WE cannot know truly how the world was 100 years ago today.

We have glimpses into the past, certainly. We can read the newspapers of those times, including from the archives of this paper.

We think we understand how the people of Britain, of Hampshire thought and acted in an era just before our own. And yet it would be an alien world to us who live today.

In a time before the NHS, before women had the vote, when the age of empire was accepted as natural and war was almost simply another state of relationship between nations, on this day in 1914 as Britain reacted to the war aims of Germany and Austria, there was no sense of what was to come.

Few if any thought the impending crisis would result in millions of deaths, the destruction of empires, the overthrowing of centuries-old thrones and the creation of the modern world as we know it.

And yet not understanding the causes does not diminish our understanding and recognition of the sacrifices made by those who fought for this country in the war that was supposed to end all wars.

The world may not have learned enough lessons, and we cannot know how we would live today had the First World War not been fought, yet we should, must, hold vigil for those brave souls who gave everything in the belief that we might be free.

We are free today thanks to them and those who fought in conflicts to come. We are free today because brave men and women still stand up when we ask them.

Freedom is what we should remember from the valour of those who stood up 100 years ago when duty called: their freedom to choose, our freedom for which we owe an undying debt of gratitude.