund: I think you mean it started when the Archduke of Austro-Hungary got shot.
Baldrick: Nah, there was definitely an ostrich involved, sir.
Edmund: Well, possibly. But the real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort not to have a war.
George: By Gum! this is interesting; I always loved history -- The Battle of Hastings, Henry VIII and his six knives, all that.
Edmund: You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war.
Baldrick: But, this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?
Edmund: Yes, that's right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.
George: What was that, sir?
Edmund: It was bollocks.
Baldrick: So the poor old ostrich died for nothing.
Still brings a
tear to the eye, the above excerpt is from a
transcript of the last episode "
GoodByeee" from "
Blackadder Goes Forth" series, all
copyright belongs to the
BBC.