OT: The War to End All Wars--11/11/1918 End--

[BroadwayVa]

My uncle went off on 12/19/1917 and was never the same.
War Losses (USA) American losses in World War I were modest compared to those of other belligerents, with 116,516 deaths and approximately 320,000 sick and wounded of the 4.7 million men who served. The USA lost more personnel to disease (63,114) than to combat (53,402), largely due to the influenza epidemic of 1918.Oct 8, 2014

204000 were wounded, not including shell shock/PTSD. Days, weeks, months of being shelled/mortared, machine guns rattling, gas attacks caused "Shell Shock". At the time attributed to "cowardice". Until his death 50 year hence my uncle, a non citizen then, was teased and treated as a coward by true cowards for enduring the unendurable.

The total number of deaths was approximately 37 million military and civilian. \
37 million lives to avenge one Archduke seems excessive. The Lusitania was carrying arms for England and Civilian passengers, the event that drove the USA into war. For a ship and passengers, 250,000 Americans paid a terrible price.

 

[VAMike23]

I have often read that more than a few historians consider WWI as a dividing line between eras. With WWI came the idea that, as you said, millions could perish in a conflict -- and the idea that you could use things like mustard gas on a huge scale -- and the nightmarish mode of fighting in those immense lines, running out of the trenches into certain slaughter. Everything became mass-this and mass-that. It just seemed like the world exploded and lost all of its sense. The ugliness of the modernity that burst forth from WWI was in many ways unprecedented. It is this same ugliness and madness that we desperately try to keep restrained today, though we often fail, as the many horrific conflicts around the world can attest--Yemen, Myanmar, etc., or on a smaller scale, the mass-shootings we seem to have here in the States with some regularity. The beat goes on.

At least there was the unofficial Christmas Truce of 1914, but it was never to be repeated. A last gasp for civilization.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

"Just" 116,000 were killed. But they were killed mostly within four months. Horrible carnage in such a short period of time.

Sorry to hear about your uncle. Where did your uncle see combat?

 

[stamfordhusky]

My uncle went off on 12/19/1917 and was never the same.
War Losses (USA) American losses in World War I were modest compared to those of other belligerents, with 116,516 deaths and approximately 320,000 sick and wounded of the 4.7 million men who served. The USA lost more personnel to disease (63,114) than to combat (53,402), largely due to the influenza epidemic of 1918.Oct 8, 2014

One delayed fatality was Christy Mathewson. He volunteered for the Army at the age of 38 and was exposed to poison gas in Europe. He didn't die immediately but it caused him to develop tuberculosis, which affected him the rest of his life and killed him in 1925,

As well as being one of the top few pitchers of all time, he was an extraordinary individual.

 

[willtalk]

The worst consequence of WW! was it set up the conditions that brought about WW2. USA should have stayed out of it and there would have been a stalemate. Europe would not have been carved up, and the experience of fighting so long with no gain might have served a lesson that Wars were too horrible to risk for nothing. The idea that it was " The War to End All Wars" was just cover for the fact that it was fought for greed period. Most nations that used that justification had personal agenda's that were revealed by their post war demands rather than making sure there was a just and lasting peace. The USA got conned big time. The first in a series of involvements that were not even in their best interests.

 

[meyers7]

100th Anniversary.

 

[BroadwayVa]

The worst consequence of WW! was it set up the conditions that brought about WW2. USA should have stayed out of it and there would have been a stalemate. Europe would not have been carved up, and the experience of fighting so long with no gain might have served a lesson that Wars were too horrible to risk for nothing. The idea that it was " The War to End All Wars" was just cover for the fact that it was fought for greed period. Most nations that used that justification had personal agenda's that were revealed by their post war demands rather than making sure there was a just and lasting peace. The USA got conned big time. The first in a series of involvements that were not even in their best interests.

World War 2 , in Europe, should have been known as WW1 A.
I love this country and adore the men and women that put on the uniform. But, not to go into it here, I could list 8 or so wars from 1890 to present we should not have been into and were for the wrong reasons. No one ever told DC--American lives matter.

 

[BroadwayVa]

"Just" 116,000 were killed. But they were killed mostly within four months. Horrible carnage in such a short period of time.

Sorry to hear about your uncle. Where did your uncle see combat?

Our first 14000 arrived in Oct 17, the 4 million arrived in June 18. In 5 months the vast majority of American military killed happened in that period. Why?

 

[DanishBulldog]

My mother's father fought in the Argonne and wrote a book called "Argonne Days" that was recently put back into circulation. He played hooky on 11/11 saying that if had died on Armistice Day that he would have never forgiven himself.

My father's step-father was gassed in a battle and suffered from shakes his entire life. He was the youngest of 8 children and died when he was 93. ALL of his brothers and sisters were at the funeral. His oldest sister was 108 at the time, and I remember her saying, "I knew that gassing was going to get him sooner or later."

 

[BroadwayVa]

My mother's father fought in the Argonne and wrote a book called "Argonne Days" that was recently put back into circulation. He played hooky on 11/11 saying that if had died on Armistice Day that he would have never forgiven himself.

My father's step-father was gassed in a battle and suffered from shakes his entire life. He was the youngest of 8 children and died when he was 93. ALL of his brothers and sisters were at the funeral. His oldest sister was 108 at the time, and I remember her saying, "I knew that gassing was going to get him sooner or later."

Sad and you have funny relatives. I thought we, my family was doing well with my 96/7 year old sister and her kid sister at 94, then me . 108 and still joking. Great.

 

[Bama fan]

100th Anniversary.

Deuteronomy and Kipling! What a pedigree!

 

[Bama fan]

Our first 14000 arrived in Oct 17, the 4 million arrived in June 18. In 5 months the vast majority of American military killed happened in that period. Why?

Keep in mind that the majority of American deaths were from sickness, and not battle field injury. So the Americans brought the flu from Kansas to Europe, and many of our troops died in the months after the flu arrived. Also, the Americans began serving as frontline units in the spring of 1918. Prior to that they were largely training or acting as support for British and French units. Their service was brief, but came at a time of major defensive efforts, and then later in large offensive roles that resulted in ousting the Central Powers. There are no good wars, and this one was plain terrible. The greatest tragedy of all was the influenza that killed between 20 and 50 million worldwide, and is thought to have appeared first in southwestern Kansas. As if the slaughter of war was not enough! Edwin Starr was so right.

 

[Aluminny69]

I am somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned the role of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic on World War I. I have have seen studies that the epidemic brought about the end of the War. Specifically, when infected American troops made contact with German troops, the Germans brought the influenza back to Germany, where it rapidly spread, causing the Germans to surrender.

The great influenza pandemic of 1918-19, often called the Spanish flu, caused about 50 million deaths worldwide; far more than the deaths from combat casualties in the World War One (1914-18). In fact, it may have killed between 3% and 6% of the global population. And unlike typical flu pandemics it disproportionately killed young healthy adults.

 

[Bama fan]

I am somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned the role of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic on World War I. I have have seen studies that the epidemic brought about the end of the War. Specifically, when infected American troops made contact with German troops, the Germans brought the influenza back to Germany, where it rapidly spread, causing the Germans to surrender.

The great influenza pandemic of 1918-19, often called the Spanish flu, caused about 50 million deaths worldwide; far more than the deaths from combat casualties in the World War One (1914-18). In fact, it may have killed between 3% and 6% of the global population. And unlike typical flu pandemics it disproportionately killed young healthy adults.

I too am surprised!

 

[DanishBulldog]

The great influenza pandemic of 1918-19, often called the Spanish flu, caused about 50 million deaths worldwide; far more than the deaths from combat casualties in the World War One (1914-18). In fact, it may have killed between 3% and 6% of the global population. And unlike typical flu pandemics it disproportionately killed young healthy adults.

I have a family story on the Spanish flu as well. My great grandfather ran a pharmacy in a town of about 20,000 people. During the flu epidemic, all of the doctors in town (36) died from the flu. My great grandfather became the de facto doctor in town and enlisted his brother and my teenage grandfather to help him care for people. After the pandemic the shortage of doctors in the country was so severe that their town didn't get another doctor in residence until 1923. It's hard to even imagine.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Keep in mind that the majority of American deaths were from sickness, and not battle field injury. So the Americans brought the flu from Kansas to Europe, and many of our troops died in the months after the flu arrived. Also, the Americans began serving as frontline units in the spring of 1918. Prior to that they were largely training or acting as support for British and French units. Their service was brief, but came at a time of major defensive efforts, and then later in large offensive roles that resulted in ousting the Central Powers. There are no good wars, and this one was plain terrible. The greatest tragedy of all was the influenza that killed between 20 and 50 million worldwide, and is thought to have appeared first in southwestern Kansas. As if the slaughter of war was not enough! Edwin Starr was so right.

53000 plus died, in less than 6 months (most of them) and 220000 plus PTSD wounded . for American mothers the destruction of 270,000 plus American lives was a disaster.What a waste of American lives. You'll excuse me ,I hope, I don't believe Americans should fight for anyone anywhere except our own--. It like Vietnam and Korea, and a dozen places it ONLY cost 50,000 plus lives no big deal unless it is you or yours. I visited Walter Reed and Bethesda during the Iraq and beginning of Afghanistan--and saw the price, my wife went from room to room, I blubbered like a baby after the first room and couldn't go on. A 6 ft some thing Lt. and parents talked to us, he not much, nearly half his head was a dent--visit them then vote for the next war. 50 kids, marines were in my ward at Newport Naval hospital, think of them too. War isn't hell --hell can't be that bad.

 

[Sifaka]

 

[Aluminny69]

Keep in mind that the majority of American deaths were from sickness, and not battle field injury. So the Americans brought the flu from Kansas to Europe, and many of our troops died in the months after the flu arrived. Also, the Americans began serving as frontline units in the spring of 1918. Prior to that they were largely training or acting as support for British and French units. Their service was brief, but came at a time of major defensive efforts, and then later in large offensive roles that resulted in ousting the Central Powers. There are no good wars, and this one was plain terrible. The greatest tragedy of all was the influenza that killed between 20 and 50 million worldwide, and is thought to have appeared first in southwestern Kansas. As if the slaughter of war was not enough! Edwin Starr was so right.

Sorry, missed your post. You might have posted while I was composing. Either way, great minds thnk alike

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Just to add a personal note - my mother's uncle Raymond, her father's brother, was gassed in the war, and as others mentioned above, it took his life within a few years.

My great aunt Edna, Ray's sister, was an Army nurse in WW1. Although her ashes were distributed elsewhere, there is a memorial for both her and Ray at the foot of his grave, placed by the military.

 

[Bama fan]

As a kid in the late 50s/early 60/s, we played on "The Cannon" in a little parklet in a nearby neighborhood. Had great fun, but never realized the terrible sacrifice of those who were honored by the memorial. Seemed that WWI was so long ago that it was not quite real. As I get older, I do get wiser; but I get sadder too. Part of the process, I suppose.

 

[Aluminny69]

If you think #FAKENEWS is a new phenomena, you would be wrong. Read this:

In the spring of 1918, just as the man-made horrors of World War I were finally starting to wind down, Mother Nature unleashed the deadliest strain of influenza in modern history. The virus infected as much as 40 percent of the global population over the next 18 months. Of these, an estimated 20 to 50 million perished—more than the roughly 17 million people killed during World War I. The pandemic’s grasp stretched from the United States and Europe to the remote reaches of Greenland and the Pacific islands. Its victims included the likes of President Woodrow Wilson, who contracted it while negotiating the Treaty of Versailles in early 1919.

As the pandemic reached epic proportions in the fall of 1918, it became commonly known as the “Spanish Flu” or the “Spanish Lady” in the United States and Europe. Many assumed this was because the sickness had originated on the Iberian Peninsula, but the nickname was actually the result of a widespread misunderstanding. Spain was one of only a few major European countries to remain neutral during World War I. Unlike in the Allied and Central Powers nations, where wartime censors suppressed news of the flu to avoid affecting morale, the Spanish media was free to report on it in gory detail. News of the sickness first made headlines in Madrid in late-May 1918, and coverage only increased after the Spanish King Alfonso XIII came down with a nasty case a week later. Since nations undergoing a media blackout could only read in depth accounts from Spanish news sources, they naturally assumed that the country was the pandemic’s ground zero. The Spanish, meanwhile, believed the virus had spread to them from France, so they took to calling it the “French Flu.”

 

[rt bb fan]

The worst consequence of WW! was it set up the conditions that brought about WW2. USA should have stayed out of it and there would have been a stalemate. Europe would not have been carved up, and the experience of fighting so long with no gain might have served a lesson that Wars were too horrible to risk for nothing. The idea that it was " The War to End All Wars" was just cover for the fact that it was fought for greed period. Most nations that used that justification had personal agenda's that were revealed by their post war demands rather than making sure there was a just and lasting peace. The USA got conned big time. The first in a series of involvements that were not even in their best interests.[/QUOTE

 

[rt bb fan]

What war should the US stayed out of? WW1