Lest We Forget

Well the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand got assassinated in Sarajevo, Serbia and Germany promised to support Austria against Serbia (Balkan Wars 1912-13). Russia were allied with Serbia and forced Germany to declare war on Russia. They were afraid that this might annoy France and so they initiated the Schliefen Plan to knock over France before taking on Russia in an attempt to avoid fighting a war on two fronts. Besides, France had been pissing them off for years through tensions in Morocco and Alsace-Lorraine. The Germans decided the quickest route to Paris was through Belgium, so off they went. This annoyed Britain as they'd agreed to defend Belgium, so they declared war on Germany. Just a big real estate battle that got out of hand, really. Most people were enthusiatic about the prospect of war though, and expected it to be over by Christmas. Assisted by British forces, the French fought back and both sides were forced to dig in, bringing the planned German invasion to a halt.
 
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Good sum up Red Bull,

Here in France , this memory is still enduring ,

- 1,4 millions of casualties on a country that had 40 millions people
- almost every family was affected (mine included)
- Non exploded mines and bombshells are still discover today
- If you ever come to France , you will see , even in the smallest village , a long list of names engraved in the war memorial.
 
AnGuRuSO said:
It was such a long time ago, does anyone really care?
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Short answer: Yes.

Long answer:
Even today there are those whose lives are still touched by World War I, it was a staggering event in the history of humanity. There were over 9 million military casualties and over 8 million civilian deaths - about 18.5 million deaths in all and over 21 million wounded. World War I set the stage for World War II, which resulted in the Cold War, Afghanistan, Vietnam and the way the world looks today. So does it matter? Yes, it bloody well does. Who knows what the world would be like today had it not been for WWI. It was the first mechanized war, it was the first war of the Industrial Revolution and it was horrific. Artists and theologians moved into a very dark and pessimistic period during and following The War, it can be seen in paintings, writings, and even the theories of Freud himself. The effects are still being felt today, in fact many WWI fortifications are still visible.

https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/11/12/WWI_Trench_Verdun.jpg

Farmers still find skeletons of soldiers who drowned in the mud of No Man's Land or huddled in their trenches during bombardments. Entire towns slowly died out when all the young men were killed in battles.

To think that this horrific event doesn't affect you is incredibly small-minded. The individual soldiers thought they were fighting "The War To End War" - that once this war was done mankind would usher in an unprecedented era of peace and cooperation. They were wrong, of course, but those were the ideals for which they were fighting. I don't think any soldier since has aspired to such lofty goals, all because we didn't learn from the deaths of the generation of our great grandfathers.

World War I was a terrible event that's effects are still felt today, in fact the farther we get from the war the greater the effect will be, like a stone thrown into a pond the ripples keep expanding. The reason we have Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, or Veteran's Day is to remind us of our mistakes so we don't repeat them - and for kids like you who don't seem to care. In another 20 or 30 years when people your age (or younger) are the ones in power, I would like them to remember the past and realize that the world we have now is built on sweat and blood and the bones of heroes and young men sent to war by politicians.
 
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Thank you to all those (germans) who helped to get Finland it's independence.

Virtual cookie to whoever who knows who signed the Russian recognition on December 31st 1917.
 
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While I have little direct connection to any war since even my parents were too young and I never really got to know any of my grandparents, I still think we should have, keep and honour a day to remember all those who fell in the past wars. It has never been a beautiful thing, and it never will be, so let's just hope we'll be able to do without wars at some point in the future.
 
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My connection to WWI:

My Great Grandfather fought and died in WWI for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, my Great Grandmother and her son, my Grandfather, fled to New York in the inter-war years. If it wasn't for WWI my family never would have come to the US.
 
My connection to WW1: Great grandfather came over from europe when he was 2 in 1896. He was an american soldier on the front lines of the war. He was lucky to survive, and later became a naval surgeon stationed in Pearl Harbor, where my grandmother grew up (and saw the japanese attack).
 
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
? Lt.-Col. John McCrae
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