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The Foul Tornado: On the centenary of World War I (Outstanding Read)
The American Spectator ^ | July/August 2014 | Peter Hitchens

Posted on 07/14/2014 12:17:39 PM PDT by mojito

To say that that the First World War was the greatest cataclysm in human history since the fall of the Roman Empire is to put it mildly. The war destroyed so many good things and killed so many good people that civilization has not recovered and probably never will. Long after it officially ended, it continued to cause millions of deaths and tragedies, most obviously during its encore performance of 1939-45. But it did not stop even then. Many of its worst consequences came during official periods of peace and are unknown or forgotten, or remain unconnected with it in the public mind.

The loss cannot be measured in cash because it was paid in the more elusive coin of faith, morals, trust, hope, and civility. The war is the reason why Europe is no longer a Christian continent, because too many churches supported it. Pointing to the poverty and scientific backwardness of the pre-1914 world is a false comparison. Who is to say that we could not have grown just as rich as we are now, and made just as many technological and medical advances, had we not slain the flower of Europe’s young men before they could win Nobel Prizes, or even beget and raise children?

The astonishing thing is that so many conservative, Christian, and patriotic people have yet to understand the damage this event did to their causes. It is at least partly because we can barely begin to imagine the world that we lost.

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: britain; germany; ggg; greatbritain; peterhitchens; ww1
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To: SMARTY

The Boer War presaged the end of the British Empire, but WWI doomed it. Britain spent its future on the Great War, and was finally exhausted by WWII. America’s Boer War equivalent was Vietnam, which demonstrated to the world that we were not invincible, and two decades of war in Southwest Asia have taken our treasure and our resolve but left our enemies standing for another, bigger round. Only the devil is truly satisfied by war.


21 posted on 07/14/2014 3:09:33 PM PDT by Always A Marine
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

I had a similar experience when I toured Eton. On the walls around the courtyard are the names of the WWI dead from that venerable school. I was appalled by the sheer number and horrified that they were all close to my age, 18, 19, 20. So tragic.


22 posted on 07/14/2014 3:20:50 PM PDT by pbear8 (the Lord is my light and my salvation)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Walter J SCHERER
prairiegirl.familytreeguide.com/.../Scherer
Notes : Walter sailed for France on the 14th. of May 1918, with the 33rd. Div., 130th. Inf. Company K. He was killed in action in the Arrogone Forest, Oct. 14, 1918 ...

Looked his name up on Google and got this hit, but the link is no longer active.


23 posted on 07/14/2014 3:29:44 PM PDT by exit82 ("The Taliban is on the inside of the building" E. Nordstrom 10-10-12)
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To: mojito
" It was a hopeless and dangerous delusion of Napoleonic grandeur, well-symbolized by the absurd scarlet and blue uniforms, perfect targets for German guns, in which legions of French soldiers rushed to their deaths in mad, suicidal attacks in August 1914."

"Le pantalon rouge c'est la France!"

I thought Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" was an excellent read about WWI (which is where I first saw the quote about red pants).

24 posted on 07/14/2014 4:23:28 PM PDT by Flag_This (Liberalism: Kills countries dead.)
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To: exit82
Thanks for looking up Walter Scherer and filling in a bit of his history.

My dad was born in 1906, thus too young for WW 1 and almost too old for WW 2. Yet, he volunteered for service in the AAF, flying C-46s over the Hump in the China-Burma-India Campaign.

Japan had over one million troops on the Asian mainland, taking large swaths of territory from the Brits and French who had colonized the nations. Sadly, we sowed the seeds of Europe's blunder in SE Asia and another 58,000 + young men were lost, like Walter Scherer...

25 posted on 07/14/2014 5:13:59 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: pbear8
I had a similar experience when I toured Eton. On the walls around the courtyard are the names of the WWI dead from that venerable school. I was appalled by the sheer number and horrified that they were all close to my age, 18, 19, 20. So tragic.

Yep. They should send the kings, presidents, czars, parliaments, congresses, politburos of nations to fight one another. All nations would benefit.

26 posted on 07/14/2014 5:19:11 PM PDT by Sirius Lee (All that is required for evil to advance is for government to do "something")
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To: Sirius Lee

Indeed. And the illegals should be housed by politicians/enablers.


27 posted on 07/14/2014 5:52:24 PM PDT by pbear8 (the Lord is my light and my salvation)
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To: mojito

bfl


28 posted on 07/14/2014 6:11:10 PM PDT by Skooz (Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us)
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To: mojito

Thanks for this post.


29 posted on 07/14/2014 6:13:00 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Sirius Lee
Yep. They should send the kings, presidents, czars, parliaments, congresses, politburos of nations to fight one another. All nations would benefit.

I can only imagine the House of Representatives battalion under the command of Major Boehner. They'd file a lawsuit against the enemy and surrender.

30 posted on 07/14/2014 6:17:31 PM PDT by Colonel_Flagg ("Compromise" means you've already decided you lost.)
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
Thank you for this post.

My paternal grandfather enlisted early in 1915. He spent most of the war as a prisoner of war. His regiment was the famous "Buffs". The Germans were being slowly starved themselves by the blockade and thus prisoners suffered. He died when I was only four years old and I never knew him. He never really recovered, nor did his country enable him to ever work steadily afterward.

31 posted on 07/14/2014 6:19:32 PM PDT by Peter Libra
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
I used to walk through this peaceful silent city and wonder what sort of man he was, his life cut so short.

You may have this information but there is a very fine and detailed record of Walter in Ancestry.com

Somehow I was intrigued and checked it out. There he was in various census. Born Eagle Creek, Scott, Minnesota - the 1910 census tells us of his parents. Jacob 59 yrs. and Kate 47 yrs. A farmer with his own farm. Kate born in Canada and Jacob born in Illinois. Both their fathers ironically were born in Germany.

Walter is 17 yrs. and has five siblings all younger. His letter written as a soldier while training in Texas is shown. Also a photograph in his uniform. The telegram telling of his remains being returned is shown. A bit of a ramble on my part, but thought it might interest posters on this thread.

32 posted on 07/14/2014 6:31:37 PM PDT by Peter Libra
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To: mojito

The negative influence of WW I can never be over-stated.

It ushered in the absolute destruction of so much that was civilized, and paved the way for so much that was barbaric, that we can still see the effect every time we stroll through an American city.


33 posted on 07/14/2014 7:20:59 PM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: mojito; Oldeconomybuyer; RightField; aposiopetic; rbmillerjr; Lowell1775; JPX2011; NKP_Vet; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

34 posted on 07/14/2014 7:24:33 PM PDT by narses (Matthew 7:6. He appears to have made up his mind let him live with the consequences.)
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To: mojito

Ping


35 posted on 07/14/2014 7:58:17 PM PDT by IChing
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To: Peter Libra
Spring Lake feeds into upper Prior Lake, Minnesota and only recently has this area become part of the Minneapolis metro. As recently as the 1950s, it was served by a gravel road from Burnsville, Savage and Edina, across the Minnesota River.

I-35 was the first “improvement” from north to south, then the often flooded old Ferry Bridge across the Minnesota River at Savage was replaced with a new four lane span that moved Prior Lake from a 4th or 5th tier suburb to 5 minutes from I-494.

Walter J. Scherer probably never dreamed that homes on the little “perched” lake would command annual taxes of $10-$12,000 annually but they did when we lived there.

In many ways, PL is still a small town on the edge of the countryside. There was corn planted just a few blocks from where we lived in 1999-2000. Dairy cows would wander into the lake on hot summer days and it was not unusual to see one of the local farmers whistle the cows up in the late afternoon for milking.

36 posted on 07/14/2014 8:04:32 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: mojito

The Bastille Day parade featured contingents from all the Alllies during WWI. Somehow I see it fitting that the French, who set the bar for class and joie-de-vivre as far as I am concerned, commemorate such a human tragedy in this way.


37 posted on 07/14/2014 9:43:35 PM PDT by RitchieAprile
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To: mojito
In the first war, Britain had to challenge the Germans (ie. the German Navy) or else lose its colonies. It became an arms race that was the granddaddy of them all and which did NOT exclude Japan, the US, Italy, etc., though THEY modernized on a little smaller scale (at first).

A strong (stronger than Britain's) German Navy meant a German challenge to English control of the seas. The British needed to trade, administer colonies, communicate, and to maintain a standing in world politics despite its small land mass. They couldn't do that without a world class navy.

The Kaiser kept on enlarging and modernizing his navy and was a threat to Britain the whole time. The British HAD to respond or lose it all. No effort against Germany in WWI could be needless for the Brits.

38 posted on 07/15/2014 4:14:18 AM PDT by SMARTY ("When you blame others, you give up your power to change." Robert Anthony)
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To: mojito

Thanks for the great article.


39 posted on 07/15/2014 5:52:29 AM PDT by ThomasMore (Islam is the Whore of Babylon!)
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To: mojito

“it was going badly and had no military, diplomatic, or economic purpose.”

Woah up there, old Hoss. You wrote above, “Germany started the war because she wanted and hoped to gain enormous prizes through a swift victory, first over France and then over Russia.” Establishing a world in which that sort of thing is not allowed is a good and sufficient purpose.


40 posted on 07/15/2014 12:30:13 PM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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