A “ splendid spectacle “ shouts the New York Times headline.
Celebrating the end of a completely unnecessary war, which murdered and maimed over 800,000 men, women, and children.
Horrible wars are always a “ splendid spectacle “ for those who observe from afar.
Since the war was so terrible, its end should well and rightly be celebrated, but most especially so by the victors. One of my wife’s ancestors was in the kitchen washing dishes in Ohio, and when her son returned, she stood frozen, and dropped a dish, breaking it. I am sure that mothers in Tennessee and Alabama reacted quite the same way.