We assume that wars are fought, soldiers die, and then we erect memorials
to honor those soldiers who have died. But what if it works the other way around? 
Perhaps human beings fight wars in order to erect memorials to the dead.

In the First World War, the desire to erect crosses was
the independent variable and slaughter of soldiers
the dependent variable. In other words, nation-states generated
the massacre of young men (asking them to run into machine-gun fire
for four years) in order to erect crosses honoring the dead.
The death of soldiers and erection of crosses combined
to confirm the reality of the nation-state.