Happy Veteran's Day!
Posted on 11/11/2007 8:17:36 AM PST by bd476
World War I ends
At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France.
The First World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure.
On June 28, 1914, in an event that is widely regarded as sparking the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was shot to death with his wife by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Ferdinand had been inspecting his uncle's imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the threat of Serbian nationalists who wanted these Austro-Hungarian possessions to join newly independent Serbia. Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism once and for all.
However, as Russia supported Serbia, an Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention.
On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe's great powers collapsed. On July 29, Austro-Hungarian forces began to shell the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and Russia, Serbia's ally, ordered a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary. France, allied with Russia, began to mobilize on August 1.
France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3. After crossing through neutral Luxembourg, the German army invaded Belgium on the night of August 3-4, prompting Great Britain, Belgium's ally, to declare war against Germany.
For the most part, the people of Europe greeted the outbreak of war with jubilation. Most patriotically assumed that their country would be victorious within months. Of the initial belligerents, Germany was most prepared for the outbreak of hostilities, and its military leaders had formatted a sophisticated military strategy known as the "Schlieffen Plan," which envisioned the conquest of France through a great arcing offensive through Belgium and into northern France.
Russia, slow to mobilize, was to be kept occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces while Germany attacked France.
The Schlieffen Plan was nearly successful, but in early September the French rallied and halted the German advance at the bloody Battle of the Marne near Paris. By the end of 1914, well over a million soldiers of various nationalities had been killed on the battlefields of Europe, and neither for the Allies nor the Central Powers was a final victory in sight.
On the western front--the battle line that stretched across northern France and Belgium--the combatants settled down in the trenches for a terrible war of attrition.
In 1915, the Allies attempted to break the stalemate with an amphibious invasion of Turkey, which had joined the Central Powers in October 1914, but after heavy bloodshed the Allies were forced to retreat in early 1916.
The year 1916 saw great offensives by Germany and Britain along the western front, but neither side accomplished a decisive victory. In the east, Germany was more successful, and the disorganized Russian army suffered terrible losses, spurring the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917.
By the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia and immediately set about negotiating peace with Germany. In 1918, the infusion of American troops and resources into the western front finally tipped the scale in the Allies' favor. Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies on November 11, 1918.
World War I was known as the "war to end all wars" because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused. Unfortunately, the peace treaty that officially ended the conflict--the Treaty of Versailles of 1919--forced punitive terms on Germany that destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for World War II.
DL-Online
Veterans Day activities Sunday and Monday
Amber Nohrenberg DL-Online
Published Saturday, November 10, 2007
It is a day of remembrance and red poppies, mournful-sounding Taps and flags waving in the breeze, but most of all, a day of thanks.
Today is Veterans Day, the 11th day of the 11th month, a day to remember and thank all veterans, those who served in peaceful times and war times, those living today and those living in memory.
First established as Armistice Day in 1921, unknown World War I soldiers were buried in the United States, England and France.
The soldiers were buried in the highest places of honor in each country. The American soldier was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, the English soldier at Westminster Abbey and the French soldier at the Arc de Triomphe.
Armistice Day received its official name in 1926 through an act of Congress and was recognized as a national holiday in 1938.
In 1947, World War II veteran Raymond Weeks organized “National Veterans Day.” U.S. Representative Edward Rees of Kansas proposed a bill to change Armistice Day to Veterans Day and the bill was signed by President Eisenhower in 1954, recognizing Nov. 11 as Veterans Day.
There are a variety of activities planned today to thank veterans for their service to the country...
End of excerpt. Continues: Veterans Day activities Sunday and Monday
In Flanders Fields
by Major John McCrae
Canadian Officer
Major McCrae was in Flanders Field, Belgium during World War I
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
"General" I remarked, "How is it that you can keep so cool and appear so utterly insensible to danger in such a storm of shell and bullets as rained about you when your hand was hit?"
He instantly became grave and reverential in his manner, and answered, in a low tone of great earnestness: "Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me."
He added, after a pause, looking me full in the face: "That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave."
Lt. General Thomas Jackson speaking to then Captain John D. Imboden, Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War, G.F.R Henderson, Vol. 1, p. 163."
Civil War Grand Review Infantry following Ambulances May 1865 Wash DC
Am I mistaken, or is that John Edwards’ great, great, great grandfather I see running in that last photo?
WOW, my first Veterans Day on FR, you folks are amazing!!
Thanks for the great post BD. :)
With tears streaming down my face, I thank you, bd476 for providing this amazing tribute to our veterans. Now I must go out and fly my beloved flag in their honor. God bless every one of them.
You and all Veterans are most welcome, today and everyday.
Thank you for your service to our country. God Bless you and yours!
Thank you for your kind comments, PROCON.
Welcome to Free Republic!
You're welcome, Paperdoll.
Thank you for your very kind comments.
God Bless you, God Bless all of our Veterans and God Bless America!
Those are beautiful photos of our Nation's finest. Thank you for posting them, Baynative!
Thank you for posting the photos and information about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
God Bless all of our Soldiers today and everyday.
That is a very beautiful photo. Thank you for posting it. God Bless those two soldiers. God Bless all of our Soldiers.
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