World War 1 - 100th anniversary of the armistice

On this day 100 years ago, in the morning hours of 11 November 1918, the German delegation agrees to the Allied armistice terms and signs the Armistice of Compiègne. At 11am the fighting on the Western Front would stop, and one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history had come to an end. Some generals disagreed with the armistice and kept fighting till the bitter end, some soldiers would die during the final minutes of this 4 1/2 year long war.

Millions of men had died, were wounded or crippled before them, millions of people had been displaced or traumatised by a war that spiralled into the biggest conflict in human history in 1914. For the first time in human history, in single battles and campaigns, would result in over hundred thousand casualties, or even by the million could fall, such as in the bloody battles and offensives of:

The first battles at the Marne river, Tannenberg, Galicia, Kolubara (1914)

Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, Gallipolli Campaign, Siege of Przemysl, 1st - 4th Battles of the Isonzo (1915)

Battle of Verdun, first battle at The Somme, the Brusilov Offensive, 5th - 9th Battles of the Isonzo / Trentino Offensive. (1916)

The Battle of Passchendaele, Battle of Arras, Nivelle Offensive, Battle of Caporetto, Battle of the Aisne. (1917)

Battle of Lys, the Second battle at the Somme, Vittorio Veneto, The Kaiserschlacht, the Hundred Days offensive. (1918)

At the end of the conflict it is estimated that the total number of casualties was: 15-20 million deaths (millitary and civilian) and another 23 million millitary personel wounded.

Four Empires were now disintegrating: the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Empire, The Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, and their citizens were starving and fighting for a new order at the same time. In Eastern Europe alone, 11 November doesn't just mark Armistice Day, it marks Independence Day too.

The winning nations had undergone huge industrial and cultural changes in the past 4 1/2 years, the balance of power among them was permanently shifting. The smaller nations and colonies that fought in this war wanted something in return for their sacrifice.

And the Spanish Flu was still spreading among soldiers and civilians alike.

So, in every sense this 11 November 1918 marks a turning point in history but it certainly wasn't a switch that suddenly brought world peace. It marks a beginning and an end for a variety of processes that shaped our modern world.

But even if history is not always contained in certain dates, these dates are a great opportunity for us to remember and to reflect. Lest we forget.

Post dedicated to all those brave who fought.

28.06.1914 - 11.11.1918























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tl;dr

Were I a wandering citizen whose city is the world,
I would not weep for all that fell before the flags were furled;
I would not let one murmur mar the trumpets volleying forth
How God grew weary of the kings, and the cold hell in the north.
But we whose hearts are homing birds have heavier thoughts of home,
Though the great eagles burn with gold on Paris or on Rome,
Who stand beside our dead and stare, like seers at an eclipse,
At the riddle of the island tale and the twilight of the ships.

For these were simple men that loved with hands and feet and eyes,
Whose souls were humbled to the hills and narrowed to the skies,
The hundred little lands within one little land that lie,
Where Severn seeks the sunset isles or Sussex scales the sky.

And what is theirs, though banners blow on Warsaw risen again,
Or ancient laughter walks in gold through the vineyards of Lorraine,
Their dead are marked on English stones, their loves on English trees,
How little is the prize they win, how mean a coin for these --
How small a shrivelled laurel-leaf lies crumpled here and curled:
They died to save their country and they only saved the world.

Just a fucking tragedy.

Aka stupidity of imperialism, arrogance and instinct of superiority.

God save the empire

Thank a Yank today

Escrito por Guest, 11.11.2018 at 13:33

God save the empire

Wtf franz stole this thread under my feet

Escrito por boywind2, 11.11.2018 at 15:58

Wtf franz stole this thread under my feet

not about you