"The War to End All Wars" ended 100 years ago on the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

VA Viper ^ | 11/08/2018 | HarpyGoddess

[harpygoddess]

Today is the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, when at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, the First World War came to an end after more than four years of carnage. (Armistice Day became Veterans' Day in 1954.) Described by British historian Corelli Barnett as a war that had "causes but no objectives, "the "Great War" left a legacy of disillusionment in its wake and made a shambles of the rest of the 20th century. All told, there were ten million military dead and seven million civilians killed.

The resulting economic collapse, the draconian terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and the conviction of many Germans that they had been "stabbed in the back" led to an even more destructive rematch only two decades later. One could argue - and I do - that World War I was the greatest misfortune that ever befell Western civilization.

It destroyed the West's belief in inevitable human progress. It brought down the Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian, and Ottoman empires, bankrupted France and England, and put the British Empire on the skids. It was the proximate cause of the triumph of Communism in Russia and the formation of the Soviet Union, drove the United States into two decades of international isolation, and instilled in Germany a thirst for revenge that led directly to the rise of the Nazis and World War II.

[IronJack]

BB-3 was one of the old battleship designs. Texas and Missouri are the newer versions.

I have a photo of the Iowa firing a broadside as my screen saver. That class -- the BB60's -- were the most massive battlewagons ever floated. Now, all are retired.

But in their day, they were ... magnificent.

[BroJoeK]

jmaroneps37: "That pos Pershing killed almost 2700 Americans needlessly on the last day of the war..."

German General Ludendorf and the German high command first requested an armistice on September 29, 1918.
In the month from their request until the armistice on November 11, about half a million men fell, on both sides.
For Americans, President Wilson personally conducted the negotiations and disabused Germans of any ideas about "peace without victory" -- such that by the time it actually came Ludendorf himself opposed the armistice and had to be sacked.

Many allied leaders in 1918, including our General Pershing and French General Foch understood clearly that without total defeat, "peace" for the Germans meant only a 20-year ceasefire before "round two".

That's the reason in 1942 President Roosevelt insisted the only acceptable outcome for "round two" was Unconditional Surrender.

[OKSooner]

Thank you.

[DoodleDawg]

Now is as good a time as any to put in a plug for National World War I Museum and Memorial in my home town of Kansas City. The only memorial in the country dedicated solely to World War I. It's well worth a visit if you're near KC.

For the past week the museum has been projecting poppies on the north wall and tower in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the war's end. It's quite a site. Link