Veterans Day: The History Behind November 11th

November 11th is Veterans Day. A day where we honor and pay respect to all those who served our nation in the Armed Forces (Memorial Day is set aside to remember and pay respect to those who were killed in the service of this country), but do you know the significance or history of that date?

Officially, World War I, known as the "Great War" and the "War to End All Wars" went into effect on November 11, 1918 at 11:11 AM even through a tentative ceasefire had been agreed to earlier. The reason picked for that date had nothing to do with the war itself. It was actually chosen by French Marshal Foch as sounding more "poetic". As a result, there were 10,944 casualties on the last day of the war, and 2,738 unnecessary deaths. but there's still more to the story.

Most people assume the war ended on November 11th, 1918 with the signing of the armistice. In fact, the war between the British Empire and Imperial Germany didn't formally end until January 20, 1920.   It was July 16th 1920 that it ended with Austria. August 9th with Bulgaria. July 26, 1921 for Hungary and August 6, 1924 with the Ottoman Empire!

The signing of the Treaty of Versailles took place on June 28, 1919, although the treaty wasn't formally ratified in the United States until the passage of the Knox-Porter Resolution on July 2, 1921. The armistice represented a ceasefire between all belligerent nations, and not a surrender by Germany or the other Central Powers.

Nevertheless, the war resulted in the deaths of approximately 9.4 million service members, 23 million wounded or missing, plus the deaths of 5 million civilians. It brought about the destruction of 8,000 square miles of farm land (mostly in France, Belgium, and Holland), as well as 1,857 square miles of forests.  

Some 300,000 homes were plus 6000 factories, 1,200 churches and synagogues, and 1,600 schools. 1,300,000 head of livestock were destroyed as well, and around 4 million were made homeless. The Central Power nations of Germany and Austro-Hungary sank 6000 Allied and neutral ships totaling 14,200,000 tons. While some were sunk due to mines, the majority were sunk by German U-boats.

The deadliest battle for American Expeditionary Forces was the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The seven week long engagement began on September 26, 1918 and involved 1.2 million American troops under the command of General John "Blackjack" Pershing against 450,000 Germans. The offensive was aimed at stopping Germany's last "going for broke" advance through the Verdun region of France and forcing a overall retreat of German forces. 

It resulted in the deaths of 26,000 Americans with 216,000 wounded or injured. Sadly ,there never was closure for the families and friends of 914 men whose remains were never found or identified. German losses were 28,000 men and over 350,000 causalities. The battle, which ended on November 11th, broke the back of the German advance and brought about the signing of the armistice.

As an aside, the deadliest battler of World War 1 was the Battle of Somme. The carnage began on July 1 and continued to November 18, 1916. The battle resulted in 1 million casualties and 310,459 dead. On the first day alone, the British had more than 57,000 casualties and close to 20,000 dead. The Germans lost close to 12,000 while the French suffered loses of just over 1500 men. 

With the war's end in 1918, all Europe had changed. Empires were irrevocably  changed geographically and politically. One was the Constitutional Duel Monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which stretched from Austria's border with Switzerland in west to almost the Black Sea in the east. 

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of the largest countries in Europe, covering 621,538 million square miles and a population of 52 million. 16 languages were commonly spoken there. 76% of the population was Roman Catholic with just 8.9% being Protestant (mainly Lutheran). 8.7% were Eastern Orthodox with the remainder being comprised of Jewish and Muslim. 

The "Great War" started in 1914 with the murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Hapsburg throne and one of the more liberal leaning members of the royal court, and his wife, Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenberg.  Both were murdered by a 19 year old Bosnian Serbian and member of the Black Hand anarchist group by the name of Gavrilo Princip.  The murder, which was more of a dark comedy of errors than a serious plot, set off a ever escalating chain of events which would lead to one of the worse wars in history.  

The war marked the end of the Hapsburg rule and dissolution of the duel monarchy with the abdication of Emperor Karl, successor of the Emperor, Franz Joseph. The Habsburgs had ruled Austria from 1282 to 1918 and Hungary from 1526 until 1918.

The dissolving of the Austro-Hungarian Empire created a new Austria and Hungary. Czechoslovakia (a merger of two differing ethnic groups, the Czechs and the Slovaks) was formed as was Yugoslavia ("Greater Slavia"), a independent Romania, and enlarged the existing countries of Italy, Poland, and the Ukraine. However, it did not result in the creation of a Greater Serbia as hoped by the Black Hand. 

The second empire to fall was the Ottomans. The Ottomans had ruled Turkey, Southeastern Europe, and much of the Middle East for over 600 years under the leadership of a sultan (or essentially an emperor). The Ottomans had long been a regional power, noted for their military prowess and brutality, culture and support of the arts as well as education, and tolerance of religions. But its inability to modernize, poverty and endless internal chaos all but ensured its end as a major power, and nickname as "the sick man of Europe".

At the time of the Armistice of Mudros, signed between the Allies Powers and the Ottoman Empire on October 30, 1918, out of an army of three million, mostly underequipped, undertrained, and poorly led, the Ottomans lost approximately 325,000 men. Some 400,000 were wounded and 202,000 were made POWs, mainly by the British and Russians. Another one million had deserted, leaving a fighting force (if you can call it that) of just 323,000 men.

The armistice also established an Allied military government in Istanbul, which broke up much of the empire, although it was mostly a shell by this point. The final sultan, Medmeh VI abdicated in November 17, 1922. The empire would be divided between the Greeks, Russians, French, and British. Turkey would experience turmoil and the emergence of its greatest leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, to restore order and establish a Turkish republic. 

I would be amiss if I failed to mention Turkey's role in the Armenian genocide during the war and the deliberate murder of 1.5 million Christian Armenians. The genocide had two phases.  First the arrest of all able bodied males who were cosigned to brutal forced labor camps. The second phase was the deportation of everyone else---women, children, the sick, handicapped and the elderly deep into the desert without any provisions, including water.

Aside from the 1.5 million Christian Armenians murdered, the Seyfo Genocide (1915 -1923) by the Ottomans resulted in 250,000 dead, which was half of their entire population. The Greek Genocide (which lasted until 1923) resulted in approximately 900,000 dead. The Government of Turkey continues to this day to dispute the claims of "genocide" while 29 other countries officially disagree.

Perhaps the country most impacted was Imperial Germany. Prior to the war, Imperial Germany was the intellectual and scientific light of Europe. It was the second largest economic powerhouse in Europe behind Great Britain. It's military was the largest, most modern, and best trained on the continent. Its colonial empire, comprising 22 countries, was small compared to the other imperial powers, was still noteworthy for its mineral wealth.

By the end of the war, the German economy was utterly exhausted. The British naval blockade of Germany during the war resulted in the deliberate deaths of 763,000 civilians from starvation. Half of all newborns in Berlin died of malnutrition. Germany's imperial monarchy also collapsed  with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 9th following a mutiny by the Imperial German Navy and subsequent establishment of a democratic government known as the Weimar Republic.

Germany had previously accepted a ceasefire (armistice) and subsequent peace talks at Versailles as an equal partner. Representatives of the Allied powers, however, surprised the German delegation the threats of renewed hostilities (which the German economy and political situation could not endure) unless Germany assumed full guilt for the war despite it haven been started by a Serbian anarchist!

The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to surrender some 27, 000 square miles or 13% of its territory, resulting in displacing 9 million Germans. It also lost all of its colonies, which were divided between a greedy France and Great Britain, both of which were exhausted and faced economic instability. The British still speak of having lost an entire generation of its youth in the war. Nevertheless, the war broke their mutual mortal enemy---Germany.

 This amounted to roughly 2.4% of Germany's gross national product. It was estimated to have taken Germany from 1919 until the mid 1980's to pay off the debt (Germany had to borrow money from the U.S. to service the debt payments).

Germany was forbidden an air force and it standing army was reduced to the size of 100,000 strong militia, and payment of 67.8 billion gold marks (adjusted for inflation, that would be about $760 billion U.S. dollars today).

Germany also experienced social unrest, a revolution, 322% hyperinflation, and occupation of its industrial heart, the Ruhr, by French and Belgian troops.  It struggled through the Roaring Twenties and was hit hardest of any industrial nation following the 1929 Crash. Chained to the Versailles Treaty, it all but ensured a second great war, which in fact occurred barely 20 year later.

Imperial Russia, led by Czar Nicholas II, reluctantly came to the defense of Serbia after it was threatened by the Hapsburg monarchy based on a all but forgotten treaty. The Czar, cousins of Kaiser Wilhelm II and King George V through Queen Victoria, was intellectually to naive for a war of this scale.

The Russian economy was regarded as backwards. It relied on heavily subsistence farming and a still developing industry. There was little political freedom in this last remaining autocratic empire with power resting in the hands of the very wealthy elite, the church, and the Czar. The discrepancy between those at the bottom economically and those at the top was as stark as it was wide with a small middle class in between.

The military was poorly trained and ill equipped, relying on conscripted peasants with no interest in war. Many of its troops lacked guns, often having to obtain weapons needed to fight from fallen comrades. They even lacked adequate ammunition. It had no air force to speak of, very little heavy artillery, and a well worn navy (it had been decisively defeated by the Japanese in the war of 1904/05). As a result, it was defeated at nearly every turn. Desertions  were rampant.

In February 1917, the Czarist Government was overthrown by a Provisional Government consisting of various leftwing factions. The result was a temporary withdrawal from the war. When it was proposed to resume fighting, support for the new government evaporated. In October, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, staged more of a coup than a revolution and the Provincial Government fell without much of a fight. The result was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the permanent exit from the war.

In the end, the "Great War" or the more euphemistically named "War to End All Wars" achieved very little. It gave a greedy and exhausted England and France territory it couldn't control. It laid the seeds of resentment in Austria and Germany, though it did remove the monarchy and allowed for a brief and ill fated democratic Weimar Republic. Russia underwent a civil war and following Lenin's death in 1923, Joseph Stalin soon seize control. Ataturk established order in a modernized and now secular Turkey.

The United States perhaps benefited most of all. Although we were in Europe barely over a year, we emerged a global power to be taken seriously. Following the war, a decade long attempt to regulate public morality known as Prohibition failed but it ushered in one hell of decade long party which ended in a helluva a hangover in October 1929 and the stock market crash. Nevertheless, the war represented our coming out to the world.

World War I introduced airplanes into war, tanks, the importance of submarines, the deadly machine guns as well as the horrors of mustard and chlorine gas warfare and flamethrowers. It demonstrated the obsolescence of 19th century tactics amid 20th century weapons which bordered on the criminal. It introduced terms like "Yank", "doughboy", "ace", "dogfight", "tank", and "no man's land" along with "shell shock" and the "thousand yard stare".   

The "Great War" resulted in 40 million causalities with roughly 22 million military deaths and 23 million injured and wounded. The U.S. lost some 4.3 million. Every participating nation established a memorial to its war dead. It's returning soldiers, especially those wounded, were proudly called " war heroes". As an aside, the Spanish Flu followed on the heels of the Great War, resulting in the deaths over 100 million men, women, and children; roughly one third  of the world's population. Some 675,000 of these were Americans.

A League of Nations was established to help ensure that there would be no more wars of this scale and to finds ways nations could work together. Although the League lasted 26 years, it was successful in one important way. Many of the nations who participated in the "Great War" adopted a national day to remember and honor its fallen. In 1957, in the shadow of World War II and the Korean War, which cost the lives of 418,800 and 36,000 American service men and women respectively, President Eisenhower signed a bill to honor all veterans, living and dead, and all active duty personnel. We call it "Veterans Day".

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Veterans Administration: The History of Veterans Day

 

Veterans Day

Armistice of 11 November 1918

World War One Causalities

Gavrilo Princip

Russian Revolution

Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic

A Veterans Day Salute

 I served in the U.S. Navy immediately following the end of the Vietnam War (I worked in the Intelligence Community). Most of those I served with were U.S. Marines. While I didn't see combat, I served with many who did. I heard their stories like it was only just last year because it was. I listen to their regrets and hopes. I read their "Dear John" letters and saw the photos of newborns they had yet to meet and I sat with them as they poured their hearts out. I served with some of the greatest men and women anywhere. I also served with some serious assholes. 

While in service, I was permanently injured due negligence and compounded by  incompetence and ego, but it opened up a hereto unknown world as to how the military treated the injured. I went through medical boards, comprised of senior officers, which were about as verbally and emotionally abusive as it gets as you sit there silently in pain and not knowing what, if anything, the future held for you. 

I saw appointed military lawyers (JAGs) and senior officers humiliate the injured and barter away their lives away with no more care than ordering a pizza. I worked very hard to help those I could get justice, and continued to do so after I got out for many years. I suppose that made me an "undesirable" in the eyes of some, but not to those I was able to help get medical treatment or disability. 

But this is Veterans Day. For all those who served or are currently serving, I salute each and everyone of you. Even the assholes. I'm proud to call you brothers and sisters in arms. Each passing year makes you ever more dear. For those who will serve in the future, our nation is in your hands. Protect it well. Keep it safe. I hope that you may never have to fire a shot in anger, but if you do, do it in the name of freedom and with the knowledge that you are part of our nation's best. 

Lastly, we should take a moment to remember all those who served before us. If we should say anyone's name out of respect, it is surely theirs. We stand on your shoulders and your accomplishments. We owe each and everyone of you a debt that can never repay. Thus, we remember you and your bravery, your courage, and your honor. Thank you.    

Veterans Day and Why it Should be Special

A repost from November 10, 2018

82 million. That's the number, give or take a few hundred thousand here or there. 82 million. Written out, it's just an eight and a two followed by six zeros. A really big number, but not overly impressive in a day and age where we talk about a Gross National Product (GDP) of $20.3 trillion dollars, or a national debt of $21.6 trillion dollars or a national revenue of $3.6 trillion dollars. But those are financial numbers; figures so large that it's hard for the average American to wrap their head around. However, the 82 million I mentioned, while smaller, is perhaps an even more significant number than the national debt or rate of unemployment or interest or whatever else.

So, just what is this 82 million that makes it so special? Simply this. It represents the number of American military personnel who've died in the defense of this country. It represents individual lives lost do to war and the anticipation of war. It represents individuals dreams, hopes, and aspirations lost forever. It represents lost smiles, laughter, and conversations. It represents lost potentials; potentials which could have created jobs, make new discoveries, or cured diseases. The 82 million also represents the lost of fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, wives, and daughters, not to mention aunts and uncles. Its represents a lot of lonely days, nights, months, and years, and doesn't even begin to cover the number of tears shed for each one of those lives. The sad or perhaps profound thing about that number is that it's only an approximation; a "best guess" since it doesn't cover those who suffered daily for years from the injuries suffered in war, either physically or mentally; individuals who died as a result of diseases, chemicals, or unsuccessful surgeries. It also doesn't include the disabled who, while alive, continue to suffer their entire life for service to this country.

Yes, it's true that they receive a modest amount of monetary compensation and somewhat reasonable medical care (varying greatly from medical facility to medical facility). In fact, thousands die annually just for waiting for medical care. A 2005 Veterans Affairs report from the Inspector General estimated that some 300,000 veterans died while waiting for medical care. At a single VA facility in Los Angeles, 100 former servicemen and women died while awaiting treatment...in 2017. That was 43% of those on the waiting list.

Auditors found that 82% of veterans waited a month or longer for an appointment, with the average wait time being three months. Given the ages and health condition of many of these veterans, that's simply longer than they have (almost 50% of all veterans are 75 or older). Worse is that incorrect or fraudulent record keeping have kept some veterans from seeking medical care from civilian doctors or treatment centers.

In the United States we have approximately 130,000 and 200,000 homeless veterans existing in the streets on any given night. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, that represents in the area one quarter of all homeless individuals. While veterans comprise just of 1/3 of the total US population, homeless veterans comprise 43% of all homelessness. That figure doesn't cover those who are able to obtain short term temporary shelter. To make matters worse, the Veterans Administration predicts that at least 400,000 veterans will experience homelessness during the years.

Ninety seven percent of homeless veterans are men. 46% are 45 years of age or older with 41% being between the ages of 30 and 50. While just 3% of homeless veterans are women, they are more likely to be married and to suffer from some sort of mental illness. 46% are white males while 45% are black or Hispanic. 47% are Vietnam Era veterans; 15% are pre-Vietnam while 17% are post-Vietnam. 67% served three or more years in the military while 89% earned a Honorable Discharge. 85% have a high school diploma or GED compared to just 56% of the general population. Lastly, and more tellingly, 76% of all homeless veterans suffer from drug, alcohol, and/or mental illness; of these, many are unable to get or keep the help they need as a result. 18% of all adult suicides are a veteran.

In terms of general demographics, there are approximately 18.5 million veterans in the US today with three states, California, Texas, and Florida have over one million veterans each. 1.6 million of these are women. 6.7 million are Vietnam War veterans. 78% of all veterans are white, white 11.6% are black. 6.1% are Hispanic and 1.6% are Asian. 0.7% are Native American with the remainder being some other race. There are 4 million service connected disabled veterans (including yours truly).

Veterans Day grew out of Armistice Day which marked the end of World War One. Of the 4,743,826 Americans who served in that war, none are alive today. Of the 16 million US service personnel who served in World War II, only 496,000 remain (they are all in their 80's or older), and we're losing around 348 every day. Let that sink in for a minute or two. Those young men and women you see in those documentaries are all in their 80's and 90's. They were the "Greatest Generation" in every sense of the word, and yet we're losing them at a rate of just over 14 "heroes" (in my opinion) an hour...every single day.

Let's look at another interesting figure for a moment. There has been a few politicians of late calling for or encouraging violence while blaming the other side for not being "civil". The result has been a serious increase in acts of violence and intolerance of differing opinions. In some cases, there have been threats of physical harm (or death), acts of vandalism, mass shootings, and so forth. In short, the US is starting to look like the era just preceding the Civil War. In fact, historians and political scientists will tell you that American is more broadly and more deeply divided at any time since the late 1850's. We are being divided at every possible point while politicians and various faux groups are fanning the flames (thank you Citizens United). Do we really want that; another Civil War? I don't think so.

A lot of Americans don't realize that the Civil War (1861-1865) was the bloodiest war that the US has ever fought. The Korean war cost 36,516 American lives. The Vietnam War took 58,209. WWI claimed 116,516 souls, while WWII resulted in the deaths of 405,399 American servicemen and women. Yet, the American Civil War, which ended over 153 years ago, still holds the record with 620,000 died, not including those who died of disease or injury later, and we are still feeling ramifications from that war all these years later. We're suddenly seeing the destruction or defacing of monuments and memorials, the removal (and prohibition) of Confederate flags and symbols, as well as the dropping of mascots and changing of school names, streets, and the rewriting of American history all in the name of political correctness.

Why, after all these decades and all these generations is this happening? It wasn't an issue at the end of the war when feelings were running high. It wasn't an issue during Reconstruction. It wasn't an issue when the 13th Amendment was enacted. It wasn't an issue during the Spanish-American War, World War One, World War Two, the Korean War, or even Vietnam. It wasn't an issue during the Civil Rights Era, with the Freedom Riders or any of the great Civil Rights leaders, during the Watts riot or the Chicago Police Riot of 1969. It wasn't an issue during the latter 1960's or 1970's either. It wasn't even an issue during the mid 1970's and forced busing. In fact, by the late 1970's race relations were actually pretty decent overall.

The point, of course, is that these calls for violence, intolerance, restrictions on free speech (not everyone's, just certain groups and individuals), protests, vandalism, all organized and paid for by shadowy political organizations, the media, and various politicians, have the potential to ignite a war which would surpass the Civil War. Do we really want that? So far, the ideological Right and Center have been very quite while the far Left has been on "hate-fest". These are mostly naive young adults who are full of themselves and determined to impose their views and ideas on everyone else, even if it means various forms of domestic terrorism, all dressed in their black hoodies and hiding behind masks. Aren't they just the cutest?

The corporate owned media seems intent on encouraging them while downplaying or ignoring their actions. That doesn't mean the Right gets off scot-free. They too have been engaged in name calling like accusing the Left of trying to impose "socialism" or Communism which is utter nonsense. As anyone who's bothered to read a history book knows, "socialism" and Communism both prohibit Capitalism, with the rich usually murdered. Now, what do you think the chances of Wallstreet folding are? What do you think the chances of America's ruling financial elite suddenly and willingly giving up their wealth, the power, or their control are? Yeah, see my point?

At the same time, the Left likes to call President Trump "Hitler" or anyone on the Right (or whom they disagree with) for that matter a "Nazi", which is just as silly. They also accuse anyone they disagree with as being a "Fascist", yet they are the ones engaging in Brownshirt behavior. However, even if it were slightly true, then they wouldn't be any one of them not in prison, in a concentration camp, or simply stood up against a wall an shot. In short, they wouldn't be afforded the opportunity to peacefully protest or verbally attack anyone.

America is, as you know by now, an Oligarchy whose ruling elite are a small percentage of very wealthy individuals and corporations. Their goal is control pure and simple. They already control business, the media, the government, both political parties and their politicians. They use the US military as their personal enforcers to ensure governments and groups fully "cooperate" and that everyone remains on the Petrodollar which keeps the US economy afloat. What they need from us is chaos. They need to divide us every way possible and to create a situation to bad that we demand the government "do something", and trust me they will, but not in the way you hope or expect.

In truth, we are in a new war. Not quite a Marxist "class" war, or a race war. It's not a gender war, or one of religion, a war to subvert our laws, or even of "American" vs. "non-American". It's a war to fictionalize us at every step; to break our moors from family, Faith, community, ancestral, regional and even national pride until we have no one left to turn to but the State. The State will provide for us, protect us, educate us, nurture us, and even bury us. All is requires is our obedience and submission. To put it another way, the Left wing of the ruling Oligarchy wants to impose a softer and kinder form of Fascism with us becoming their serfs. The Right wing of the ruling Oligarchy wants to impose a more restrictive form of Fascism with us becoming their serfs. See the difference?

The war were engaged in now, whether we acknowledge it or not, is for the present and future of America; whether we return to a Constitutional Republic or continue down the road to some form of Fascism (for comparison, read up on the late Roman Republic). 82 million Americans gave their lives for our freedom. Countless others have given their minds and bodies. Many more struggle through their own private hell. We should honor them on more than just one or two days a year. We owe them this country and our freedom for all they've done. Don't let a handful of greedy individuals, politicians, and special interest groups take it away from them...or us.



IG report: 300,000 Veterans Died While Waiting for Health Care at VA

Inaccurate VA wait times preclude thousands of vets from getting outside care, probe finds


National Coalition for the Homeless: Homeless Veterans

National Coalition for Homeless Veteran: FAQ About Homeless Veterans

How Armistice Day Became Veteran's Day

On November 11th, America honors its veterans as well as its brave men and women in uniform around the world. A day known as "Armistice Day" or "Remembrance Day" until 1954, when the name was changed to "Veteran's Day". But have you ever wondered about the story behind the day? How did we come to celebrate that particular day and how its history still affects us today? Ninety-nine years ago, the Armistice ending World War I was signed. The "Great War" or "War to End All Wars" as it was euphemistically called was perhaps the bloodiest conflict the world had ever seen to date . The ceasefire was to go in effect on November 11th at 11:00 (the date and time was chosen simply because it had a "poetic quality" to it). However it wasn't until six months later that the powers involved sat down to sign the peace agreement in Paris and lasted until December 13th, whereby there would eventually be three extensions lasting until January 20, 1920, when peace was finally ratified in Europe at 4:15. It was fought with 19th Century strategy using outdated ideas and strategies which simply hadn't kept pace with the technology of war.

As a result, World War I was a war of mass slaughter, disease, poison gas, and shell shock (what we now called PSTD). It created new military terms too which became popularized in lexicon of the average man or woman, but especially for those who had been "over there"; terms like "tanks", "ace", "trench warfare", "gassed", "buzz saw" (meaning a machine gun), doughboy, "meat wagon" for an ambulance (often converted butcher wagons. hence the name). There was also "No Man's Land", U-boats, "Mustard Gas", AEF (American Expeditionary Forces), reparations and numerous more. Personal names too became popularized and the stuff of legend; names like Eddie Rickenbacker, Alvin York , John Pershing, Billy Bishop, Lusitania, and of course, Manfred von Richthofen---the feared "Red Baron".

In its wake, World War I left behind 10,080,026 million dead on the Allies' side, with approximately half of that representing civilian deaths. 12,812,271 million were wounded. The Central Powers had 8,341,264 military deaths and 2,330,00 civilian deaths. Another 8,751,85 were wounded. Even after all this time, even those numbers are considered a best guess by many as bodies were either never found or were simply unidentifiable. To put it another war, the Allies lost 36% of its military and 20% of its civilian population while the Central Powers lost 22% of its military and 22% of its civilian population.

Was it worth it? That's a question asked by millions after the war ceased, especially by those who had fought and survived the carnage. I think it was that sense of relief, pent up anxiety and anger which was the catalyst for the complete abandon that was the Roaring Twenties; fueled by ample qualities of bootleg booze. That was also the hope of the Versailles Treaty, which was flawed and full of petty jealousy, nationalistic arrogance, and misplaced blame which merely reset the stage for the next war, which was to come a mere short quarter century later, and it was to be bloodier than the first. The war had not just destroyed millions of lives but also billions of dollars in property damage. The actual total cost of war to the Central Powers was $60,643,160,000. The costs to the Allies was even higher, $125,690,477,000. It's hard to imagine such carnage and costs would be tolerated by any the citizens of any country today. The war also destroyed empires.

The fate of the Central Powers was now be determined by its vengeful former enemies. As an aside, Germany did not expect to be treated as a belligerent power. It was argued by Germany's representatives that Germany had merely honored its treaty with Austro-Hungary, which was no different than how the other great powers of Europe had done. Germany, now a republic following the abdication of the Kaiser, was given the impression that it would be treated as an equal at the table. It would be out of this that the infamous "Stab-in-the-Back" myth would arise since it was left to the representatives of the newly formed democratic republic to negotiate as a defeated nation. The irony was the majority party of the Republic was the Socialist Democrats, with most of its leadership being Jewish.

Gone now was the Imperial German Empire, and with it, the Prussian mystique Alsace-Lorraine, and Germany's industrial heartland---the Ruhr Valley. The industrial Saar Region and City of Danzig were under the control of the League of Nations. Northern Schleswig went to Denmark, West Prussia and Silesia were given to Poland, the Hultschin District went to Czechoslovakia while the territory of Memel was absorbed by Lithuania. Belgium acquired Eupen and Malmedy. Control of the Rhineland was given to the French< Germany faced the destruction of its air force and emasculation of its navy and army. All toll, Germany lost 13% of its territory---27,000 square miles and 1/10 of its population (about 7 million people) plus all of its colonies. As if that wasn't severe enough, Germany was ordered to pay war reparations---a "fine" of sorts" in the amount of 132 billion gold Marks, or an equivalent of US $33 billion dollars; all for a war Germany never started.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Hapsburgs ceased to exist. It lost close to 2/3 of its total territory. Austria and Hungary were divided. Six regions were formed into the nation of Czechoslovakia. Seven other regions were to make up the new nation of Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, Transylvania and Bukovina were ceded to Romania. Tyrol and Trieste were handed over to Italy. Galicia, Orava, Spitz, and the Duchy of Cieszyn were handed over to Poland. Restrictions were also placed in their respective militaries.

The Ottoman Empire too was gone. Its territories fell to France and England, which added to their empires. Out of this would come the Mandate of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Greece, Georgia, Yemen, and Armenia regained its independence for the Ottomans. The Emirate of Transjordan, the creation of Saudi Arabia and the British Protectorates of Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar and control of the island of Cyprus. The newly created nations, formed by France and England, took little regard for the religious, ethnic, or tribal differences. Later, following WWII, the British would bow to international pressure and recent history, and begin allowing Jewish survivors of the Holocaust to migrate into Palestine, which ignited a fuse that has caused grave consequences ever since.

Imperial Russia's empire crumbled first, in 1917, when Czar Nicholas II, of the Romanov Dynasty, abdicated and the Imperial government was overthrown by a Provincial Government headed by Alexander Kerensky; a lawyer, social activist, and member of the Socialist Revolutionaries (the "SRs").Despite his attempts at reform, Czar Nicholas's efforts proved to be too little or too late. In October/November of that same year Lenin's Bolsheviks had seized control of the government. Russia withdrew from the war after signing the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Imperial Germany. The price of peace was extremely high. Russia was forced to forfeited a large swath of land, one quarter of its population, and nine-tenths of its coal mines.

In order to force Russia to remain in the war, the Allied Powers--primarily Britain and the US, invaded Russia at the port of Archangel. However, the invasion made little headway, and the troops were withdrawn. Russia descended into a Civil War which would leave millions dead. Many more died of starvation afterwards as the economy collapsed. The Czar, his wife Alexander, their family, and several ministers would among the war's victims. By 1921/22, Lenin had enacted the New Economic Program (or NEP), which permitted a limited ownership of land and private enterprise. The result bore almost instance positive results to the economy (Lenin's long term economic and political objectives, despite popular myths, was to "shrink the government down to the size of a post office"; to create a country devoid of bureaucrats and one of self-government and volunteer ad hoc committees to run the country). However, with Lenin's death in 1922, the Georgian, Joseph Stalin, was able to consolidate power and began remaking Russia in his own imagine. The result would prove disastrous for Russia...and the world.

England and France didn't escape unscathed. While they, along with the US, dictated terms to their former foes, and acquired vast amounts of land, resources, colonies, and resources, while reducing the once mighty German Empire to the status of a second tier nation. Efforts could now be focused on calculating the value of their gains, while playing lip service to President Woodrow Wilson and his League of Nations (neither major power had any real interest in ceding power to anyone, let along an upstart country like the US). Nevertheless, League of Nations aside, America proved she was a first class industrial power with her own colonies thank you very much. It was American effort which turned the tide of war away from the Central Powers and to the Allies.

But for England, its victory was bittersweet. It was said that the "Great War" had cost the Empire an entire generation of men, which wasn't far from the truth, just over 886,000 men. It still remained the strongest naval power in the world, especially now that Germany's was hamstrung thanks to tonnage restrictions loss of its U-boat fleet, not to mention the destruction of its air force. Ireland was successful in obtaining its independence from England in 1916 (with the exception of Ulster). Far off colonies were again stirring amid talk about their own independence, yet just around of 25% of the world's land mass was under the British Union Jack flag. England's economy too had been affected, and it had to turn its attention to rising unemployment and poverty, not to mention the flu epidemic which was to cost many more lives. While the sun hadn't yet set on the British Empire, there was very much a chill in the air.

Perhaps France fared the best of the nations. It had picked up some valued territory thanks to Germany and the Ottoman Empire; land which could prove quite valuable with the additional shipping routes and strategic ports, along with a new and growing energy source---oil. True, France took a beating in terms of devastated towns and cities, but the revenues generated from the new colonies should, in time, make up for it. France had also lost an estimated 1,400,000 individuals. It had also made up for its humiliating defeat at the hands of Kaiser Wilhelm I and his imposing Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. However, France too was beginning to feel the pangs of independence from her colonies.
As for the League of Nations, championed by President Wilson, it's fate would be little better than that of the Central Powers. Neither France or England were going to surrender their global dominance and submit to the discretion of nations they consider their inferior, and I suspect that included the United States, who was just now beginning to emerge as a player on the world stage whereas both France and Great Britain had held the world's attention for centuries now. Other powers such as Spain, Portugal,and Holland were mere shadows of their former selves.

Nevertheless, the US really wasn't really a factor since Wilson's own Congress voted not to approve its membership. Ultimately, however, 63 nations would join the League. It's goal was a noble one; to formulate a forum to discuss and debate issues such as world peace, child labor, gradual disarmament, women's voting rights, ways to improve international relations, working conditions and safety issues, as well as ways to impose enforcement of agreements among member nations (such as economic sanctions). Although the League of Nations would continue to remain in existence until April 18, 1946 when it was replaced by the new United Nations, its chief failure was its inability to enforce its resolutions, especially on non-member nations. The United Nations would, in many respects, address and correct some of these shortfalls, yet many of the issues still remain, especially as they related to national sovereignty.

So, now you know the back story to Veteran's Day; a day to acknowledge and honor our men and women in uniform and our veterans. We also must remember those who have fallen in their defense of this country (which is the reason behind Memorial Day) as well as those who are still missing. In my opinion, one cannot and should not be separated from the other.






The Financial Costs of the First World War



World War One Centennial Gallery