July 28, 201412 yr More commonly called WWI today, the war started 100 years ago when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia came to the aid of Serbia and Germany came to the aid of A-H. The war saw many new weapons put in to use, such poisonous gas, machine guns, airplanes, tanks and submarines. Several monarchies disappeared, the map of Europe was redrawn, communists came to power in Russia, and the US became a world power. Just to name some of the changes that came about because of this war.
July 28, 201412 yr More commonly called WWI today, the war started 100 years ago when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia came to the aid of Serbia and Germany came to the aid of A-H. The war saw many new weapons put in to use, such poisonous gas, machine guns, airplanes, tanks and submarines. Several monarchies disappeared, the map of Europe was redrawn, communists came to power in Russia, and the US became a world power. Just to name some of the changes that came about because of this war. I feel like WWI is sometimes forgotten about. Seems like more people focus on WWII, even though, as you said, WWI offered things on a scale that had never been seen before.
July 28, 201412 yr More commonly called WWI today, the war started 100 years ago when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia came to the aid of Serbia and Germany came to the aid of A-H. The war saw many new weapons put in to use, such poisonous gas, machine guns, airplanes, tanks and submarines. Several monarchies disappeared, the map of Europe was redrawn, communists came to power in Russia, and the US became a world power. Just to name some of the changes that came about because of this war. ...plus it essentially set the table for that other big war 21 years later.
July 28, 201412 yr [h=2]The War To End All Wars[/h] If only that were the case. Will never happen, though. Unless it's one that leaves less than 2 humans alive.
July 28, 201412 yr History had a great series of shows that chronicled the innovations of war that came about in WWI. In their other great series on the World Wars I learned that Germany was actually a major factor in the Communist revolution in Russia. They bankrolled Lenin with the intention that when he stirred it up in Russia they would be forced to withdraw from WWI. They got that right.
July 28, 201412 yr Still the Civil war had the most American casualties of any war. It'd be tough to accumulate more in another war given that basically every single death in the Civil War would have been American.
July 28, 201412 yr In their other great series on the World Wars I learned that Germany was actually a major factor in the Communist revolution in Russia. They bankrolled Lenin with the intention that when he stirred it up in Russia they would be forced to withdraw from WWI. They got that right. I wasn't aware of that. Unfortunately for Germany, that may have backfired for them a few decades later when the Red Army came knocking on Berlin's door. LOL
July 28, 201412 yr I wasn't aware of that. Unfortunately for Germany, that may have backfired for them a few decades later when the Red Army came knocking on Berlin's door. LOL See if you can get the World Wars mini series on DVD. Very informative. I also didn't realize that in WWII Hitler was initially allied with Stalin but when he got as far east as he could go he attacked Russia to continue his expansion.
July 28, 201412 yr It'd be tough to accumulate more in another war given that basically every single death in the Civil War would have been American. Wars ranked by total number of U.S. military deaths[edit]Rank War Years Deaths Deaths per Day US Population in First Year of War Deaths per Population 1 American Civil War 1861–1865 625,000 420 31,443,000 1.988% (1860) 2 World War II 1941–1945 405,399 297 133,402,000 0.307% (1940) 3 World War I 1917–1918 116,516 279 103,268,000 0.110% (1920) 4 Vietnam War 1961–1975 58,209 11 179,323,175 (1960) 0.030% (1970) 5 Korean War 1950–1953 36,516 45 151,325,000 0.020% (1950) 6 American Revolutionary War 1775–1783 25,000 11 2,500,000 0.899% (1780) 7 War of 1812 1812–1815 15,000 15 8,000,000 0.207% (1810) 8 Mexican–American War 1846–1848 13,283 29 21,406,000 0.057% (1850) 9 War on Terror 2001–present 6,717 1.57 294,043,000 0.002% (2010) 10 Philippine–American War 1899–1902 4,196 3.8 72,129,001 0.006% (1900)
July 28, 201412 yr See if you can get the World Wars mini series on DVD. Very informative. I also didn't realize that in WWII Hitler was initially allied with Stalin but when he got as far east as he could go he attacked Russia to continue his expansion. A pact of nonaggression that both sides basically knew wouldn't hold forever. Hitler happened to catch Stalin by surprise when he launched his attack - Stalin thought he'd wait longer.
July 28, 201412 yr Wars ranked by total number of U.S. military deaths[edit]Rank War Years Deaths Deaths per Day US Population in First Year of War Deaths per Population 1 American Civil War 1861–1865 625,000 420 31,443,000 1.988% (1860) 2 World War II 1941–1945 405,399 297 133,402,000 0.307% (1940) 3 World War I 1917–1918 116,516 279 103,268,000 0.110% (1920) 4 Vietnam War 1961–1975 58,209 11 179,323,175 (1960) 0.030% (1970) 5 Korean War 1950–1953 36,516 45 151,325,000 0.020% (1950) 6 American Revolutionary War 1775–1783 25,000 11 2,500,000 0.899% (1780) 7 War of 1812 1812–1815 15,000 15 8,000,000 0.207% (1810) 8 Mexican–American War 1846–1848 13,283 29 21,406,000 0.057% (1850) 9 War on Terror 2001–present 6,717 1.57 294,043,000 0.002% (2010) 10 Philippine–American War 1899–1902 4,196 3.8 72,129,001 0.006% (1900) To me it says a lot that WWII got that close given that the length of time the US was there was roughly the same as the Civil War and again, that war was being fought against other nations.
July 28, 201412 yr To me it says a lot that WWII got that close given that the length of time the US was there was roughly the same as the Civil War and again, that war was being fought against other nations. The population percentage is what gets me. The Civil War deaths were pretty close to 2% of the entire US population. The WW II deaths were .3 % but so many men were mobilized for that war that every aspect of the country was involved. The American Revolutionary War was only 25,000 est. but nearly 1 % of the population.
July 28, 201412 yr The population percentage is what gets me. The Civil War deaths were pretty close to 2% of the entire US population. The WW II deaths were .3 % but so many men were mobilized for that war that every aspect of the country was involved. The American Revolutionary War was only 25,000 est. but nearly 1 % of the population. World War I killed almost 1% of the ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION in the course of 52 months. Roughly 16 million killed between soldiers and civilians during WW1. The estimated world population in 1914 at the beginning of the war is estimated around 1.8 billion. That means about 1 of every 113 people on the planet were killed.
July 28, 201412 yr Also, if you were a French male born between 1894 and 1897, there was a 26.3% likelihood that your life would be ended in The Great War. That's just over 1 out of 4.
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