Jump to content

The Great War 1914 - 1918


chrisp65

Recommended Posts

Stating the obvious, it's 100 years since the outbreak of World War 1.

 

The kids have done it in school and are as unimpressed as only kids can be when faced with old people talking about black and white pictures.

 

It's a subject I've never really been that interested in but lately I've been more interested in the politics around the lead up to it and the repurcussions of the post war treaties.

 

I do love a good map and I've poured over the ever changing map of europe at around this time.

 

World%20War%20I.jpg

 

(not intended as a map thread)

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly overlooked due to WW2 and all the images we have of it. Not to mention the overall more fascinating aspects of WW2 in general. I'd like to learn much more about WW1, and plan to do more reading on it. As soon as I finish the 200 books on WW2 I'm meaning to read!

Edited by maqroll
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The war that was to end all wars, of course it was just one war before an even bloodier conflict, but I think it destroyed a kind of Britain (some might say it was a good thing) and even today we live with the fallout

 

When you hear about the casualties it never stops being horrific. As someone in my 40s its a reminder how lucky I ve been to live in a relatively peaceful world.

 

Definitely a year to reflect on the horrors of war

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not sure you can say it was more fascinating, its just been more exposed. But for the British and the commonwealth probably more impactful.

True, I'm saying WW2 was more fascinating, but I'm saying so without a great breadth of knowledge of WW1. 

 

That said, WW2 is endlessly fascinating on so many levels, it defies belief.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that amazes me is how many people had the courage to go and fight for their country.

 

I don't think I could just get up and leave my family, knowing what will probably happen. Maybe they didn't know what was coming to them? After all the films I've seen, I don't think I could do it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that amazes me is how many people had the courage to go and fight for their country.

 

I don't think I could just get up and leave my family, knowing what will probably happen. Maybe they didn't know what was coming to them? After all the films I've seen, I don't think I could do it.

 

whilst it's only a film, All Quiet On The Western Front gives a good acount of the whole signing up for a quick bit of coming of age glory

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a fascinating conflict, but the fascination lies in the things that also make it less accessible than the Second World War.

 

The Great War was a war of empires, empires all spoiling for a fight and waiting for someone to spill someones drink to kick it all off. There was no 'Great Evil' to rally against, it was a war of pure self interest, and a war that was quite one note - trench warfare is attrition at it's most basic, and that dominated the conflict. Whereas in WW2 you have a degree of a 'righteous' conflict, there was a great evil to vanquish (generally - obviously things are more complicated than that but the conflict can be painted in such easy to understand strokes) and it was a war of many different fronts and many different stories.

 

The Great War remains fascinating though - as the backdrop to some of the most horrific wastes of life, as the definition of the utter futility of war, as the death blow for British Empire (the Empire grew after the war in fact IIRC, but the UK became less able to service it's colonies in the aftermath), and so on. It is a difficult conflict though, as said... it's a war of empires. That sets it in stark contrast as a very... difficult war to reflect on.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It won't be long until WWII starts to be similarly forgotten.  The veterans are getting fewer and fewer, and soon even people who were kids in it won't be around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The war that was to end all wars, of course it was just one war before an even bloodier conflict, but I think it destroyed a kind of Britain (some might say it was a good thing) and even today we live with the fallout

 

When you hear about the casualties it never stops being horrific. As someone in my 40s its a reminder how lucky I ve been to live in a relatively peaceful world.

 

Definitely a year to reflect on the horrors of war

 

 

Worse tragedy, of course, being the PALS battalions. Should never have been allowed to happen.

 

Interestingly, my paternal grandfather served in the RFC, which was the forerunner of the RAF. My other grandfather was a soldier, three striper and was gassed towards the end of hostilities; he spent a period of recuperation, but its fair to say he suffered the consequences until the day he died.

 

Why do people never learn?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if any of you all know about the Khan Academy, but there is a list of videos on it that give a really good basic understanding of the general idea of what went on. The videos on everything are pretty good that I've seen. I should watch them again myself then back it up with some reading up.

 

One good book I did read recently by was Lice by Blaise Cendrars, based on his time during the Great War, really good, maybe not for learning historical facts, but he's a really good writer and gives a good account.

Edited by useless
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can recommend "Forgotten Voices of the Great War", a truly thought provoking read, featuring interviews with soldiers from all sides. 

I've always found WW1 fascinating, mainly because of the manner in which it began and the eventual futility of it all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

at GCSE i preferred studying WW2, at A level i loved studying the build up to WW1, we looked at Bismarck and the unification of germany and the franco - prussian war, Russian politics, maybe not that much depth on the fall of the ottoman empire but at least looked at it, then the fall out, the russian revolution, the treaty of Versailles in proper depth and the impact it had on German society, all really interesting stuff

 

from what i remember at GCSE you learn the triple entente and triple alliance, franz ferdinands assassination, the schlieffen plan, you learn loads about trench warfare and life in the trenches (which doesnt interest me in comparison to the battles of WW2 and im sure is roughly 75% of what i was taught about WW1), gas warfare, and then your on to the basics of the treaty of Versailles

 

dont get me wrong there is huge depth to WW2 and from what i remember from my GCSEs they dont really scratch the surface of that either but they still do far more than they try to do with WW1

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that amazes me is how many people had the courage to go and fight for their country.

 

I don't think I could just get up and leave my family, knowing what will probably happen. Maybe they didn't know what was coming to them? After all the films I've seen, I don't think I could do it.

 

true but you wouldn't have had any choice with conscription. WW1 in many ways was worse than WW2. with the battle of the somme and the trenches

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

 

One thing that amazes me is how many people had the courage to go and fight for their country.

 

I don't think I could just get up and leave my family, knowing what will probably happen. Maybe they didn't know what was coming to them? After all the films I've seen, I don't think I could do it.

 

true but you wouldn't have had any choice with conscription. WW1 in many ways was worse than WW2. with the battle of the somme and the trenches

 

 

War is often defined as long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror - being blown to bits is pretty much the same in whatever war you find yourself. 

 

But where WWI excelled was in the level of misery during the periods of boredom. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

One thing that amazes me is how many people had the courage to go and fight for their country.

 

I don't think I could just get up and leave my family, knowing what will probably happen. Maybe they didn't know what was coming to them? After all the films I've seen, I don't think I could do it.

 

true but you wouldn't have had any choice with conscription. WW1 in many ways was worse than WW2. with the battle of the somme and the trenches

 

 

War is often defined as long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror - being blown to bits is pretty much the same in whatever war you find yourself. 

 

But where WWI excelled was in the level of misery during the periods of boredom. 

 

 

I seem to recall that the average amount of time a soldier spent at the front was only two weeks.

 

The story which amused me the most from Vera Brittain's famous account of her nursing in WW1, in her book Testament of Youth, and which confirmed every suspicion I ever had about the class division, was where she explains how she was working in a hospital which was full to capacity, and suddenly they got news that there was a group of wounded officers about to arrive, so they emptied the ward of ordinary soldiers and put them in a shed.

 

What is amusing is the way she takes it for granted that it was the right thing to do.

Edited by MakemineVanilla
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â