I truly feel that every student in the USA should take a semester class on The Great War before graduating high school. Heck, include the Civil War too, because these two wars changed the face of warfare. The soldiers and nurses, medics and chaplains, families and friends who sacrificed so much during these wars gave in a way they never could have imagined. And the world is forever changed.
Civil War: first use of air balloons for recon. They used the rapid fire Gatlin gun. Photography in the battlefields showed the true horrors of war. War was starting to change from the hand-to-hand combat it had been for millennia (think about the battle scenes from Braveheart and Henry V) to a faceless war. One in which you were far enough away from your enemy that it wasn't as personal. Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage is one of the best novels to read portraying this war. Crane showed the callousness of the officers (your unit is needed to sweep this area like a broom; most of them won't make it back) along with the terror of the infantry soldiers. The scene between Henry and his Ma when he tells her he joined up is touching. Ma is brave and strong and talks about darning his socks all the while still milking the cow. If you want a close look at the fear, the insanity, the face of the Civil War, Stephen Crane's novel will smack you right in the face with it.
World War One: chemical weapons, submarines, mines, machine guns, tanks, zeppelins, aircraft. The art of war rapidly changed during WWI. The young men (boys) sent to fight faced a monster they had never seen before and could barely describe. Trench warfare resulted in trench foot, shell shock, lice, and constant fear (the Trench of Death in Belgium was no more than 50 yards from the enemy trench). If you were lucky, you got to leave the front lines for a while and go into the towns to relax and drink and forget the horror of war. Just for a few days. Then back to the front. I can't limit the resources for this war to just one title. Websites such as www.firstworldwar.com provide information and links to more stories and histories. Books such as All Quiet on the Western Front, Eye Deep in Hell, Testament of Yourh, and more provide accounts the are so chilling you can't stop thinking about them. The book of then-and-now photographs (Fields of Memory) takes you into the heart of the forests and into no-man's-land and forces you to realize that war is never truly finished. Museums such as In Flanders Fields in Ipres will change your life.
None of these vicarious experiences compare to the true horror of war. The poetry written during these wars comes close. The letters saved by families gives a glimpse. The photographs and films taken by journalists gives us a vision. But the truth lies in the fact that when Germany invaded France during WWII, there were no boys to fight back. France had lost a generation of young men. I never thought about until I was talking with a man in a restaurant in Paris. I always sit at the bar because you can meet people. Much more interesting than at a table meeting no one. Jerome was a history teacher, and he opened my eyes about why France was so quick to surrender. After that conversation, I started researching even more, reading more, watching more documentaries, finding more resources. Later, I was able to go to Belgium to see some of the sites and learn more history. It changed my life.
Our kids don't understand. They don't see history anymore. They don't know the impact. They play war games online and never understand what the fight is really all about. Perhaps if we actually teach them about the real stuff, maybe things will be different. First, we need to ask ourselves, "Is this on the test?" But that's another rant.
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