WW1

[Spoken]
The search lights are in position
The guns are ready
The people's army of volunteers is ready
They are the ones who are really fighting this war

[Verse 1]
Yeah, my name is Amy True
I'm here to talk to you
I need to tell the youts
I'm about to break it down
About the Great War
See ain't nothing great about it
I've had to travel through time to make some sense about this
1914, the spark from an assassination
Of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo
Triggered the chain of events that fucked the whole world
Fighting for territory, power, people, collateral, nah
The Triple Entente: Britain, France and Russia
Previous enemies thought they'd come and fight together
Against the Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Were also known as the Central Powers
Oh what a blood bath, upon the Western Front
The First Battle of Morne, oh yeah, had to be done
Battle of Tannenberg and Masurian Lake
Battle of Gallipoli, Battle of Verdun
The death toll's high, the worst was in Somme
But still it don't stop, the list it goes on
And Britain wanted peace, they were about to break
But there were Zionists in Germany that hollered "hey"
Told them: "no, don't give up, seems like you need some luck"
"We'll get America to help you if you just help us"
"When the war is done, you give us Palestine"
"And we can promise you victory so just hold on tight"

[Spoken]
The Balfour Declaration belongs to a different era
A time when Britain could draw lines on maps
And give away territory without consulting the people who live there
Yes, a different era, but one with profound consequences today
Many Israelis will celebrate this centenary
Many Palestinians will mourn it

[Verse 2]
I'm not anti-Semitic, you see I've got a soul
I don't believe to brand an entire race cos of a few bad seeds
Who wanna take control
Yeah, that's just ridiculous, but can you picture this
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, their lives taken away
Europe was devastated, patriotic they say
A better life in the army, fight for your family
Industrial, scientific, chemical warfare
Shellshock if you survive, you can't call this a life
Physical, mentally, neurological tragedy
Yeah, inside their spirit died
Genetic structure collapse from war frequency
There's no decency
No apprehension
Oh, did I mention
The treatment if it was given, shocking intention
Too young to matter, but not too young to die
Pawns on the chessboard, at the price of their life

[Spoken]
For the doctors to show that this was something real
Something that the men were not in control of
And something that demanded treatment
Demanded sympathy, was of enormous importance
And really the modern understanding of what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, began there

[Verse 3]
Scramble for Africa, German East Africa
You might know it as Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania
The German Empire, it was collapsing
Desperately they tried to hold on and save their ego
Mad men and maniacs
Greedy, intrusive, elusive, raping colonisers
Murderous sabotage
This really hurts my heart
And has ripple effect on Mother Africa
Where was the love for her?
Carriers were carrying, tribes were segregated
Their lives annihilated, machine guns like brapp
They called it civilised, like real sportsmen
Bordering was British and Portuguese East Africa
And Belgium Congo, don't get me started, yo
Shutztruppe were pushed back to Rhodesia
Where Vorbeck surrendered because of Armistice
1918, 11.11.11

[Spoken]
One Shutztruppe soldier had this to say:
Behind us we leave destroyed fields and famine for the time to come
We are no longer ambassadors of culture
We are bringing death, pillaging and empty villages