We all desire peace, but where I think we differ is that some people still think of war as a possible and justifiable means of settling international disputes, while others have come to regard it in its modern dress as the last word in man’s futility and wickedness. These latter – among whom I am included – do not believe that a people who engage in war will be able to maintain either the old values and the ancient liberties that they desire to defend, or the new values that they desire to establish. No man who has become a man minds dying for some noble purpose; but to die in a process which kills all human purpose – that is both futile as well as obscene.

Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem was intended to serve as a warning to future generations.