I just finished a battlefield tour over the weekend around Ypres and the Somme. It was incredible and really eye opening. My father told me it wouldn't have been suitable to bring our phantom 3 drone but I wish I had. Nonetheless, it was an amazing trip. I feel like I've returned home to Ireland a changed man.It's still hard to grasp the amount of brave men killed. I don't think I'd have the bravery to serve among these heroes. RIP
In 1974, I went with a few members of my regiment and some veterans of WWII to France. We went to places they fought, met people they liberated and visited the cemeteries. I too returned home a changed man.
you should have brought the drone. You would have seen detail you can not see from the ground level. Outlines of shell holes trenches etc. You coulld have flown it at a level high enough where it would not have been heard. However if your parents paid for the trip, then you need to listen to them as you should always.
I went on a similar tour in 2015 and what really moved me the most was just how small No Man's Land was in some parts. Men fell in their tens of thousands for what amounted to basically nothing. In my town in England, there are public parks larger than that. My uncle has a back garden larger than that.
Lots of people do drone videos. Look up Steven Upton here on YT. He has a great WW1 battlefield drone channel. The videos help bring the battlefields to people like me. I'm in a wheelchair and will never be able to make the trip from Denver. Sorry Simon Floyd but you're wrong about this.
I am an American (avid student of history) and have never traveled to Europe, so I find these short clips and other videos extremely moving and informational. Thank you so, so much for making this available for You Tube subscribers around the world! I am deeply grateful.
Obscene is the first word that comes to mind when seeing the conditions of trench warfare. The consistent bombardment, exposure to ongoing industrial scale murder, not to mention the physical affects of weeks, months, spent knee and waist deep in a quagmire of mud, blood, excrement, and the decaying. No wonder some who returned wished they hadn't. May they all rest in the peace so deserved.
The casual disregard for human life was and still is despicable. I don't believe in hell, but if I did, the men who sent (and continue) so many millions to die in wars over greed, ego, bigotry and power would have a special place there. All that suffering and death, and for what?
@@coolbreeze2.0-mortemadfasc13 Over simplified crap. Read a book. Julian Thompson, my commander in the Falklands wrote an excellent history on this subject.
for the "great empires" that fell - particularly the austro hungarian. look at modern nations today - really, nothing could have been done to avoid this??? absolutely tragic. those poor people
I went to the Somme in 2015 and what really struck me the most was how insignificant and small it all felt. The section I was at, the No Man's Land between Allied and German trenches was so small you could see and easily hear the other tour group in the distance. The total distance between the trenches was smaller than the entire length of my millionaire uncle's back garden in Berkshire and I have friends who own farms with fields bigger than that. These young men fell in their tens of thousands for basically nothing at all. So wasteful and tragic. I have also been to Lochnagar. It is vast even now, but at the time, it was MUCH bigger and has just progressively refilled over the years. The explosion could apparently be heard in London.
I've been the Somme quite a few times over the years . To visit those men who gave there lives for are tomorrow I'm very grateful to them . Lest we forget
To think what the landscape looked like during the war and now, that's just crazy. I can't believe some were able to get out of there in one piece, physically and mentally.
Just a month or two ago, I watched a video about "shell shock" in WW1 veterans, and it just made me want to cry. They showed footage of men who had pretty much lost their minds, and couldn't even walk normally, just spasmodically lurching around. It was so sad...
3 Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties in this Battle, there is a french town whose local school has above every blackboard the inscription "N'oublions jamais l'Australie" (Let us never forget Australia) in honor of the Australians who died to reclaim it. No less then 24,000 Canadians died in this battle. I dont think "Tens of thousands of British and French troops fought the Germans in northern France." quite cuts it BBC.
You sound like you want to take away the honour of the British and french whom also fought and died in northern France along side the Australians and Canadians. please do some research and you will see many more British died than allied soldiers in northern France excluding the french - 57,470 British casualties on the first day of the Somme battle alone . Do you somehow feel that Australian honour is worth more than British and french? are you resentful?
@@MrLeighman actually the Canadians and Australians fought under the banner of Britain. But not to acknowledge that makes it sound like they weren't there. Of the 400k lost, nearly 50k were Canadian and Australian.
We still have some of your guys buried here in Nova Scotia from both world wars. It astounds me that they traveled half the world to defend an ally...only to be forgotten by their ally. The lack of gratitude surprises me.
Hold on, hold on... 58,000 British casualties alone on the FIRST day? And nobody said, “Wait a minute... somethings wrong here. Maybe we need to rethink this”? But instead, decided to throw MORE people into the mix?
remember all who fell, but reflect on the futility of war ,thousands of young men buried in fields in the middle of nowhere, been visiting annually since 1982, it made no sense the first time I went,and nothing has changed in the 36 years I've been going
💔 Man's inhumanity to man. We never learn and unfortunately never will. And we keep finding new "improved" ways to kill. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
Oh no... Thats too much.. I knew how bad the first world war was but that... That really hits it home... And that was just one battle. RIP to the millions dead
Have been to the western front 21 times, will going again later this year. I am an avid ww1 and ww2 historian having studied both wars for over 50yrs, still don't know it all that's impossible. My family lost ten men in that war 5 of whom I have found and been to where they lay or are remembered, three of them brothers name of Speer, their mum my grt grt aunt unveiled the memorial to dead on Western road Rotherhithe/Bermondsey south London in 1921 . A fourth son by the grace of God made it home . My great grandad was injured at 3rd Ypres and invalided out ""Lest we Forget" .
What to me is most astounding is that after this shocking war with its terrible losses that just only 20 years later Europe would once again be plunged into war over much of the same ground that had been fought for in the first war.
Been to the Somme twice from Ireland. A place of butchery and carnage of men. As Harry Patch said it was a slaughter of millions of Human beings. I myself didn't have anyone that fought here but my sister in Law's Granduncle died near Pozieres in March 1918. He won an MM.
One has to wonder what Britain would be like today if these young men hadn't been slaughtered on these WW1 battlefields. A whole generation of the cream of the Empire were sacrificed and the end result was another horrific bloodletting a couple of decades later.
One of the reasons for the EU is preventing these kind of wars. And who is now leaving the EU? The one country that has made remembering these wars abundantly part of its national heritage. Hypocrites.
Those men fought to save France & Belgium from German Rule & again in WW2 after Germany invaded Poland 17 million voted Leave to save UK from such Rule. Those who engage in 'Cultural Bullying' (Political Correctness) against Leave Voters are the lowest of the low - Backstabbers of Jeremy Corbyn & Borris Johnson to Uni union Cultural Bullies of the classroom
I believe they were on the other side at the time? Or did that escape you? I am not even sure what your answer is about and why the swearing or do you lack the social skills needed to debate?
That statement made by that general at the end sounds more like an exude on his part. It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour. This assault only failed because dead men can advance no further. Translation... It was great to hear all these trained men made to run at blistering machine guns and get mown down on our orders from 2 miles behind the line. And as much as we kept throwing men at it we failed because they kept dying. Had nothing to do with our flawed tactics.
Very interesting though this topic is to British history, this RUclips piece has totally inappropriate techno music of no significance. It's as though the editor is simply using the film as a vehicle for an excuse to put a piece of pop music they like on.
There was time when kings would go into battle. I suggest that it would be required ofany world leaders who decide to start a war be required to put on a uniform, grab a weapon fight alone side with the trrops. I suspect most wars would not start if the leaders, etc were required to go into battle as kings use to.
Correction, the United League of Nations (United Nations today) was created to establish peace and control across the world to fall into a globalisation of a government which is still weak and does not apply to every nation in the world. The European Union was created to establish easy and fair trade until it transitioned into a political group that would oppress some nations and ruin nationalism and that is why the U.K leavers left, since their pride was being trampled on. Good luck U.K.
+ anton leimbach Only 21 years between WW1 & WW2 but 30 years after war 2 that UK joined EU for Free Trade. It was called "The Common Market" a free trade zone. Not countries reduced to states, united by being subservient to costly Rule makers, but Countries trading without tariffs. NATO was established to be stronger militaraly. It was Churchill who refused to join The Common Market now EU when it was founded
What did they die for ?...They were promised to come home to a ''land fit for hero's'' after the war, yet within five years of the wars end thousands of brave men who survived the horrors of the Somme ect, stood and queued for hours on end for a bowl of soup. The thanks of a grateful nation.
Britian had started this world war in 1914 but was not attacked. British people lived in 1914 even with the german Kaiser family in London in peace and in peacetime so they had nothing to fear except some british politcians who suddenly had declared war on Germany - after that whole young british generations paid the price with there lifes!
Ralf Rath The British attacked Germany because Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Poland. While the Russians were fighting the Austro-Hungarians.
Hello Doctor - you are wrong here - Poland did not exist in 1914! And Russia attacked Germany in the east and France attacke Germany in Elsacre. Only Britain could not attack Germany becasue Germany did not declare war on Britian or mobilsed any troops to attack Britain in 1914 - Clearly Britain was the agggressor!
Ralf Rath Oops, got the part about Poland wrong. However, the reason Britain attacked Germany was due to Germany attacking France and neutral Belgium. It was not an act of aggression, it was in the defense of France and Belgium.
But Docter - do you have forgotten that France and Russia had already encircled Germany in the prewar times - why? Defense of France? Fact is France had territorial claims in middle europe - Elsacre - so why defence France if France wanted war and encircled Germany with Russia in east and west??? Was Germany here the aggressor? I have doubts!
After Serbia attacked Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The Russians, being allied with Serbia, kinda had to help. However, since the Austro-Hungarians were allied with Germany, Russia had to declare war on both. That's when the Germans thought it would be a good time to enact The Schlieffen Plan, which meant declaring war on Russia and France. However, France showed no signs of wanting to go to war with Germany, Germany didn't have a good reason to declare war on France. So, in order to declare war on France, they falsely claimed that France bombed Nuremberg. That's when they started marching towards France. But there was one problem, when they asked Belgium to let them pass through to get to France, Belgium refused. So Germany invaded neutral Belgium in order to get to France. That's what caused the British to give them an ultimatum, to which Germany refused. And so they declared war on Germany.
I was touched to see so many WW2 veterans in town for a commemoration service today, all beautifully turned out in their best clothes, their medals on display, proudly honouring their fallen comrades, now so long dead. Then I thought, "Hang on, aren't these the same treacherous neo-nazis who stupidly voted yes to Brexit, and ruined the future of our children", according to The Guardian? Er, yes, I suppose they are.
Ralf Rath The (not so) funny thing is that in the Balkan wars of 1912/13 the destructive potential of new weapons like the machine gun was already revealed. Newspapers showed pictures of trenches and body piles. Both wars were only resolved after the Greater European powers (GB, France, Russia, Germany, A-H) stepped in and arranged peace conferences. But nobody learned any lesson.
Yes I agree. The modern warfare was already invented in the prewar 1914 times. Germany was encircled and so they only reaction was: they build up a new navy and the german army. But Kaiser Germany was peacefully they had no intrest in eurpean war but on the other side they did nothing to avoid war in europe. France wanted Esacre back and Russia expansion in the east was danger for peace too. Only Britain had other options but was already ally with France and Russia - and if Russia and France wanted war - so they had to go to war. What a disaster! Pointcare, Grey and the Russian Zar were the agressors in europe.
you invent the history: Germany was never "peacefully": was continuously an agressor of France between 1870 up to 1945 , the Kaiser was completly foolish, and had expansive politics size 1870, and France's president Pointcarré never "wanted war", but not forgott that germany had stole a large part of France (Alsace and Moselle) after the defeat of 1871 and this injury was allready open (the 1870-71 war was prompt by the manouvers of Bismark who was the real master of Germany, and Napoleon 3, was forced to a inevitable war declaration against the german empire...but the french army was not ready for this...
watch 'the complete history of WW1' for the best documentary series of The Great War ever made. it's in 10 parts and is available on youtube. Avoid ANY American documentary as they are only suitable for children, particularly the appalling History Channel rubbish.
Agreed 100 percent. If you want to know the real history of anything stay away from American documentaries...and especially American textbooks. The Americans weren't even in the First World War until several years in.
2moonsMaster........it wasn't nationalists that caused "these problems" it was internationalists, those who think they can run other peoples countries better than they can. A perfect example is Angela Merkel when she invited in millions of "refugees" into Germany without the consent of the German people. Then and now is seeking to force other countries in the EU to follow the same policy against their will. Their is your trouble makers.
I'm sure the folks in Iraq and Afghanistan see Tony Blair, David Cameron, Obama, Gordon Brown and George Bush the same way. I don't think we can blame Trump or Brexit for those.
All bitter and twisted are we because we no longer belong to the EUSSR? There are still plenty of other countries you can run to who are still slaves. I'm proud of my country for standing up to the malignant failed EUSSR.
*Unsubscribed Worry about your own spelling, my friend. Theirs is correct. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jul/01/battle-of-somme-centenary-commemorations-live
+Crouchy232323 "You're" is a contraction which shortens the two words "you" and "are" into one. "Your" is possessive. I'll use them each in a sentence: "*You're* going to have to finish *your* spelling homework before *you're* allowed to play with *your* toys." Understand?
+Crouchy232323 so to sum this up, you know nothing about world war one as complained about the BBC spelling a word wrong (which they didn't, Somme is a place in France), and then you went on and spelt subscribed wrong.
I just finished a battlefield tour over the weekend around Ypres and the Somme. It was incredible and really eye opening. My father told me it wouldn't have been suitable to bring our phantom 3 drone but I wish I had. Nonetheless, it was an amazing trip. I feel like I've returned home to Ireland a changed man.It's still hard to grasp the amount of brave men killed. I don't think I'd have the bravery to serve among these heroes. RIP
In 1974, I went with a few members of my regiment and some veterans of WWII to France. We went to places they fought, met people they liberated and visited the cemeteries. I too returned home a changed man.
you father was correct..bringing a drone is wholly inappropriate.
you should have brought the drone. You would have seen detail you can not see from the ground level. Outlines of shell holes trenches etc. You coulld have flown it at a level high enough where it would not have been heard. However if your parents paid for the trip, then you need to listen to them as you should always.
I went on a similar tour in 2015 and what really moved me the most was just how small No Man's Land was in some parts. Men fell in their tens of thousands for what amounted to basically nothing.
In my town in England, there are public parks larger than that. My uncle has a back garden larger than that.
Lots of people do drone videos. Look up Steven Upton here on YT. He has a great WW1 battlefield drone channel. The videos help bring the battlefields to people like me. I'm in a wheelchair and will never be able to make the trip from Denver. Sorry Simon Floyd but you're wrong about this.
I am an American (avid student of history) and have never traveled to Europe, so I find these short clips and other videos extremely moving and informational. Thank you so, so much for making this available for You Tube subscribers around the world! I am deeply grateful.
Obscene is the first word that comes to mind when seeing the conditions of trench warfare.
The consistent bombardment, exposure to ongoing industrial scale murder, not to mention the physical affects of weeks, months, spent knee and waist deep in a quagmire of mud, blood, excrement, and the decaying.
No wonder some who returned wished they hadn't.
May they all rest in the peace so deserved.
Unfortunately it has happened as recently as 40 years ago.
The casual disregard for human life was and still is despicable. I don't believe in hell, but if I did, the men who sent (and continue) so many millions to die in wars over greed, ego, bigotry and power would have a special place there. All that suffering and death, and for what?
Absolutely nothing. The powerful were bored so they decided to have a glorious war and sent millions to die for "patriotism."
@@coolbreeze2.0-mortemadfasc13 Over simplified crap. Read a book. Julian Thompson, my commander in the Falklands wrote an excellent history on this subject.
for the "great empires" that fell - particularly the austro hungarian. look at modern nations today - really, nothing could have been done to avoid this??? absolutely tragic. those poor people
I went to the Somme in 2015 and what really struck me the most was how insignificant and small it all felt. The section I was at, the No Man's Land between Allied and German trenches was so small you could see and easily hear the other tour group in the distance.
The total distance between the trenches was smaller than the entire length of my millionaire uncle's back garden in Berkshire and I have friends who own farms with fields bigger than that. These young men fell in their tens of thousands for basically nothing at all. So wasteful and tragic.
I have also been to Lochnagar. It is vast even now, but at the time, it was MUCH bigger and has just progressively refilled over the years. The explosion could apparently be heard in London.
I've been the Somme quite a few times over the years . To visit those men who gave there lives for are tomorrow I'm very grateful to them . Lest we forget
RIP every person who died and fought.
To think what the landscape looked like during the war and now, that's just crazy. I can't believe some were able to get out of there in one piece, physically and mentally.
Just a month or two ago, I watched a video about "shell shock" in WW1 veterans, and it just made me want to cry. They showed footage of men who had pretty much lost their minds, and couldn't even walk normally, just spasmodically lurching around. It was so sad...
After seeing what they saw could you imagine how they would feel
3 Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties in this Battle, there is a french town whose local school has above every blackboard the inscription "N'oublions jamais l'Australie" (Let us never forget Australia) in honor of the Australians who died to reclaim it. No less then 24,000 Canadians died in this battle. I dont think "Tens of thousands of British and French troops fought the Germans in northern France." quite cuts it BBC.
Not sure what your point is? You have the ABC to point out your part on WW1. The BBC is a British company reporting on a British aspect.
You sound like you want to take away the honour of the British and french whom also fought and died in northern France along side the Australians and Canadians. please do some research and you will see many more British died than allied soldiers in northern France excluding the french - 57,470 British casualties on the first day of the Somme battle alone . Do you somehow feel that Australian honour is worth more than British and french? are you resentful?
@@MrLeighman actually the Canadians and Australians fought under the banner of Britain. But not to acknowledge that makes it sound like they weren't there. Of the 400k lost, nearly 50k were Canadian and Australian.
We still have some of your guys buried here in Nova Scotia from both world wars. It astounds me that they traveled half the world to defend an ally...only to be forgotten by their ally. The lack of gratitude surprises me.
@@rosestewart1606They haven’t been forgotten by their allies though. Why would you think they have?
Hold on, hold on... 58,000 British casualties alone on the FIRST day? And nobody said, “Wait a minute... somethings wrong here. Maybe we need to rethink this”? But instead, decided to throw MORE people into the mix?
God bless all those brave men
Sad but beautiful at the same time
Impressive images and music. Powerful video.
remember all who fell, but reflect on the futility of war ,thousands of young men buried in fields in the middle of nowhere, been visiting annually since 1982, it made no sense the first time I went,and nothing has changed in the 36 years I've been going
God bless the brave souls of these gentlemen,absolutely heartbreaking to see,complete disregard for human life and all for what?
💔 Man's inhumanity to man. We never learn and unfortunately never will. And we keep finding new "improved" ways to kill. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
Oh no... Thats too much.. I knew how bad the first world war was but that... That really hits it home... And that was just one battle. RIP to the millions dead
Have been to the western front 21 times, will going again later this year. I am an avid ww1 and ww2 historian having studied both wars for over 50yrs, still don't know it all that's impossible. My family lost ten men in that war 5 of whom I have found and been to where they lay or are remembered, three of them brothers name of Speer, their mum my grt grt aunt unveiled the memorial to dead on Western road Rotherhithe/Bermondsey south London in 1921 . A fourth son by the grace of God made it home . My great grandad was injured at 3rd Ypres and invalided out ""Lest we Forget" .
What to me is most astounding is that after this shocking war with its terrible losses that just only 20 years later Europe would once again be plunged into war over much of the same ground that had been fought for in the first war.
Any man who visits these sites and says they weren’t moved or changed by them is either a liar or never went.
they dont even mention the germans who died how many poor in taste they are humans also.
Been to the Somme twice from Ireland. A place of butchery and carnage of men. As Harry Patch said it was a slaughter of millions of Human beings. I myself didn't have anyone that fought here but my sister in Law's Granduncle died near Pozieres in March 1918. He won an MM.
That quote at the end was referring to the advance of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont Hamel on the first day of the Somme
One has to wonder what Britain would be like today if these young men hadn't been slaughtered on these WW1 battlefields. A whole generation of the cream of the Empire were sacrificed and the end result was another horrific bloodletting a couple of decades later.
The same can be asked about France and Germany also. As a Canadian, my country was changed profoundly by the loss of so many capable men.
God bless you !
Rest in Peace ✌
This is nothing in front of Verdun cemeteries and battlefield, the Somme was created to have another front that Verdun...
One of the reasons for the EU is preventing these kind of wars. And who is now leaving the EU? The one country that has made remembering these wars abundantly part of its national heritage. Hypocrites.
Those men fought to save France & Belgium from German Rule & again in WW2 after Germany invaded Poland
17 million voted Leave to save UK from such Rule. Those who engage in 'Cultural Bullying' (Political Correctness) against Leave Voters are the lowest of the low - Backstabbers of Jeremy Corbyn & Borris Johnson to Uni union Cultural Bullies of the classroom
It was Nato that prevented these wars, The Eu rewriting history again i see. Oh and a load of British, US and others died for that peace.
You are ashamed we had a democratic vote as well?
dulls what about the Germans who died? They had more casualties you fuck.
I believe they were on the other side at the time? Or did that escape you? I am not even sure what your answer is about and why the swearing or do you lack the social skills needed to debate?
The music, BBC, really?
Wonder how haunted this place is
They fought for Belgium, islamic capital of Europe. R.I.P.
Don't you mean Brussels? There's an World of Difference between an Country & an Capital.
Nick Muscat You could say that however Britain entered WWI under the excuse of defending Belgium
That statement made by that general at the end sounds more like an exude on his part.
It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour. This assault only failed because dead men can advance no further.
Translation...
It was great to hear all these trained men made to run at blistering machine guns and get mown down on our orders from 2 miles behind the line. And as much as we kept throwing men at it we failed because they kept dying. Had nothing to do with our flawed tactics.
Very interesting though this topic is to British history, this RUclips piece has totally inappropriate techno music of no significance. It's as though the editor is simply using the film as a vehicle for an excuse to put a piece of pop music they like on.
0:50 Why are some rows of graves not aligned with the rest?
Some of the graves were dug during the war, the ones neatly lined up are from after.
With people like Trump we are moving into nationalism that gave us the peace we once enjoyed
There was time when kings would go into battle. I suggest that it would be required ofany world leaders who decide to start a war be required to put on a uniform, grab a weapon fight alone side with the trrops. I suspect most wars would not start if the leaders, etc were required to go into battle as kings use to.
Lest we forget.
Forget all the bullshit of politics, RIP to all those who lost their loves.
I imagine the air is so heavy there you might cut it with a knife.
Lions lead by donkeys
The EU was created to avoid such tragedies. Winston Churchill experienced both world wars and knew a United States of Europe would be stronger.
Correction, the United League of Nations (United Nations today) was created to establish peace and control across the world to fall into a globalisation of a government which is still weak and does not apply to every nation in the world. The European Union was created to establish easy and fair trade until it transitioned into a political group that would oppress some nations and ruin nationalism and that is why the U.K leavers left, since their pride was being trampled on. Good luck U.K.
+ anton leimbach Only 21 years between WW1 & WW2 but 30 years after war 2 that UK joined EU for Free Trade. It was called "The Common Market" a free trade zone. Not countries reduced to states, united by being subservient to costly Rule makers, but Countries trading without tariffs. NATO was established to be stronger militaraly. It was Churchill who refused to join The Common Market now EU when it was founded
Churchill was more interested in becoming a part of the USA actually old boy.
Churchill said "If it is a choice between Europe and the open sea, the open sea be it"
Clickbait. Nothing but monuments.
to build a cenotaph first chose a million victims.we all have the sword of damocles hanging over our heads, but what did these young men die for?
Wtf did you just try to say?
What did they die for ?...They were promised to come home to a ''land fit for hero's'' after the war, yet within five years of the wars end thousands of brave men who survived the horrors of the Somme ect, stood and queued for hours on end for a bowl of soup. The thanks of a grateful nation.
Shanaye Hughes your goddam right
Britian had started this world war in 1914 but was not attacked. British people lived in 1914 even with the german Kaiser family in London in peace and in peacetime so they had nothing to fear except some british politcians who suddenly had declared war on Germany - after that whole young british generations paid the price with there lifes!
Ralf Rath The British attacked Germany because Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Poland. While the Russians were fighting the Austro-Hungarians.
Hello Doctor - you are wrong here - Poland did not exist in 1914! And Russia attacked Germany in the east and France attacke Germany in Elsacre. Only Britain could not attack Germany becasue Germany did not declare war on Britian or mobilsed any troops to attack Britain in 1914 - Clearly Britain was the agggressor!
Ralf Rath Oops, got the part about Poland wrong. However, the reason Britain attacked Germany was due to Germany attacking France and neutral Belgium. It was not an act of aggression, it was in the defense of France and Belgium.
But Docter - do you have forgotten that France and Russia had already encircled Germany in the prewar times - why? Defense of France? Fact is France had territorial claims in middle europe - Elsacre - so why defence France if France wanted war and encircled Germany with Russia in east and west??? Was Germany here the aggressor? I have doubts!
After Serbia attacked Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The Russians, being allied with Serbia, kinda had to help. However, since the Austro-Hungarians were allied with Germany, Russia had to declare war on both. That's when the Germans thought it would be a good time to enact The Schlieffen Plan, which meant declaring war on Russia and France. However, France showed no signs of wanting to go to war with Germany, Germany didn't have a good reason to declare war on France. So, in order to declare war on France, they falsely claimed that France bombed Nuremberg. That's when they started marching towards France. But there was one problem, when they asked Belgium to let them pass through to get to France, Belgium refused. So Germany invaded neutral Belgium in order to get to France. That's what caused the British to give them an ultimatum, to which Germany refused. And so they declared war on Germany.
I was touched to see so many WW2 veterans in town for a commemoration service today, all beautifully turned out in their best clothes, their medals on display, proudly honouring their fallen comrades, now so long dead. Then I thought, "Hang on, aren't these the same treacherous neo-nazis who stupidly voted yes to Brexit, and ruined the future of our children", according to The Guardian?
Er, yes, I suppose they are.
Paul Rillo Read my post again, stupid. I said "according to the Guardian." I'm one of them.
mea culpa
Paul Rillo Easily done. ;-)
We as a species have to stop doing this - killing and fighting. We simply need to stop.
RiP🙏🌌🌹
Disappointing!
To the BBC: Have a look at "Gallipoli from the air" on how to do it!
When governments do not answer to the people.
Don't forget.
This is the result if politicains have no plan b to stop a disaster. After 57,470 casualties on the first day!?
Ralf Rath The (not so) funny thing is that in the Balkan wars of 1912/13 the destructive potential of new weapons like the machine gun was already revealed.
Newspapers showed pictures of trenches and body piles.
Both wars were only resolved after the Greater European powers (GB, France, Russia, Germany, A-H) stepped in and arranged peace conferences.
But nobody learned any lesson.
Yes I agree. The modern warfare was already invented in the prewar 1914 times. Germany was encircled and so they only reaction was: they build up a new navy and the german army. But Kaiser Germany was peacefully they had no intrest in eurpean war but on the other side they did nothing to avoid war in europe.
France wanted Esacre back and Russia expansion in the east was danger for peace too. Only Britain had other options but was already ally with France and Russia - and if Russia and France wanted war - so they had to go to war. What a disaster! Pointcare, Grey and the Russian Zar were the agressors in europe.
you invent the history: Germany was never "peacefully": was continuously an agressor of France between 1870 up to 1945 , the Kaiser was completly foolish, and had expansive politics size 1870, and France's president Pointcarré never "wanted war", but not forgott that germany had stole a large part of France (Alsace and Moselle) after the defeat of 1871 and this injury was allready open (the 1870-71 war was prompt by the manouvers of Bismark who was the real master of Germany, and Napoleon 3, was forced to a inevitable war declaration against the german empire...but the french army was not ready for this...
watch 'the complete history of WW1' for the best documentary series of The Great War ever made. it's in 10 parts and is available on youtube. Avoid ANY American documentary as they are only suitable for children, particularly the appalling History Channel rubbish.
Agreed 100 percent. If you want to know the real history of anything stay away from American documentaries...and especially American textbooks. The Americans weren't even in the First World War until several years in.
Music not apt for the content at all!
and it was fought because of the stupidities of “blood related” kings... damn
With leaders like trump and farage we are going back to nationalists that caused these problems
2moonsMaster........it wasn't nationalists that caused "these problems" it was internationalists, those who think they can run other peoples countries better than they can. A perfect example is Angela Merkel when she invited in millions of "refugees" into Germany without the consent of the German people. Then and now is seeking to force other countries in the EU to follow the same policy against their will. Their is your trouble makers.
I'm sure the folks in Iraq and Afghanistan see Tony Blair, David Cameron, Obama, Gordon Brown and George Bush the same way. I don't think we can blame Trump or Brexit for those.
Mr. Bozack........exactly, here's to the end of meddling in other peoples countries. Make respect not war.
+SuperLuckyLad was ein quatsch
All bitter and twisted are we because we no longer belong to the EUSSR?
There are still plenty of other countries you can run to who are still slaves. I'm proud of my country for standing up to the malignant failed EUSSR.
D J T thinks they're all losers
DRONE REVEALS? MY FCUKING ARSE.
black handsoff
honour and Glory to the german army
*Some. I pay my tv licence so you do NOT make spelling mistakes like this! Unsubscribsed.
*Unsubscribed
Worry about your own spelling, my friend. Theirs is correct.
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jul/01/battle-of-somme-centenary-commemorations-live
April Shattuck
*you're
+Crouchy232323 *your
+Crouchy232323
"You're" is a contraction which shortens the two words "you" and "are" into one. "Your" is possessive.
I'll use them each in a sentence:
"*You're* going to have to finish *your* spelling homework before *you're* allowed to play with *your* toys."
Understand?
+Crouchy232323 so to sum this up, you know nothing about world war one as complained about the BBC spelling a word wrong (which they didn't, Somme is a place in France), and then you went on and spelt subscribed wrong.
What a terrible waste of human life
Haig was a butcher.