Posted on 09/26/2006 5:03:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Nope. That has nothing to do with Europe or America or with arrogance. It has to do with individual intelligence. I am sorry that I have to say this.
And guess what - I have reason to.
Very unusual for any WWI Vet to say anything like that. My grandfather was also a mustard gas disabled type. He invested in land. All three of his sons served in WWII. I never heard anything like you are saying.
You assume incorrectly.
In most previous (and some subsequent) wars, your thesis would hold: those who fought bravely and cannily would live to fight another day and thus to reproduce.
Unfortunately for all concerned, the leadership was (as usual) fighting the last war, with horrific consequences in the age of machine guns, HE, and poison gas. The individuals who would have been "selected" for their sterling qualities in a more traditional war were overridden by the stupidity of the brass hats, most particularly French, Haig, Foch, and Joffre.
Darwinist theories were submerged in total war and total slaughter. The statistics, while incomplete, do indicate a noticeable falling-off in physical size and strength. I don't know about the IQ issue, Binet invented the concept just before the war, so I don't know what kind of a baseline they had. Probably just anecdotal, but the physical statistics are easy to find. I'm most familiar with Britain, and I know that the recruiters in WWII were disturbed enough by the falling-off in health and strength to take note of it.
BTW, rather than deride the professor, you might give this some serious consideration. I majored in history with a concentration in military history, and he has a point.
P.S., the Swiss stayed out of it, thus proving once again their essential good sense.
I will be at Arlington Cemetery this week.
I will look for the grave marker and leave flowers from Free Republic.
Why, because you can't write complete English sentences?
Wow, your ignorance on this subject takes my breathe away. You remind me of that character, Cliff, from Cheers.
And a whole generation of Britons. I think the Great War damaged the British psyche beyond repair. They're still good chaps and all -- for the most part -- but their genes have mutated to include a strain of radical socialism that will never be expunged.
Good friend of my dad's (now gone to glory) was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain. His whole family - wife and children - were killed in the Blitz. He emigrated and remarried to an American girl, and had a second family of American sons to carry on his remarkable courage and grace.
Our gain was England's loss.
Nope. You forgot that only those, who were "dispensable" were send into those sections were no survival was possible. The men used for "suicide squads" or "Himmelfahrtskommandos" (in German) were usually not the elite. A simple example: The most intellectual men (the officers) in a war are always in safe places behind the lines because they are needed for better purposes than direct hostilities.
Here are some color (yes, color!) photos of a French unit and the surrounding area in WWI.
Artillery does not respect good genes.
Sorry. English is not my mother language and I am really not that good in it. Therefore I am not that eloquent if I use your language as I would be using German or French.
Anyway I doesn't matter. You understood very well what I wanted to say.
:-)
Not to minimize in any way the staggering, unbelievable carnage of WWI, but the Eastern Front in WWII is the record-holder for most savage and unfathomable casualties, probably approaching 30 million, with numerous entire town, villages, and even cities wiped out:
"The Eastern Front was by far the largest and bloodiest theatre of World War II. It is generally accepted as being the most costly conflict in human history with between 25-30 million dead as a result. It involved more land combat than all other World War II theatres combined. The Eastern Front resulted in staggering losses and disregard for human life...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II)
That is indeed true. Nevertheless most soldiers were killed while serving in the infantry.
Rest in peace, soldier. God bless you for your sacrifice.
Everybody went into the meat grinder, including the sons of nobility and Scottish farmers. And the "intellectuals" - ever heard of Brooke, Grenfell, Owen, Rosenberg, Sorley, Thomas?
And from what I've read of Jünger, Remarque, and other German writers, that doesn't appear to be the case on the other side, either.
Welcome home brother, RIP
Nous Resterons La
I actually did know an Austrian ski-troop veteran (he was already in when Hitler assassinated Dollfuss and took over) who was on the last plane out of Stalingrad (he was shot in the knee - really a lucky blighty wound for him.) He didn't care for the Russians much.
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