100 years ago Almost 60,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner on day 1

a reply to: stosh64


UK military deaths in Afghanistan , number of deaths stands at 456

The total number of UK troops killed in operations in Iraq has reached 179


A far cry from the tens of thousands who were killed on a single day back in WW1 on many occasions

a reply to: stonerwilliam

The greatest game of checkers the world has ever seen


The young, the people my age and younger... Many forget or have not been taught the horrors of war. Life isn't worth playing with especially for altruistic gains.

Never again, we should hope.

WW1 was a slaughter house. New tech meeting old tactics and manpower being the order of the day not maneuver. And the Western front was truly one big mix of nationalities, religions, and races.

You had the British, French, Belgians and Americans later of course. You also had 1.5 million Indian troops, 1.3 million from Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, 2 million Africans, 50,000 Indo-Chinese, Portuguese, Russians, and even fighter air craft from Brazil. And Chinese laborers.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and others all speaking dozens of languages, from all over the world fighting on the same side in some the biggest bloodiest battles in human history. And many of them having no idea what they were even fighting about, yet standing up and doing the job.

We will likely never see another war like that and we should thank God that we never do.

a reply to: MrSpad

It's rare the common man has a true appetite for war.

That lack of appetite is probably the only good that came from WWI. We've advanced so much at war since and we've advanced so much as a species, I for one am grateful for the latter and the lack of stomach for the former.


Honour and duty meant a lot more to the masses back then, it's a shame so many died for it.

originally posted by: stonerwilliam
a reply to: stosh64


UK military deaths in Afghanistan , number of deaths stands at 456

The total number of UK troops killed in operations in Iraq has reached 179


A far cry from the tens of thousands who were killed on a single day back in WW1 on many occasions

I am well aware of the differences.

Unsure as to why you felt the need to point them out to me?

I have a lovely bottle of scotch that I have been looking for a reason to open...

I think I may sit outside till sunrise, and toast to those that died on the field, and those that survived, I hope they found the peace that they did not find in life.

a reply to: RAY1990

Sad to think that many of those who died were never more than 50 miles from their homes or had even left their villages before the war .

Their first taste of travel was on a troop train / ship and on their way to die , the same being true for a lot of men going to WW2 most could not afford to leave their county never mind foreign travel back in the good ol days

a reply to: stosh64

Sorry i never meant it to come across in any bad way , just to point it out to younger members reading along the scale of deaths that would happen in one day in 1914-1918

a reply to: stonerwilliam

No offence taken mate. Was just unsure.
ETA: The deaths in Afghanistan could have occurred in the first 10 seconds at the Somme.

I find it hard to wrap my mind around the scale of slaughter that happened 100yrs ago today.
In this video it shows men on the way and preparing to be slaughtered and some actual footage of the battle.

This history is hardly taught in US schools if at all. In many ways WW1 was a much more somber and senseless war as each side dug trenches then threw their young men in the path of machine guns and cannons in human wave tactics that only succeeded in killing and maiming men by the thousands. Being commanded to charge impregnable positions over and over and it was by dint of pure luck you should make it back to your own lines unscathed.

'The War to End all Wars" they said and only 21 years later another World War would again steal an entire generation of young men. With memories still that fresh how the hell could Hitler, England, France and Russia do it all over again? I don't doubt that Neville Chamberlain represented the wishes of the people in attempting to negotiate a peace with Hitler. It was only a small minority of Germans that even wanted war yet countless millions would again be killed in the battle for control of Europe.

To all the men who perished and suffered answering the call of their countries I can only pay my respects and stand in awe of their bravery. World war 1 was the last war fought only between armies, with WW2 civilians were made targets and many cities in Germany and Japan were flattened for no other reason than to punish the people. In WW1 the damage was limited to a battlefield, in WW2 everywhere became a battlefield.

a reply to: stosh64

I can remember as a young boy one day watching the old soldier i spoke of in my opening post as we watched a television programme about WW1 and seeing his regiment go over the top to fight and the tears flow down his face , i think from memory 80 % of them were killed within a few hunderd yards , He named them all poor old guy and had to be put to bed the shock of seeing that again was to much for him it will stay with me forever his reaction .


He never had running water or a tv , still had gas lamps in his home before he moved to stay with us in the 70s

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Their sacrifice for democracy will always be remembered.

"Democracy"?
How do you figure? - WW1 was a battle to reshape old Empires - and settle a few scores.
Most of the deaths were attributable to 19th Cent thinking/strategy being applied against mechanical technology.
It's where the term "cannon fodder" evolved from

They were all heroes because they followed orders blindly
Here's some light reading
www.historyhome.co.uk...

a reply to: stonerwilliam

I've posted that song in regards to war a few times on ATS, the Dropkick Murphys version just seems a little more staunch.

Yeah, the more I think about it the more it is depressing. MrSpad mentioned how many different colours and creed were dedicated to the pointy end of the sword, never before was war so inclusive. To be honest WWI helped nations define themselves with the realization of what was done. It's no coincidence that the idea of nationality became stronger post WWI, simply put the social struggle has been the real war since the great war and that's because many realised their brothers died for ideas not of their own.

It's usually the poor folk who fight the war, at the end of the day they have the most to gain... A wage for starters, other than that I guess the only thing you can do is industrialize it and then educated soldiers are less inclined to commit atrocities so I guess the way we live today is a win/win. In theory of course.

My Grandfather on my mothers side who died when I was a baby was a infantry guy in the AEF on the Western Front. My father a Vietnam Vet asked him about on occasion and he would never talk about it other than to complain one night they were camped on potato farm on the way to the front and they had no food so they dug up the potatoes and ate them. Months later when they were on their way home they all had a part of their pay taken away to pay for the potatoes. And that was the only story my father could ever get out of the guy.

I should also ad he had lied about his age was barely 17 when he was there.

a reply to: RAY1990

3 cousins have a arguement and millions die in the aftermath is the easiest way to look at the war , But i think it was the turning point in people waking up from serfdom that most were in at the time from the landed gentry who they blindly followed happily waving the flag .

Good luck to the ruling classes if they tried to get men to act like this now .

It was a interesting child hood listening to those men who had fought in ww1 and 2 when they had a few drinks and forgot i was around

a reply to: MrSpad

Child soldiers are nothing new yet people react in horror today when they hear about this in Africa today yet just over a 100 years ago it was common for a teenager of 12-upwards to go to the boer war and in ww1 some 14 year olds were fighting in the trenches after lying about their ages with so many women dying at child birth leaving nobody to watch over them .

So they followed dad to the front to be a hero

a reply to: stonerwilliam

Many of the best of the upper classes were slaughtered, leaving estates shattered. The class system in place was an unbalanced and oppressive system, but it did work. There are many old farm buildings that have steadily deteriorated since WW1, a visual sign of the loss of knowledge and tradition.

a reply to: stonerwilliam

I think it's right to point out the snobs up front got shot a lot and it was the bankers who put them there.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: stonerwilliam

Many of the best of the upper classes were slaughtered, leaving estates shattered. The class system in place was an unbalanced and oppressive system, but it did work. There are many old farm buildings that have steadily deteriorated since WW1, a visual sign of the loss of knowledge and tradition.

It's very true, manifest destiny I suppose.

I think it's right to point out the snobs up front got shot a lot and it was the bankers who put them there.

Again true yet rich and poor alike still sell out to the promise of more. Entitlement be damned.

But if WWII was to happen again much more of that "cannon fodder" is educated so it is debatable on if the upper tier will be needed to do the technical jobs. Speaking for Britain, we lost a few of our upper class and a damned few middle class in bombers alone.