Russian Tanks and Martian Spaceships
An insight from 1897 on the downfall of malicious occupiers.
In his masterpiece, The War of the Worlds, HG Wells takes humanity through the bloody horror of an alien invasion. He reveals the inadequacy of mankind's military response, and the mechanical indifference of the occupiers to the cruelty and suffering perpetrated on the innocent. In the end, ultimate victory for mankind emerges from an unexpected source. The story concludes with destroyed alien invasion machines in the public square, monuments and reminders to a fundamental truth: Evil may have its day, but it will not prevail. The hand of God is greater than the well-armed schemes of occupiers.
I think on this story as my son and I walk among the ruins of Russian armor on display in Kyiv, the city of defiance and freedom. The demise of the Martian army was not because of ships, bombs and planes, but a microorganism. What will it be for Vladimir Putin and his conscienceless storm troopers?
There is much I cannot predict or know, but one thing is certain: It will not end well for the occupier.
Evil has its day, but it will not prevail.
HG Wells closes his 1897 novel with the following two sentences. I offer them to you with a minor revision and apologies to the author.
"By the toll of [vast death and suffering over a thousand years Ukraine] has bought her birthright of the earth, and it is hers against all comers; it would still be hers if the [Russians] were ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain."
DW Phillips is an attorney and a filmmaker presently working on a documentary series for Ukraine Story on the faith, defiance, unity and courage of ordinary Ukrainians under siege.
