100th anniversary of WWI
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Fallowfox
Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
Thinking about Armistice day gives me hope, because in one century, Europe went through terrible wars, the consequences of which extended outside of our own continent and threatened people all over the world, to a land that is broadly peaceful and broadly a good place to live today.
and when other international conflicts appear hopeless, I remember that.
and when other international conflicts appear hopeless, I remember that.
MadKiyo
Imma bat in yer rafters
I've been reading a lot about World War 1 this year. The stories, locations, mass burial grounds, the shelled wastelands, the living conditions along the Western Front... It changed a lot of what I thought about war. I have utmost respect for who endured it and taken by it.
HistoricalyIncorrect
Shekel collector
For me there is a different reason to celebrate. 100th anniversary of Polish independence
TR273
Pirate Fox Mom
Every year I take a few moments to remember those who have lost their lives in wars across the world and to give thanks to all serving military personnel who do their best to keep the rest of us safe.
‘When you go home tell them of us and say, “For your tomorrow, we gave our today”.’
(I always liked this one.)
‘When you go home tell them of us and say, “For your tomorrow, we gave our today”.’
(I always liked this one.)
Before today, I didn't know when WWI ended. Now that I do, I'd like to tribute the soldiers who gave their lives for not just America, but the world.
(If you can I'd love to see a video singing this.)
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen, through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam
It's full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
And where is that band, who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war, and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more,
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terrors of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner, in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
Between their homes, and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land,
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner, in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!
(I wrote this with a DUALSHOCK PS4 controller. No lie.)
(If you can I'd love to see a video singing this.)
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen, through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam
It's full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
And where is that band, who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war, and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more,
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terrors of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner, in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
Between their homes, and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land,
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner, in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!
(I wrote this with a DUALSHOCK PS4 controller. No lie.)
Corrupt-Canine
Active Member
Time flies very fast. It's already been 100 years since WW1? Wow.
Corrupt-Canine
Active Member
It feels like this day and age, time moves quick. Either because technology or we don't realize it.
Z
ZeroVoidTime
Guest
I agree at the same time this caused by the wrong people getting into power causing hostilities between groups to reach a boiling point where all it takes is one person to die to cause a massive bloodbath. The most tragic part of it is an occurring part of human society + history and until there is a permanent solution to this occurrence hope is the strongest and best solution for humanity.
Fallowfox
Are we moomin, or are we dancer?
I was talking to my twin about this earlier today. In that hundred years since the end of the first world war, we almost ended life on earth as we know it by destroying our planet's ozone layer.
A level of destruction that couldn't even have been imagined in the early twentieth century, and we weren't even doing it on purpose.
A level of destruction that couldn't even have been imagined in the early twentieth century, and we weren't even doing it on purpose.
Kumali
Lupine-American
Unfortunately the president doesn't seem to feel the same way.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...7ded04d8fac_story.html?utm_term=.28bbcf09cc47
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...55347f48762_story.html?utm_term=.ce102e3afdfe
Kumali
Lupine-American
Another good read on the topic:
www.dailykos.com: Trump Dishonors the Marine Corps Dead of Belleau Wood
Excerpt:
"In the spring of the final year of the First World War the Kaiser Wilhelm’s army was making a final push to end the conflict before American troops could arrive in France in great numbers. British and French troops were retreating in disarray. Paris itself was threatened. A war born of ultra-nationalist impulses was seemingly ending badly for the Western democracies.
"But while the German offensive seemed unstoppable, a brigade of United States Marines had different ideas. Marching directly into the German strong point at a private hunting preserve just 60 miles from Paris, these Marines made headlong charges into withering gunfire across exposed wheat fields and engaging in hand to hand combat in thickly forested woods often filled with poisoned gas. The battle was brutal, savage, and full of extreme suffering. Still, the Marines persevered; not only stopping the German advance but also perhaps turning Allied retreat into advance and ultimately, on this day 100 years ago, victory.
"The Marines of the Belleau Wood paid a horrific price in casualties. Besides the thousands of wounded soldiers, 1,800 young Americans lost their lives in an effort to stop aggression. As in all wars, the survivors paid a price often dealing with what we now know as posttraumatic stress disorder. Theirs was a sacrifice that was both honorable and unselfish. As Americans we should be thankful for their sacrifice; they deserve to be remembered.
"Fast-forward 100 years later. Today many of the leaders of descendants of the participant nations of the First World War have gathered in France to remember the century-mark of what used to be called Armistice Day, now known in the United States as Veterans Day. As part of the proceedings, a ceremony was held yesterday at the American Cemetery at Aisne Marne, located not far from where many of the Marines killed at Belleau Wood are buried. Present day leaders of the combatants of the First World War made it a point to visit the cemeteries of their nation’s dead who were buried near the battlefields close to or even located at the battlefields in which they fell. One leader, however, did not: President Donald Trump.
"The official, but flimsy reason given for not attending was that because of inclement weather he could not helicopter in. Instead he would have had to take a 60-mile motorcade to the battlefield and cemetery. The entire trip would have taken slightly over one hour even in the rainy weather of the day. Still, the President could not be bothered. This inconvenience relatively minor and insignificant compared to the horrible conditions in which those Marines struggled, suffered and often died.
"This is a rather odd response from a president who loves to tout his admiration for the American military. But upon closer inspection, it is an admiration that focuses more upon the braggadocio of victory without acknowledging the sorrow and pain of the everyday soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who put their bodies into harm’s way every time they go into battle. As the philosopher Erasmus once noted, 'War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.'"
www.dailykos.com: Trump Dishonors the Marine Corps Dead of Belleau Wood
Excerpt:
"In the spring of the final year of the First World War the Kaiser Wilhelm’s army was making a final push to end the conflict before American troops could arrive in France in great numbers. British and French troops were retreating in disarray. Paris itself was threatened. A war born of ultra-nationalist impulses was seemingly ending badly for the Western democracies.
"But while the German offensive seemed unstoppable, a brigade of United States Marines had different ideas. Marching directly into the German strong point at a private hunting preserve just 60 miles from Paris, these Marines made headlong charges into withering gunfire across exposed wheat fields and engaging in hand to hand combat in thickly forested woods often filled with poisoned gas. The battle was brutal, savage, and full of extreme suffering. Still, the Marines persevered; not only stopping the German advance but also perhaps turning Allied retreat into advance and ultimately, on this day 100 years ago, victory.
"The Marines of the Belleau Wood paid a horrific price in casualties. Besides the thousands of wounded soldiers, 1,800 young Americans lost their lives in an effort to stop aggression. As in all wars, the survivors paid a price often dealing with what we now know as posttraumatic stress disorder. Theirs was a sacrifice that was both honorable and unselfish. As Americans we should be thankful for their sacrifice; they deserve to be remembered.
"Fast-forward 100 years later. Today many of the leaders of descendants of the participant nations of the First World War have gathered in France to remember the century-mark of what used to be called Armistice Day, now known in the United States as Veterans Day. As part of the proceedings, a ceremony was held yesterday at the American Cemetery at Aisne Marne, located not far from where many of the Marines killed at Belleau Wood are buried. Present day leaders of the combatants of the First World War made it a point to visit the cemeteries of their nation’s dead who were buried near the battlefields close to or even located at the battlefields in which they fell. One leader, however, did not: President Donald Trump.
"The official, but flimsy reason given for not attending was that because of inclement weather he could not helicopter in. Instead he would have had to take a 60-mile motorcade to the battlefield and cemetery. The entire trip would have taken slightly over one hour even in the rainy weather of the day. Still, the President could not be bothered. This inconvenience relatively minor and insignificant compared to the horrible conditions in which those Marines struggled, suffered and often died.
"This is a rather odd response from a president who loves to tout his admiration for the American military. But upon closer inspection, it is an admiration that focuses more upon the braggadocio of victory without acknowledging the sorrow and pain of the everyday soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who put their bodies into harm’s way every time they go into battle. As the philosopher Erasmus once noted, 'War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.'"
Kumali
Lupine-American
You think it's irrelevant to call out the U.S. president for such an open display of contempt for America's armed forces on the centenary of the Armistice? Because I happen to think it's entirely relevant, and deserves to be known and called out.
Resorting to insults like "moron" in this discussion says more about you than about anyone else.
CertifiedCervine
Caribouwu
Joyuex Noel
Yakamaru
Autumn wolf
This isn't the "Bash Trump" thread. No one's stopping you from making one. This thread is about honoring the people who fought and died in the First World War. Go take your lack of respect for the dead elsewhere.
Kumali
Lupine-American
The initial post read, in its entirety:
...which I took to mean that the thread would indeed be about respect to the men and women of the armed forces during WWI, both those who fell and those who survived. To my way of thinking, pointing out that my nation's president refused to attend the ceremony at Aisne Marne with other heads of state after traveling all the way to France, and calling him out for it as a display of disrespect, is entirely within the bounds of this thread's subject. I don't feel that I'm "bashing" Trump by pointing out his disrespect for our nation's military on such an occasion, or quoting better writers than myself on the subject. If you feel that that's "bashing," or inappropriate to this thread, do you then agree with his actions and consider them appropriate to the occasion?
As for your accusing me of a "lack of respect for the dead," quite the opposite: I am enraged at such a show of contempt from our president precisely because of my respect for the dead. You're pulling such an accusation entirely out of thin air. No fur off my hide.
Attaman
"I say we forget this business and run."
You do realize that the article Kumali linked was quite literally about world leaders visiting a WWI battlefield and cemetery, yes? Specifically to honor the people who fought and died there during the first World War? During the 100th anniversary of the ending of that war?
I'm pretty fucking sure that "The leader of a major nation (whose soldiers fought at the site) refrained from participating in an event honoring past veterans because it would have taken too much time for their liking" is on-topic to a thread about a thread specifically about showing respect for those who fought and died in the Great War. And it's not the person who's sharing the article going "What the flying fuck" that's being disrespectful.
Armistice Day is generally referred to as Veteran's Day in the US, and takes up a similar role. That said it's a bit convoluted over here as locale is huge in determining what sort of ceremonies and the like are held for stuff like Armistice Day, Victory Day, etcetera.
Simo
Professional Watermelon Farmer
@Fallowfox Same here.
In the US there doesn't seem to be much fanfare over celebrating the end of WWI, or WWII...we have 'Veterans Day' to remember veterans in general, but as the US has been involved in so many wars, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq...it almost seems as if the details get forgotten. There's not nearly the emphasis on teaching history in schools, nor on government, and overall, with the increasingly STEM driven emphasis in education, things like History and the social sciences have more and more fallen by the wayside, and with history, remembrance.
I think WWI and WWII tend to get overlooked here much more so than in the UK/Europe, because they didn't take place on American Soil---with the exception of Hawaii, and the occasional atoll. So there's nobody here in even remote living memory that can recall a war that 'ravaged the homeland', as you'd have to go back to the civil war, for that. Though, I would say: many American cities still bear the scars of the civil war, Baltimore, DC and Richmond being 3 that come to mind.
But here in Baltimore, sitting here not more than a mile from where Key wrote the Banner in a small brick house, you don't see a whole lot of activity; we do have war of 1812 licence plates, if that counts.
In the US there doesn't seem to be much fanfare over celebrating the end of WWI, or WWII...we have 'Veterans Day' to remember veterans in general, but as the US has been involved in so many wars, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq...it almost seems as if the details get forgotten. There's not nearly the emphasis on teaching history in schools, nor on government, and overall, with the increasingly STEM driven emphasis in education, things like History and the social sciences have more and more fallen by the wayside, and with history, remembrance.
I think WWI and WWII tend to get overlooked here much more so than in the UK/Europe, because they didn't take place on American Soil---with the exception of Hawaii, and the occasional atoll. So there's nobody here in even remote living memory that can recall a war that 'ravaged the homeland', as you'd have to go back to the civil war, for that. Though, I would say: many American cities still bear the scars of the civil war, Baltimore, DC and Richmond being 3 that come to mind.
But here in Baltimore, sitting here not more than a mile from where Key wrote the Banner in a small brick house, you don't see a whole lot of activity; we do have war of 1812 licence plates, if that counts.
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