The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.
- Winston Churchill
This week's commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VE Day, marking the defeat of the axis powers in Europe, carries particular significance for The Ditchley Foundation.
For Sir David Wills, the founder of Ditchley, who lost his brother in the war and served as a soldier himself, it must have been bittersweet relief: an end to personal danger, but also a time to reflect on the great losses in the fight for freedom. This reflection culminated in his founding of Ditchley 13 years later to help strengthen democratic alliances with the aim of preventing such a terrible war from ever happening again.
For Winston Churchill, who spent 12 weekends at Ditchley Park in the early, desperate years of the war, it must have meant jubilation after years of punishing work and stress as a wartime prime minister. But it was also the beginning of the end for imperial Britain and the start of a new chapter. Churchill would shortly be voted out of office in favour of the Labour Party, which swept to electoral victory with its slogan, "Cheer for Churchill, vote Labour."
But the most significant thing of all about Victory in Europe day is that it could equally be called Peace in Europe day. The deepest achievement of the allied victory was that it led not to more war, as the end of World War I had, but to the rebuilding of Europe through the extraordinary vision and generosity of the United States' Marshall Plan and an unprecedented 75 years of peace and union on the continent.
It was not until Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that a major power once again sought to expand its territory through war. It's fitting then that next week we will hold our fourth annual May conference on the impact of the current Ukraine war. We’ll explore how it can be ended in a way that reinforces the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and confirms the futility of aggression, but that also opens a path to eventual reconciliation and stability.
We should remember and thank the greatest generation, not only for the sacrifices of the past, but for their inspiration on how to shape a better future.