...Rich Von Falkenhayn and Douglas Haig; “Shades of Sir Douglas Haig and Erich von Falkenhayn. They were two generals steeped in theory, but lacking in imagination. The tactics of WW I killed millions and today the opponents are buddies, same goes for Viet Nam. In the 1960s, Harvard Magazine had an article stating that in WW II the German Army needed 12 garrison troops for each Greek partisan. The Taliban have the superior advantage, they live there. Do we leave now or wait for their kids and grandkids to continue killing our troops? Prudence say leave now. Forget about the Taliban ever lining-up to be shot like the Redcoats during the American Revolution. Forget about all those military theories and remember Carl von Clausewitz statement that all the careful planning is useless when the battle starts. The Taliban will never be defeated by the folly of military power, but only by the lost of their sources of money and materials. Study Arnold J. Toynbee's two volume abridgment of The Study of History. The conflict is with the Taliban is a Quartermaster issue: cut-off their supply of money and materials, and make an offer to the tribal tribal leaders they can't refuse.” Henry Rawlinson and Douglas Haig: Sir Henry Rawlinson (1864-1925) was born in 1864, the son of a diplomat. Having joined the British Army he served in the Myanmar expedition of 1886-87 under Lord Roberts, in the Sudan campaign (1898) with Lord Kitchener (minister for war during the First World War from...
Words: 444 - Pages: 2
...Incapacitated of viewing a future or remembering a past, soldiers soon only believed in war. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque depicts his gruesome experience of the war through the despairing narration...
Words: 1554 - Pages: 7
...Emmanuel Liriano 1/14/16 English 12 All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Mariareque is a book worth reading because it gives us the readers another way of understanding of what war was like for a solder on the battlefield during World War One. In books like these one can almost always tell which authors have been through actual combat situations. But this is different and this difference is that ghe sorrows of war and the glorious lies is it really worth it. A Poetic version of the main theme behind All Quiet on the Western Front by the author Erich Maria Remarque, The point of the story is to show that war is not romantic, glorious, or fantastic. In fact, those words could not be further from the truth. War is a disgusting competition of human instinct, fought by the wrong people. It brings out the worst in everyone; it destroys their compassion, honesty, and ideals. The beginning chapters of All Quiet on the Western Front are devoted to showing that warfare hardens soldiers against true emotions. Their main priority is survival, second is comfort, followed by gain. During World War 1, in the first chapter Paul Baumer the narrator of the novel and high school service as a soldiers in the German army during World War I. Paul and his classmates enlist together, share experiences together, grow together, share disillusionment over the loss of their youth, and the friends even experience the horrors of death—together. So Paul and his classmates...
Words: 602 - Pages: 3
... “The Battle of the Somme” The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest and most bloodiest wars ever fought. I am going to tell you where the wars took place, why it was one of the bloodiest wars, where and what took place at the war, and about the Somme Campaign. I chose this topic because it happened a long time ago. It was fought between the French, Germans, and the British. You might be wondering when the wars took place. In this paragraph I am going to tell you. The Battle of the Somme happened in world war one. It also happened a long time ago between July 1- November 1 in 1918. During the war there was something called the “Somme Campaign” that had happened in 1916. Whistles commanded the start of the attack at approximately 7:30 AM 1st of July the war started. The Battle of the Somme was a huge and a bloody battle. Sixty-thousand British troops were injured and twenty-thousand of that were dead. Sixty percent of all officers involved on the first day died. The French had more guns and faced weaker defenses. At the end of the war, which was November 1st, the British had approximately 420,000 casualties and the French had around 200,000 casualties. Kingfisher 2 Where the war took place. The Battle of the Somme took place at the Somme River in France. The French and Germany joined forces and fought the British. The British were outnumbered and had less weapons and artillery. The British tried to face...
Words: 900 - Pages: 4
...In Heroes, the main character, Francis, is a 19 year old war hero that has had his face disfigured in World War II due to him jumping on a grenade. The author of the story, Robert Cormier, develops Francis in a very interesting way as the story moves on. Francis Cassavant goes from shy and low self esteem, to having a little confidence, then to an insecure man after he disfigured his face. First, Francis’ insecurity of himself in the present time of the book makes him withdraw from society. In the story Francis says,”People glance at me in surprise and look away quickly or cross the street when they see me coming. I don’t blame them,” (Cormier 4). Also, he says“ If anything bothers me, it’s my nose. Or rather, the absence of my nose. My nostrils are like two small caves and they sometimes get blocked and I have to breathe through my mouth,” (Cormier 2). Francis being self conscious of himself makes him cut off contact from all people of society. Next in the story, Francis gains confidence and self esteem from his table tennis play. On page 58, Larry Lasalle tells Francis, “You’re a natural. Besides the reflexes, you have what I call sweet anticipation,” (Cormier 58). Also, due to Francis having a low self esteem when he was young, he says, “Nobody had ever cheered me before,” (Cormier 58). Francis has a period of confidence due to the table tennis, which starts a relationship with Nicole Renard, but this confidence leads to a huge letdown. Lastly, Francis is greatly affected...
Words: 405 - Pages: 2
...War does not determines who is right, only who is left. In All Quiet on the Western Front, a historical war novel, by Erich Maria Remarque, war is described realistically and losses were revealed. Earth and nature play huge roles among the wars; they both have opposite uses. For example, earth is both protection and danger as they seek refuge in it down within the trenches as the shells explode on the surface of it. As Paul travels through the horror and destruction of war, he realized the comfort brought to him by nature. Earth might not have an significant effect in our lives, however, it has great impacts on soldiers. The earth shields exterior forces and acts as an protection, yet it is a battlefield where soldiers lose their lives. When Paul and his friends were preparing for a bombardment and hiding from possible attack, he realized...
Words: 687 - Pages: 3
...No one was prepared for how horrific World War I turned out to be. The war killed thousand of lives. Those who survived the war were torn and scarred from the horrific things they had witnessed. There are many people that expressed their traumatic memories of the war through song, book, or poem. In the book All Quiet On The Western Front it shows the horrors soldiers had to go through from the perspective of a young soldier named Paul. Paul and his fellow soldiers walk on after a hard battle, “It begins to rain. An hour later we reach our lorries and climb in. There is more room now than there was.”(Remarque 25). They had to walk all the way to the front line. Then after fighting, they walked back through pain and mud. In comparison to the...
Words: 510 - Pages: 3
...American contributions to the Second Battle of the Marne and to the fighting in the months leading up to the German surrender. 1. Analyze the role of American soldiers in the Second Battle of the Marne, and in subsequent engagements with the Germans. 2. Discuss the weapons used in WWI, such as bayonets, flamethrowers, machine guns, pistols, mustard gas, rifles, tanks and trench mortars. 3. Discuss the soldier’s experience, such as fighting in the trenches, boredom, lice, rats, food, common injuries, and battlefield engagement. The Second Battle of the Marne marked the turning of the tide in World War I. It began with the last German offensive of the conflict and was quickly followed by the first allied offensive victory of 1918. The American Expeditionary Force with over 250,000 men fighting under overall French command played key roles both in the initial defense and the later advances. In the Second Battle of Marne with 30,000 killed and wounded, the United States started suffering casualties on the enormous scale usually associated with the battles of the Great War. In what began as the last major German offensive of the First World War, the Second Battle of the Marne developed into a significant Allied victory. After it became clear that the Germans had not only failed in their aim to win the war in this offensive, but had in fact lost ground, a number of German commanders, including Crown Prince Wilhelm, believed the war was lost. the war could best be...
Words: 637 - Pages: 3
...cost to both sides. In terms of casualties, it was the single bloodiest battle during the war, lasting over a period of 4 months. Overconfidence in the precursor artillery bombardment to lighten the German defenses before the main offensive, and poor execution of fires, ratcheted up the number of casualties the British would sustain before the Somme Offensive came to a conclusion several months later. This paper examines the pre battle preparations, the battle itself, and the aftermath of the battle, with a particular focus on the artillery’s role and effectiveness throughout. The Western Front 1916 – a battle line over 400 miles long weaves between northern France and Belgium. For nearly 2 years, the Great War has raged on with both sides, the Allies (primarily France and Britain in this theatre of war) and the Central Powers (primarily Germany) gaining and losing ground in mere miles along the whole front. In an effort to alleviate the pressure off French forces struggling to hold on at Verdun, a battle plan that had been agreed upon months ago between Anglo-French forces in December 1915, was being formulated and finalized. (Krause et al. 2015) Given the condition of the French forces resisting the German advances at Verdun since late February 1916, the bulk of the operation was to be conducted for the first time in the war by British forces under the command of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, and General Henry Rawlinson, Commander...
Words: 1572 - Pages: 7
...SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!” George gasped He was turning a pale yellow and his tongue was covered in a coat of tangled fur. Even though the battalion had been told of such events it was nowhere near as horrific when you witness it with your own eyes, being unable to aid him in any way. His breathing began to slow down as he reached out towards me. This time it was clear he was saying goodbye. His arm dropped as his breathing stopped. That’s when I realised why the stars didn’t come out, and I wished George and I hadn’t either. My reason for going to war was laid dead in front of me, and George’s reasons didn’t matter anymore. They say it is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country. There was nothing sweet or honourable about George’s death. I downed another glass of whisky as I returned standing facing the man in the mirror. His medals, now secured on his shirt, shone in the cracked bathroom light. “The old lie,” I stated, “Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori.” I threw my glass to the floor. “There was nothing sweet or honourable about his death,” I whispered to myself, “Nothing at...
Words: 640 - Pages: 3
...Are the songs of ‘Oh! What a lovely war’ a complete and accurate summary of the experience of soldiers on the western front? The musical ‘Oh! What a lovely war’ directed by Joan Littlewood in 1963 portrays the experiences and reality of the war in the four songs, sung by the soldiers, to some level of accuracy. However extracts from Banham, Luff and Vyvyen Brandon suggest otherwise. In some ways, the songs directed by Joan Littlewood do portray the reality of life on the western front and the dangers on the front line and in the reserve trenches. Joan accurately describes the soldiers who want to be ‘Far far from Wipers […] where German snipers can’t get at [them]’. The lyrics give the impression that the soldiers were faced with danger and they wanted to end the war to avoid being shot by ‘German snipers’. This evidence is supported by the Brandon extracts which look at the key issues of how the troops managed to endure the horrors of fighting in the trenches. The extracts describe how ‘at any moment’ soldiers could have been ‘shot by a sniper, gassed or blown to pieces by a shell, mine or bomb.’ This therefore consolidates the idea of the front line being hazardous and proves Joan Littlewoods’ portrayed impression of the war as accurate. Additionally, it can be argued that Joan Littlewood to some extent accurately describes the conditions of the trenches and what the soldiers had to endure. In the song ‘Far Far From Wipers’ it refers to bad conditions such as ‘damp’ dugouts...
Words: 1141 - Pages: 5
...The battle at the Somme was fought in the western front of France it was a war of attrition. The various strengths and weaknesses of this battle and Lloyd George’s criticism of Douglas Haig’s role in this war. The Battle of the Somme was planned as a joint French and British operation. The idea originally came from the French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre and was accepted by General Sir Douglas Haig, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander, despite his preference for a large attack in Flanders. Although Joffre was concerned with territorial gain, it was also an attempt to destroy German manpower. The principal attack would be led by General Sir Henry Rawlinson’s forces. He preferred the gradual approach. Nevertheless, Chief Field Commander Haig demanded a daring strike, quickly taking Bapuame then swinging north to flank the German line. Lieutenant General Sir Hubert...
Words: 964 - Pages: 4
...Life in the trenches wasn’t as pleasant or safe as it may seem.The trenches were the front lines. the most dangerous places.They were holes dug by soldiers to protect themselves from the enemy. With many weapons and mass of supply. Trenches mostly took place in Europe during Wworld Wwar 1 1914-1918. However, trenches changed the way the war was fought.The most interesting part of World War 1 was the trenches because it supplied poor protection when it was supposed to supply protection. Mostly the trenches were the most interesting part of World War 1 because they had poor protection. Trenches held mass of supply lines, training establishments, stores, workshops, and headquarters. However, “Rats were by no means the only source of infection...
Words: 373 - Pages: 2
...Lesson 3 |Grade/Content Area | | | |9th Grade World Civilization | |Lesson Title | | | |World At War | |State Standards: |RIBTS: | |RIBTS |NCSS: | |National Content Standards: | | |NCSS | | |Context of the Lesson | | |Where does this lesson fit in the |This is lesson 2 of a 5 part lesson. It continues with the causes of WWI and begins to talk| |curriculum and instructional context? |of the atrocities of war. | |Is it...
Words: 553 - Pages: 3
...Trenches were long narrow ditches that were dug into the ground where some soldiers lived day and night. Only a small proportion of the army would serve there. The trenches were the domain of the infantry, with the supporting arms of the mortars and machine guns. The trenches were built in the front line or in any sort of dangerous places. But behind them was a mass of supply lines, training establishments, stores, workshops, headquarters and all the other elements of the 1914-1918 system of war, in which the majority of troops were employed. Frontline trenches were usually seven feet deep and six feet wide. The conditions for the soldiers in the war were very risky. Death was a constant companion to those who were serving in the front line...
Words: 677 - Pages: 3
