WW1 Centenary

[rynnor]

Looks like there will be plenty of militaristic bollocks and not enough of the senseless butchery of a generation in a pointless war that achieved nowt.

I prefer to remember it as the War that proved God was dead - ironic that there will probably be lots of churchy crap.

 

[Turamber]

Hopefully it will be a time for people to remember the sacrifices of their distant relatives, pull people together, remind them of the futility of worshipping the state.

 

[caLLous]

You don't *need* to worship anything.

 

[Aoami]

Hopefully it will be a time for people to remember the sacrifices of their distant relatives, pull people together, remind them of the futility of worshipping the state.

Even better... This will happen AND someone will delete this most fucking useless of threads

 

[Hawkwind]

Different world back then. People should not forget, they should remember the sacrifice people made and never allow it to happen again!

Senseless slaughter is harsh at least Blackadder guessed the ultimate plan - "Continue total slaughter until everyone's dead, except Field Marshal Haig, Lady Haig, and their tortoise Alan"

 

[Gwadien]

Back when soldiers fought for something that was unquestionably right.

 

[rynnor]

Back when soldiers fought for something that was unquestionably right.

Certainly not in that War and probably never tbh.

WW1 was a mess caused by interwoven defense treaties and stiff necks.

Only nation states can butcher millions over such stupidity.

 

[Exioce]

British males between the age of 15-35 in 1914 had a 1 in 3 chance of surviving the war.

 

[Raven]

It reshaped the world, probably more so than WW2. While the butchery was horrific it effectively ended the age of empire. A lot of people say that was WW2 but WW1 set things in motion.

 

[Hawkwind]

WW1 was a mess caused by interwoven defense treaties and stiff necks.

Agreed the Berlin Treaty was an issue but the Euro royals did not help with a huge power struggle after Victoria died.

Amazes me when my son comes home from school and says WWI was caused by the shooting of Franz Ferdinand, its like history by MTV. Bite sized chunks with no depth.

 

[DaGaffer]

Back when soldiers fought for something that was unquestionably right.

There was nothing "right" about WWI. On any side. For the British in particular there was absolutely no reason to even get involved other than ridiculous treaties that dragged everybody down. In fact from one perspective WWI was a family squabble that ended up killing millions.

 

[DaGaffer]

British males between the age of 15-35 in 1914 had a 1 in 3 chance of surviving the war.

My Great-Grandfather on my Dad's side was one of seven brothers who went to fight. Three killed, one gassed and an invalid for the rest of his life, three survived. Apparently our family was regarded as "lucky".

 

[Exioce]

Similarly, my Great-Grandmother was the only one of seven sisters to marry. The generation was near wiped out.

 

[Scouse]

it effectively ended the age of empire

Lol.

 

[Raven]

Well...it did. It was all downhill from there, WW2 finished it off.

 

[Mabs]

Similarly, my Great-Grandmother was the only one of seven sisters to marry. The generation was near wiped out.

i havent done a headcount, but im pretty sure the bird flu epidemic post-war did more damage than the actual war
which i believe was H1N1 , or something.. some relation of the "bird flu" we had recently, why it was so devastating

 

[Scouse]

Well...it did. It was all downhill from there, WW2 finished it off.

Empire's just changed. It's no longer purely military.

 

[DaGaffer]

Empire's just changed. It's no longer purely military.

It never was. Look up "informal empire".

 

[Scouse]

It never was. Look up "informal empire".

I should have said "primarily". The informal empire is the primary means after the land-grab...

 

[rynnor]

There was nothing "right" about WWI. On any side. For the British in particular there was absolutely no reason to even get involved other than ridiculous treaties that dragged everybody down. In fact from one perspective WWI was a family squabble that ended up killing millions.

And the war lead to the crappy Treaty of Versailles that was a major factor that lead to the second world war which really left the first world war looking like a waste of lives.