In the very first reading we did for this class, there was a quote from the German historian Treitschke, saying, “without war, no State could be. All those we know of arose through war.” This is an intriguing idea, and I wanted to see if I could find some concrete examples to make it a little bit more tangible to the everyday person; national anthems seemed like a good place to start.
Lyrics to the “Star Spangled Banner”
When I looked into it, I found that the vast majority of national anthems mention war and/or conflict in one form or another. As someone who grew up in the United States, the anthem I am most familiar with is the indisputably war-centric “Star-Spangled Banner”. One of the world’s most melodically recognizable anthems is France’s La Marseillaise, written during their revolutionary wars, with beautifully graphic lyrics such as “to slit the throats of your sons and your women / so that the impure blood should water our fields…” Both anthems discuss the bellicose beginnings that led to the formation of each state, and are so far thus in line with Treitschke’s ideologies.
There are of course exceptions, including our very own “God Defend New Zealand”, which contains lines such as “me aroha noa” and “in the bonds of love we meet”, both very peaceful sentiments focusing on love, not war. The only time war is mentioned is “guard pacific’s triple star / from the shafts of strife and war”. Even this is communicating a very different message about avoiding “strife and war” not seeking glory out of it.
The original Italian national anthem, “Il Canto degli Italiani”
So what makes New Zealand unique? Well, one potential factor that we looked at just last week is how high up on the Global Peace Index New Zealand is. To put it into context, as of 2019, Italy, which has one of the most war-heavy anthems in the world, sits at No. 39. France is at No. 60, and the US is at whopping No. 128. Coincidence? Possibly. However, just out of curiosity I decided to check out the anthems of the other most peaceful countries in the world according to the GPI.
The four most consistently peaceful countries over the past decade (excluding New Zealand) are Iceland, Austria, Denmark and Canada. As it turns out, all four of these countries’ anthems are tributes to their countries’ beautiful natural landscapes, and not a single one of them mentions war at any point during the song.
It’s important to mention that this is not an exact science and there are exceptions (Portugal has a very war-centric anthem and is No. 3 in the GPI this year). However, on a whole I think it is fair to say that national anthems show much more about a country than just their foundations. Deciding to adopt a certain song as the symbol for any nation is a conscious choice on more than one level, and it seems it can have lasting effects on the future of that country.
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References:
Institute for Economics & Peace. Global Peace Index 2019: Measuring Peace in a Complex World, Sydney, Updated June 2019. http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2019/06/GPI-2019-web003.pdf
Chang, Elizabeth. “War or peace? With anthems, violence wins.” The Washington Post. Updated: November 9, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/lifestyle/war-or-peace-with-anthems-violence-wins/2132/
“This Is My Fight Song – Seven National Anthems Inspired by Bloodshed, Battles and War”. Military History Now. Updated: March 5, 2019 https://militaryhistorynow.com/2019/03/05/this-is-my-fight-song-seven-national-anthems-inspired-by-bloodshed-battles-and-war/
This was such an interesting read! I had never considered the connection of a countries national anthem and the level of peacefulness that is apparent in a country. As you’ve hinted at, commonly a national anthem is thought to be a symbol of what a country stands for. Even in societal culture a person ‘singing their own anthem’ is used to portray how they are passionate about something, whether it be a social movement or set of values/ideals. The idea that this concept is translated from a country’s national anthem and seen in the actions and culture of a country, is wonderful. However, I think it is also interesting to note when the creation of these anthems were. I did some quick (and likely not suuuper accurate) research and all of the countries with a ‘peaceful’ anthem officially indoctrinated these songs when the country’s were not at war. In contrast, the violence heavy anthems you mentioned were all created at times when the countries were in strife (America with the War of 1812, France with their Revolution as you said, and Italy with the Italian Unification). The time at which these anthems were made surely had some impact on the content of the song. Nevertheless, I do believe that the messages of these anthems have carried been through the country’s development. Thanks for such a great post!
I second that! This is such a unique perspective – I think often people forget the extent to which the music of a nation is shaped by its important historical events – not just the national anthems but even some of their most famous classical and operatic works. It has even been argued that music composed under certain regimes contains elements of radical ideology translated into the musical structure and forms of the pieces, something I’d love to do more research on, regarding how war and conflict have shaped entire musical movements 🙂 Hayden’s Missa in Tempore Belli (Mass in Time of War) was composed in 1796 during the European war (following the French revolution) and was described to provide a “powerful reflection of the era’s troubled mood”. The positive peace index is a very interesting connection to draw between the national anthems and relative peace of their countries of origin – one I’d never considered. Music is such an enduring art form and represents so much social and historical change, which is represented in the transition from musical genre to genre, so I really enjoyed reading your blog post and can’t wait to see what you write next 🙂