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I am interested in reading about the First World War, but before it, the first thing that get my attention is the fact that World War I is considered today far worse than previous wars. What makes this war worse than previous wars in History? Why World War I was worse than Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), Boer Wars (1880-1902), Colonial Wars, Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), Seven Years War (1756-1763)? Is just british propaganda, or objectively must be considered the worst war in History at that time? In any case, the war was terrible for the allies, for the central powers, for both sides?
Napoleonic Wars were particularly devastating in Europe as well but what makes World War I even worse than Napoleonic Wars?
* Note that I am not considering the Second World War, only the wars up to First World War.
It was the duel ability of being able to conscript a large number of troops and the economic and logistical might of the combatant nations to keep them in the field killing each other on a continued basis. Compared to a big battle here and there with periods of lower intensity warfare in and movement between the battles.
Basically it was the first large scale war of the 20th century that employed new age weaponry. You had the first use of mass deployed machine guns. Aircraft that were used at least late in the war on both a tactical and strategic level.
Weaponry developed ahead of tactics. 19th century frontal assaults against machine guns, artillery and strafing low level ground attack aircraft. Incompetent leadership often stuck in the Napoleonic era. A perfect storm of clashing tactics and sophisticated weaponry that destroyed a generation of young men.
I am interested in reading about the First World War, but before it, the first thing that get my attention is the fact that World War I is considered today far worse than previous wars. What makes this war worse than previous wars in History? Why World War I was worse than Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), Boer Wars (1880-1902), Colonial Wars, Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), Seven Years War (1756-1763)? Is just british propaganda, or objectively must be considered the worst war in History at that time? In any case, the war was terrible for the allies, for the central powers, for both sides?
Napoleonic Wars were particularly devastating in Europe as well but what makes World War I even worse than Napoleonic Wars?
* Note that I am not considering the Second World War, only the wars up to First World War.
Well, for one, World War saw over 3x as many dead as those wars you mentioned combined, excluding the vague 'colonial wars'. I mean, the Boer Wars? Seriously? About 30,000 dead thousands of miles away in Africa? Compared to 17+ million dead, mostly in Europe itself? Isn't it glaringly obvious why World War I gets vastly more attention?
As to the colonial wars, they were fought in far-flung corners of the globe and not smack in the middle of Europe, and mostly consisted of non-Europeans dying. To a European of the day, 1000 dead in France or Germany was far more horrific than a million dead Indians or Congolese.
The sheer mindless slaughter of it. The complete detachment of the leadership from the human cost. At least no the Western Front, it was not a war of maneuver, but a grim war of attrition.
I think, if possible, World War I was more catastrophic than World War II. For not only did millions die, but its aftermath created even more carnage and chaos in Europe's endless succession of wars between 1914 and 1939. The cultural institutions of the West were shaken, never to reclaim their influence again.
The sheer horror of the First World War, can be summed up by the Battle of the Somme in 1916. On the first day, there were 57,470 British casualties, of which 19,240 were killed.
The German lines had been shelled for a whole week before the attack from the British lines. The soldiers were told it would be easy, as the German's would be dead. They were wrong. It was a slaughter.
Well, for one, World War saw over 3x as many dead as those wars you mentioned combined, excluding the vague 'colonial wars'. I mean, the Boer Wars? Seriously? About 30,000 dead thousands of miles away in Africa? Compared to 17+ million dead, mostly in Europe itself? Isn't it glaringly obvious why World War I gets vastly more attention?
As to the colonial wars, they were fought in far-flung corners of the globe and not smack in the middle of Europe, and mostly consisted of non-Europeans dying. To a European of the day, 1000 dead in France or Germany was far more horrific than a million dead Indians or Congolese.
I see and understand your point of view, but what about Thirty Years War (1618-1648)? It happened in Europe as well and decimated populations, including civil population with famine episodes, violations and any other human degradation. Taking into account the population existing in 17th century, an important percentage of them lost their lifes. It is usually described as horrific and compared to hell, this is at least the feeling you get by the paintings of this period.
But anyway, I accept that World War I may be even worse. I have so many questions...
- Firstly, those soldiers enrolled in the different european armies were volunteers or forced to go to the war?
- Secondly, why so many casualties/deaths? I thought that battles were fought in trenches so those trenches did not protect soldiers from enemy artillery/machine guns/infantry? In that case, were soldiers locked inside trenches? Which were the reasons of such amount of deaths? Those casualties/deaths were mainly caused in the battlefield or by diseases?
P.S. apologizes for any grammar mistakes, I am writing from my mobile phone during my lunch time at work.
War (years): deaths (geometric mean) | deaths per year
Three Kingdoms War (184–280): 37,947,332 | 395,284 Mongol conquests (1206–1368): 34,641,016 | 213,8333 Qing conquest of the Ming (1616–1662): 25,000,000 | 543,478 Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864): 24,494,897 | 1,749,635 Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1632): 24,300,000 | 215,044 An Lushan Rebellion (755–763): 21,633,308 | 2,704,163 Germanic Wars (113–596): 15,450,000 | 31,987 World War I (1914–1918): 13,396,335 | 3,349,083 Conquests of Timur (1370–1405): 12,649,111 | 361,403 Dungan Revolt (1862–1877): 9,797,959 | 653,197 Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (1533–1572): 8,400,000 | 215,384 Reconquista (711–1492): 7,000,000 | 8,962 Thirty Years' War (1618–1648): 5,873,670 | 195,789 Mughal–Maratha Wars (1658-1707): 5,600,000 | 114,285 Ottoman wars in Europe (1821–1921): 5,500,000 | 55,000 Moorish Wars (534–548): 5,000,000 | 357,142 Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815): 4,949,747 | 412,479 Yellow Turban Rebellion (184–205): 4,582,576 | 218,217 French Wars of Religion (1562–1598): 2,828,427 | 78,567 Indian Rebellion of 1857 (1857–1858): 2,828,427 | 2,828,427 Hundred Years' War (1337–1453): 2,754,995 | 23,748 Mfecane (1815–1840): 1,732,051 | 69,282 Crusades (1095–1291): 1,732,051 | 8,836 Punic Wars (264 BC–146 BC): 1,520,691 | 12,887 Spanish conquest of Yucatán (1519–1595): 1,460,000 | 19,210 Seven Years' War (1756–1763): 1,102,361 | 157,480 Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598): 1,000,000 | 166,666 Mexican Revolution (1910–1920): 1,000,000 |100,000
WWI wasn't the deadliest war of it's time, but it was by far the most intense one when looking at how many people were dying per year, only the An Lushan Rebellion in China between 755 and 763, the Taiping Rebellion in China between 1850 and 1864 and the Indian Rebellion of 1857 could compare to WWI in the intensity of the death toll.
I see and understand your point of view, but what about Thirty Years War (1618-1648)? It happened in Europe as well and decimated populations, including civil population with famine episodes, violations and any other human degradation. Taking into account the population existing in 17th century, an important percentage of them lost their lifes. It is usually described as horrific and compared to hell, this is at least the feeling you get by the paintings of this period.
But anyway, I accept that World War I may be even worse. I have so many questions...
- Firstly, those soldiers enrolled in the different european armies were volunteers or forced to go to the war?
- Secondly, why so many casualties/deaths? I thought that battles were fought in trenches so those trenches did not protect soldiers from enemy artillery/machine guns/infantry? In that case, were soldiers locked inside trenches? Which were the reasons of such amount of deaths? Those casualties/deaths were mainly caused in the battlefield or by diseases?
P.S. apologizes for any grammar mistakes, I am writing from my mobile phone during my lunch time at work.
Because, a World War I, machine gun can fire thousands of bullets, many times faster than weapons of any previous war could. And very large artillery such as "Big Bertha" could fire shells accurately at Paris from many miles away.
World War I was possibly the first war with secured, guarded national borders, where men subject to being drafted, could not easily sneak out of their country without encountering checkpoints. I believe Barbara Tuchman's book "The Guns of August" mentions this. This was certainly true of Great Britain, which is a large island surrounded by water. Draft objectors such as Bertrand Russell (later a Nobel Prize winner) were imprisoned.
Last edited by slowlane3; 08-30-2018 at 08:36 PM..
The use of mass gas attacks also distinguished WW1 as unprecedented and unique in it's brutality, no (?)
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