WWI

Lessons For Armistice Day 2022

November 11, 2022 Helena Cobban, Consortium News. Educate! Armistice Day, Russia, Ukraine, Wars and Militarism, Woodrow Wilson, WWI

For many years, countries around the world marked Nov. 11 as Armistice Day, commemorating the date in 1918 on which the horrors and destruction of World War I were finally brought to an end. In many countries, that remembrance bore a strong anti-war message. Today, as the killing and destruction multiply in Ukraine, we should look at some of the key lessons that can be gleaned from the record of that war. Crucially, a recent book by historian Philip Zelikow unearths the previously almost unknown history of a mediation effort that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson undertook, at the request of the leaders of both sides, between August 1916 and January 1917. Wilson and his British, French and German interlocutors were all serious about that effort.

The Loss Of Life, From World War I To World War III. What Would Happen If A Third World War Were To Break Out?

November 24, 2018 By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Globalresearch.ca Educate! History, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, WWI

The largest loss of life was incurred by Russia (1.7 million killed), France (1.4 million killed), Germany (1.7 million) Austro-Hungarian empire (1.2 million) (see table below). What the leaders meeting in Paris failed to address is that the imperial project prevails. It’s ongoing. The US-NATO “killing machine” is considerably more advanced. The overall loss of life during World War II and its aftermath (the so-called post war era) is significantly larger...

WWI Through Arab Eyes

November 23, 2018 Staff, Al Jazeera English Resistance Report Arabs, History, WWI

World War One Through Arab Eyes - Episode One: The Arabs World War One was four years of bitter conflict from 1914 to 1918. Called 'The Great War' and the 'war to end all wars', it is often remembered for its grim and relentless trench warfare - with Europe seen as the main theatre of war. But this was a battle fought on many fronts. There is a story other than the mainstream European narrative. It is not told as often but was of huge importance during the war and of lasting significance afterwards. It is the story of the Arab troops who were forced to fight on both sides but whose contribution is often forgotten.

Trump, World War I And The Lessons Of Poetry

November 22, 2018 Thomas Scott Tucker, Counterpunch.org Educate! Art, History, Poetry, Trump Administration, WWI

In plain English: How sweet and honorable it is to die for one’s country: death pursues the man who flees, spares not the hamstrings or cowardly backs of battle-shy youths. Poets are all too human, and some of them are moral and political imbeciles. Some poets, however, are so deeply troubled by their times that that they both extend and challenge the culture they inherit. There were at least a dozen fine English poets during World War One, and some of them died in trenches and on battlefields. Rupert Brooke, known as much for his beauty as his talent at that time, did not die in battle but on his way to battle. Virginia Woolf thought he had some sterling personal qualities.

“Ain’t No Such Thing As A Just War” – Ben Salmon, WWI Resister

July 14, 2017 Kathy Kelly, www.informationclearinghouse.info Educate! Wars and Militarism, WWI

By Kathy Kelly for Information Clearing House - July 10, 2017 "Information Clearing House" - Several days a week, Laurie Hasbrook arrives at the Voicesoffice here in Chicago. She often takes off her bicycle helmet, unpins her pant leg, settles into an office chair and then leans back to give us an update on family and neighborhood news. Laurie’s two youngest sons are teenagers, and because they are black teenagers in Chicago they are at risk of being assaulted and killed simply for being young black men. Laurie has deep empathy for families trapped in war zones. She also firmly believes in silencing all guns. Lately, we’ve been learning about the extraordinary determination shown by Ben Salmon, a conscientious objector during World War I who went to prison rather than enlist in the U.S. military. Salmon is buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Carmel Cemetery, on the outskirts of Chicago. In June, 2017, a small group organized by “Friends of Franz and Ben” gathered at Salmon’s gravesite to commemorate his life. Mark Scibilla Carver and Jack Gilroy had driven to Chicago from Upstate NY, carrying with them a life size icon bearing an image of Salmon, standing alone in what appeared to be desert sands, wearing a prison-issue uniform that bore his official prison number.

100 Years Ago, In Spring Of 1917: Why Did America Go To War In 1917?

May 30, 2017 Dr. Jacques R. Pauwels, www.globalresearch.ca Educate! United States, US history, US Imperialism, WWI

By Dr. Jacques R. Pauwels for Global Research - For the overwhelming majority of the people of the United States, however, the entry of their country into the war was hardly a wonderful thing. They realized that the war raging in Europe had been a disaster, and that in all belligerent countries civilians as well as soldiers longed for a return to peace. The Europeans wanted to exit this war as soon as possible; why would Americans want to enter it? And why would they have to fight on the side of the British and the French against the Germans? Why not on the side of the Germans against the countries of the Entente? Let us examine the factors that caused many Americans to ask such questions. For a long time already, the United States had enjoyed good relations with Germany. It was not Germany but Britain that was the traditional enemy and great rival of Uncle Sam. The British were former colonial masters against whom the country’s war of independence had been fought during the 1770s, and against whom another armed conflict took place between 1812 and 1815, the so-called War of 1812; and throughout the 19th century relations with Britain had remained tense on account of issues such as the border of the US with British North America

The Abolition Of Militarism

June 6, 2014 Mairead Maguire, www.counterpunch.org Organize! Peace, UN, Wars and Militarism, WWI

We are all aware that this is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo which led to the start of the First World War in l9l4. What started here in Sarajevo was a century of two global wars, a Cold War, a century of immense, rapid explosion of death and destruction technology, all extremely costly, and extremely risky. A huge step in the history of war, but also a decisive turning point in the history of peace. The peace movement has never been as strong politically as in the last three decades before the break-out of WWl. It was a factor in political life, literature, organization, and planning, the Hague Peace Conferences, the Hague Peace Palace and the International Court of Arbitration, the bestseller of Bertha von Suttner, ‘Lay Down your Arms’. The optimism was high as to what this ‘new science’ of peace could mean to humankind. Parliaments, Kings, and Emperors, great cultural and business personalities involved themselves. The great strength of the Movement was that it did not limit itself to civilizing and slowing down militarism, it demanded its total abolition.

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