World War I - a discussion

A couple of us were discussing WWI on another thread and we both agreed this topic deserves one of its' own. I thought I'd begin with a brief introduction as found on Wikipedia.

World War I (WWI or WW1 or World War One), also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war, a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, and tactical stalemate. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, paving the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.

The war drew in all the world's economic great powers which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire) and the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Italy had also been a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary, it did not join the Central Powers, as Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive against the terms of the alliance.These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war: Italy, Japan and the United States joined the Allies, and the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria the Central Powers. Ultimately, more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I

I'll be following along, as this is a conflict I don't know nearly enough about. In cliff notes fashion, I am watching this at the moment: http://www.amazon.com/First-World-W...F8&qid=1415996649&sr=1-6&keywords=world+war+1

If you are ever in Kansas City, check out the Liberty Memorial, the US's only WWI memorial. There is a great museum underneath the memorial.

Who won?

ouch said:

Who won?

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""I lost all my youth, the best years of my life you might say and I lost so many friends. A few medals don't make up for that. Nobody wins in a war, they lost but we didn't win."

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--Donald Arthur Hodge (1894–1997)

Currently researching on manufacturing during WWII, but after I've completed that I'm going to research WWI. I'm going to definitely follow this to see what people have to say.

Here in Minneapolis we have on our parkway system a stretch of greenway called Victory Memorial Parkway. When created (not sure when) there was a tree and bronze plaque planted for every soldier from Hennepin County who died in WW1. It was just restored.

Great thread. A special shout out to Dave (MusikMann) for starting this out.

Our contemporary history was largely shaped by World War II. Yet underlying those changes were the earth shattering changes of "The Great War"

Consider that the ending if World War I saw the collapse of three empires: the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and The younger Imperial Germany

Also consider that as a result of the war, Italy's monarch was so concerned about the social chaos of the time, that he pushed out the democratically elected Prime Minister in favor of a disgruntled socialist who had just adopted a new authoritarian world view, Benito Mussolini.

deleted by poster. double copy.

Both my grandfathers were in WW1. Both enlisted in 1915. One was in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was a Sergeant. He won a medal for bravery in the field, during Passchendaele, which was a horrible battle near the town of Ypres. He survived.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...r6OS4FF52i_ehqw&bvm=bv.79142246,d.cGU&cad=rja

My other grandfather was in the British Army in a Scottish regiment. He was also a Sergeant. He was one of the first soldiers gassed (Mustard Gas) in WW1, He survived until age 83, in 1965.

Bonus WW I trivia

Three Monarchs of World War I combatants were cousins.

King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhem if Germany and Nicholas II of Russia were all grandchildren of England's Queen Victoria.

redrako said:

Bonus WW I trivia

Three Monarchs of World War I combatants were cousins.

King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhem if Germany and Nicholas II of Russia were all grandchildren of England's Queen Victoria.

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Thanks for the reminder of who was related to whom. For this reason, some people have referred to the war as a family feud that got out of hand. That's pretty simplistic, but there is some genetic relevance to consider. Due to the royal inter-marriages, young Alexey Romanov, heir to the Russian throne, was born with hemophaelia. This enabled Rasputin to gain a type of spiritual control over Alexandra while Nicholas was away leading the troops in battle. I don't think there is any doubt that the Bolshevik Revolution would have happened anyway, and that the Romanovs would have suffered an untimely death, but it's a very fascinating story.

redrako said:

Also consider that as a result of the war, Italy's monarch was so concerned about the social chaos of the time, that he pushed out the democratically elected Prime Minister in favor of a disgruntled socialist who had just adopted a new authoritarian world view, Benito Mussolini.

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And that the Treaty of Versailles so humiliated Germany that a lance corporal exploited these conditions for political gains. World War I was also a defining moment for a (not so) young U.S. Army officer named Truman.

The largest takeaway from World War One is that when it comes to war, listen to the United States. The aftermath of World War One and the absolute failure of Britain and France to listen to President Woodrow Wilson gave rise to Hitler and cost millions of people their lives in the very dark time that followed the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

mretzloff said:

The largest takeaway from World War One is that when it comes to war, listen to the United States. The aftermath of World War One and the absolute failure of Britain and France to listen to President Woodrow Wilson gave rise to Hitler and cost millions of people their lives in the very dark time that followed the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

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The Fourteen Points that the world forgot ..

I have trouble getting my head around the astounding numbers of World War I. PBS has a simple table that lists the mobilization, death, and casualty numbers. By their accounting, the total combined mobilized forces was ~65 million, of which 8.5m were killed, 21.2m were wounded, and 7.75 were either captured or went missing. That adds up to ~37.5m casualties — an astounding 57.5% casualty rate as percentage of mobilized forces. It's hard to fathom that level of violence. See http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html

A few years back, my wife was reading up some of the UK pacifists and suffragettes of the era (Vera Brittain, Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst, Charlotte Despard, etc) in Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. Jokingly, I asked her how the book ends, to which she responded, "Spolier alert: everybody loses."

I've always been interested in this war. I had a great uncle who was in the Rainbow Division. He was gassed and died in the late forties from complications of the gas. As a child, I knew several WW1 vets and did hear just a story or two about their experiences.

Reckoner said:

I have trouble getting my head around the astounding numbers of World War I. PBS has a simple table that lists the mobilization, death, and casualty numbers. By their accounting, the total combined mobilized forces was ~65 million, of which 8.5m were killed, 21.2m were wounded, and 7.75 were either captured or went missing. That adds up to ~37.5m casualties — an astounding 57.5% casualty rate as percentage of mobilized forces. It's hard to fathom that level of violence. See http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html

A few years back, my wife was reading up some of the UK pacifists and suffragettes of the era (Vera Brittain, Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst, Charlotte Despard, etc) in Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. Jokingly, I asked her how the book ends, to which she responded, "Spolier alert: everybody loses."

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WWI was the first conflict to use modern arms, yet the tactics had not been created or adapted to the new ams. Both sides were quickly pinned to a stalemate and the trench lines were dug. Aristocratic officers led wave after wave of humanity to their deaths. An entire generation of young men were wiped out.

ouch said:

Who won?

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"Most of the miseries of the world were caused by wars. And when the wars were over, no one ever knew what they were about."