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The casualties of war - over 8000 in the panoramic photo in the centre alone. Such is the fabric of European history and an ode to Darwinism amongst the human species. In the Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Troops, St Petersburg you have a victorious mannequin of a Russian trooper on skis standing above the frozen body of a Finnish soldier during the Winter War of 1939-40. In the Artikum Museum in Rovaniemi Finland you have a model of the town after the Nazis razed almost every building when retreating ahead of the Russians in WWII. And then by acccident I discover in a museum inside the historical sight of Festung Hohensalzburg that post the Anschluss of 1938, the Austrian Mountain Divisions (mostly Catholic and some unhappy with the Anschluss!) were some of the Hitler's best troops for his campaigns in Scandinavia. No matter where I went in Europe history and fate intertwined this continent. The frequency of references to Irene the goddess of war and the four horses guarding St Mark's tomb throughout Europe is yet another example... A person may be moved to contest that in the face of this history no one can be ignorant of other peoples or the politics of their own nor stand behind the banner of his peers without forming and taking responsibility for his own convictions. But what of economics and incentives and their cause and effect, imperfect information and disinformation, and morals and principles in the face of adversity? The Finns have one of the most amazing histories, who with a present day population of only 4 million stuck it out through the centuries despite the power struggles between Germany, Sweden, Russia, even England and Denmark on all sides. But can we appreciate the true beauty of a rose if it was not born among thorns? Provided we take note of it, history can give us that perspective and appreciation to minimise the cost of any future ventures.