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Trench foot was also widespread. The trenches would get muddy with large pooling of water and the boots never got dry because they could never take them off.
The First World War is certainly not ignored on this side of the Atlantic. In Britain, words like Somme, Ypres and Gallipoli sum up all that is horrific in war.
The first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, produced more than 22,000 British dead plus 35,000 wounded. By the end of the four month battle, British casualties were approaching half a million. German casualties were similar. I visited the fields about fifteen years ago. Every year, farmers unearth hundreds of unexploded shells. These are piled beside the fields for collection by bomb disposal teams. In one place, a section of trenches has been preserved. It is possible to walk in no mans land. Shell holes overlap other shell holes across the entire area. The Thiepval Memorial, contains the names of more than 77,000 British dead who have no known grave.
The Gallipoli landings in 1915 produced scenes which almost make D-Day pale into insignificance. Pilots flying over the beaches reported that the sea had turned red. Later in the campaign, water purification plants were set up. Many soldiers refused to drink water that had come from that sea.
The descriptions of muddy trenches are mostly associated with the Ypres sector. Mud was a serious problem in the Third Battle of Ypres (not to mention another 250,000+ British casualties). Men and horses sunk into the mud. There were numerous reported cases of men drowning.
The war is highly significant to other nations. The Battle of Verdun gave rise to the statements "We will bleed France white" and "They shall not pass". Both were true to a certain extent.
Between 250,000 and 1 million Armeniains were killed by the Turks in what has become known as the Armenian genocide. When questioned by his closest advisors over the possible repercutions of his 'final solution'. Hitler is reputed to have said "who remembers Armenia".
During the Turkish retreat in Palestine, the almost defenceless Turkish columns were continually bombed and machine gunned by the Royal Flying Corps. This produced scenes of horror similar to the Iraqi retreat during the first Gulf War.
Other campaigns are now almost a footnote. The fighting on the Italian-Austrian front produced hundreds of thousands of casualties, yet is largely unknown outside of those nations. Other fronts which are now almost forgotten are the Thessalonika campaign and the war in Serbia and Romania.
The war saw the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires. The rise of the Bolsheviks and later the rise of the Nazi party. The causes of World War Two can be traced directly to World War One.
America can be said to have indirectly caused more casualties than any of the combatants. In the two years following the war, a flu epidemic spread throughout the world. This killed more people than were lost in 1914-1918. The virus is believed to have been brought to Europe by American troops. I have read that this is believed to be the same vigi-flu virus which is again threatening the world. The spread of the virus was rapid. The French used North African troops and 'coolies' from Indo-China. The British army contained contingents from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and South Africa
...Between 250,000 and 1 million Armeniains were killed by the Turks in what has become known as the Armenian genocide. When questioned by his closest advisors over the possible repercutions of his 'final solution'. Hitler is reputed to have said "who remembers Armenia"....
By chance, I grew up in a town in NJ where the Armenian Home was built. It was basically a nursing/retirement home when built, still exists, and serves that population today. There is a large monument outside the Home to those slaughtered, although the number claimed is a bit higher than you listed: 1.6 million. In truth, no one has any clear idea how many died. Last I knew, a few survivors of the 1916-1918 massacres were still living there.
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
The exact figure is never clear. Most accounts I have read quote around 400,000 killed. The lowest figure I have seen is 250,000 with the highest given as around one million. The problem could be that no one really knew what the pre-war population of Armenia was.
Well, suffice it to say it was really a nasty historical episode of genocide.
It was the first recorded genocide in modern history but the Turks can argue the Armenians were a threat. It was that long forced march that caused many of the deaths.
What about the Russians? They were killing Jews on the eastern front and the Jews were fleeing to the German Army for safety. It sounds weird but Germany was consider one of the more friendly places for Jews to live in Europe at that time. If you see picture of German WWI war cemeteries some graves are marked with Jewish symbols. The Russians really didn't seem to get much bad press from their behavior. (NOT like the Turks)
The Japanese helped the British kick the small German force out of China then out of the pacific islands as well, the German's claimed. WWI started the Japanese in the desire to expand their empire into China and the Pacific.
WWI is the starting point for all the ills in the first half of the 20th century.
__________________
"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
That fixes it for me. I'm finished. Mrs. Bronson was given permission to park her trailer on school grounds because her husband was blinded by mustard gas. She might have been a fine teacher, I don't remember. As I was a butthead at the time, we plagued that old man mercilessly. Guess an "I'm sorry" isn't going to count for much.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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