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No war in history arouses more controversy and generates more myths than the First World War.
Much of what we think we know about the 1914-1918 conflict is wrong.
For the soldiers who fought were, in some respects, better than the previous clashes and worse at others
but their highlighting as exceptionally horrible blinds us not only to the reality of this conflict but also to that of war in general.
This may also lead us to not understand the experience of soldiers and civilians trapped in countless fights of yesterday and today.
1. It was the bloodiest war of history until that moment.
Fifty years before the start of the First World War, southern China was shattered by an even bloodier conflict.
About 17 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the First World War.
2. Nobody won
Large expanses of Europe have been left in ruins, millions have died or been wounded, survivors have lived with serious mental trauma, but it is rare to speak of victories.
However, in a military sense obtuse, United Kingdom and its allies win a convincing victory.
German warships are mastered by the British Royal Navy to the point that their crews prefer to mutiny. instead of launching n suicide bombing.
The German army collapsed after a series of powerful coups delivered by allies who took advantage of their allegedly impossible defenses to develop.
3. The Treaty of Versailles was extremely hard
The Treaty of Versailles confiscated 10% of the territory of Germany but left it as the largest and richest nation in Central Europe. [1965] 9002] There was almost no occupation forces, financial reparations were linked. their ability to pay and, in most cases, most of the time they are not claimed
. The treaty is much less severe than those ending the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 and the Second World War.
Germans victorious in the Franco-Prussian conflict annexed large pieces of two rich French provinces, in which French iron was produced. In addition, they spent in Paris a huge bill to pay immediately.
As for the end of the Second World War, Germany is occupied, divided, the factories of its factories are destroyed or stolen and millions of prisoners are forced. stay with their captors and work as slaves.
Germany loses all territory conquered during the First World War and another giant piece.
Versailles is not a severe treaty, but it is presented as such by Hitler. , which aimed to create a wave of feelings against the agreement that would propel him to power.
4. Tactics on the Western Front have not changed despite repeated failures
Tactics and technology have never changed so drastically in four years of struggle.
It was a moment of extraordinary innovation.
In 1914, the generals gallop. on horseback across the battlefield while men in clothing rushed against the enemy without the necessary defenses. Both parties were mainly armed with rifles.
Four years later, combat teams equipped with steel helmets protected by artillery curtains. portable submachine guns and grenades that were fired with rifles.
At the top, planes that, in 1914, were incredibly sophisticated, swept into the sky, some carrying experimental radio and reporting live.
Huge pieces of artillery fired with precision firing because they used only aerial photos and mathematics, they managed to hit the target of a single coup
The tanks moved from the design table to the battlefield in just two years, changing the war forever.
5. Everyone hated him
As in any war, everything depends on luck.
One can be the victim of unimaginable horrors that leave him with a mental and physical disability for life. nothing has happened to him.
Soldiers who were lucky during the First World War did not participate in a major offensive and most of the time, they were in better condition that at home. The British, for example, ate meat every day – a luxury that did not repeat much in civilian life – ate cigarettes, tea and rum, and had a daily diet of more than 4,000 calories.
Diseases, an important barometer of unit morale, remained substantially the same as in peacetime.
Many young people had a guaranteed salary, an intense companion. among others, responsibility and greater badual freedom than in times of peace.
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