A week or two ago, I recorded a program on the Discovery Times channel about the last day of World War I. Going in, I didn't really know what it would be about. It was a real eye-opener. There were more casualties on November 11, 1918, than on June 6, 1944--D-Day. In a mere 5 hours or so. The time of the armistice was decided early that morning, and word was passed down. The big question is, Why the heck did they decide not to end it immediately? But they didn't. And so there were these officers who wanted promotions or glory or something sent their men to do in a completely useless effort.
World War I intrigues and confuses me. I'm still not really sure what it was about, or how it was even fought. I do know that going into the mock-up of a trench in the Imperial War Museum in London was one of the freakiest experiences I've ever had.
It's also odd comparing casualties of various conflicts. When I gave ghost tours in Gettysburg, I always pointed out that there were the same number of casualties in the three days of Gettysburg as the number of those killed in Vietnam. Just an odd sort of perspective.
Posted by Barb at May 28, 2007 10:01 PM | TrackBack