World War I veterans.... (1 Viewer)

[Kenneth]

I think the 35 million figure for WWI is total casualties. The dead and casualties in WWII were greater since you had the Russian figures, the Chinese figures, the Halocaust, and the civilian dead which greatly exceeded the civilian casualties in WWI.

War is never pretty but both WWI and WWII were brutal.

Kenneth

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

The Holocaust is Mankind's nadir. The systematic, organized killing of such huge numbers of innocent people has no justification whatsoever. It is something that we shall probably never overcome - just as the Indians of the Americas have never came to terms with their destruction.

 

[PhillJones]

No, 35 Million is just people in uniform. But the total is about 37 million. Compared to WWII where 67% of casualties were civilian and 50 Million died. The point about total warfare though, is that there was much less of a distinction between military and civilian. The soldiers were hardly professionals, just kids with no training who didn't sign up, forced to fight or be shot for dessertion.

You're right that it's the Russians that make up the vast majority of the dead, about 2/3rds in fact, more than half of whom were civilians.

The figures are truelly shocking, there's no way that any of us could imagine what it was like at the time.

We shouldn't forget any of them or belittle the sacrifices they made.

 

[StephenA]

I remember hearing somewhere once that World War 1 was the last major war to have horse cavalries used in battle. I don't remember where I heard it. Does anyone know if it's true?

 

[Kenneth]

Here's the link I was looking at for WWI dead.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/casualties.htm

35 million seems way too high, since Germany and Russia both had higher deaths in WW2 than in WW1. I would be interested where the 35 million figure comes from.

Kenneth

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I believe it's true.

 

[andrew markworthy]

With regard to proportionate numbers of dead, the Turkish massacre of Armenians is probably the worst wide-scale atrocity. Although the slaughter in the trenches in WWI is often held to be the yardstick, in fact many other conflicts have had higher proportional casualties. E.g. for UK combatants, I believe the highest death toll was in the English Civil War.

However, it matters little to a widow and orphans whether someone was one of a few or one of a multitude slaughtered.



I think this is true. There are tales of the Polish cavalry charging German tanks in WWII, but are these apocryphal?

However, it'd be wrong to say that horses stopped being used in war post-WWI. E.g. I recall an amazing statistic in one of Len Deighton's history books (I think it was Blitzkreig) that the German Army in WWII had more horses (for transport, etc) than trucks.

 

[Philip_G]

slightly off, but has anyone seen those digitally colorized photos of WWI and WWII? They're a little spooky.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

I don't consider it too lucky, I bet most of them are currently being mistreated or neglected in some nursing home.

 

[todd s]

Thats pretty cool.

 

[todd s]

On a slightly different note. I live on the Jersey Shore and went skiing at Blue Mountain in Pa. It took about 2 hrs driving (very fast ). And I mentioned to my wife how difficult it must have been before cars, phones, telegraphs. To go places and communicate with others. Amazes me how difficult it must have been to create the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

 

[Grant B]

I heard that the "100 year war" killed so many it took Europe much longer than the 100 years to replace the population.
But those were the old days; we are much more efficient at killing these days. We could probably do that much killing in under a week if we tried. Progress is great!

 

[todd s]

I was reading an article in my local paper about an effort to interview veterans of WW2. And it reminded me of this conversation.

 

[Mark Sherman]

I do believe( but I could be wrong) that the RED army rode into china on Horse back when they declared war ON JAPAN IN 1945 Only a few days after the atomic bomb was dropped. Wow that was 60 years go this week.

 

[Matt Stryker]

Pretty sure that the Polish army still contained a somewhat sizeable cavalry force at the time of the German invasion, and that they participated in resisting. This site lists an Italian cavalry unit as charging against the Soviets in 1943. So who knows?

 

[todd s]

Was thinking about this thread yesterday. And lo and behold their is a front page article in the USA Today talking with one of the last US Vets from WW I. Their are only four left alive in the US.

Here is a link to the article...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...-ww1-vet_N.htm

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Horse cavalry still has its place, even with US troops. See for example this story out of Afghanistan in 2002: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...-lessons_x.htm .

 

[brentl]

Just recently Canada had one of our last 3 veterans die, now only 2 left.

Lest we forget!

Brent

 

[Jimi C]

"On a side note. One of my friends wanted to go back and see if OJ did kill his wife."

Odd. Hide in the closet? I'd be more interested in changing some personal screw ups than witnessing OJ murdering (or not) his ex-wife. Guess im just weird that way!

My grandfather, a veteran of WWII just passed away last month. He was given military honors, was a very nice ceremony. Taps and all.

 

[todd s]

On a sad note. The last surviving female WWI veteran just died....