Inside Story

D-Day: Have post-war ideals changed?

Commemorations take place to mark the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

In the words of French President Francois Hollande it was an event that ‘changed the world’. World leaders and war veterans have marked the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France.
 
The allied assault remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, and one that altered the course of the world’s deadliest conflict.
 
The landings marked the first stage of the allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France and would eventually help bring the Second World War to an end.
 
Speaking on Omaha Beach in Normandy, US President Barack Obama said: ‘If prayer were made of sound, the skies over England that night would have deafened the world.’
 
He went on to say: ‘I am honoured to return here today to pay tribute to the men and women of a generation who defied every danger: among them, our veterans of D-Day. Gentlemen, we are truly humbled by your presence today.’
 
It is estimated that more than 60 million people were killed between 1939 and 1945, at that time, more than two and a half percent of the world’s population.
 
Since then, the research group, the Center for Systemic Peace, has documented 331 armed conflicts around the world, estimated to have killed more than 26 million people.
 
But how have events of 70 years ago shaped today’s realities? And are attitudes to global conflicts changing?
 
Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault
 
Guests:
 
Max Arthur: A Military Historian and Author of ‘The Silent Day: a Landmark History of D-Day on the Home Front’.
 
Michael Brzoska: Director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at Haumburg University, and Author of Arms and Warfare.