1914: How Did Soldiers React To The True Horrors Of WW1? | The Last Voices Of World War One 

They have been; along with those who served since.

It was unfortunate that naive politicians allowed the same thing to happen just twenty years later. None of them listened to Pershing and Foch. Germany should have been totally occupied, as it finally was in 1945 and Russia, the other totalitarian state, would not have occupied half of Europe.

As a veteran of numerous conflicts, allow me to say BS. Everything that Western men have fought for for the past 200 years has been squandered and pi55ed away.

​@@0ldb1ll To be fair, in time humanity will be forgotten. Edit: I meant in eons to come, humanity will be nothing but stellar dust. Mock me if you must, it only serves to show your own shortcomings.

They gave their life’s for the freedom of them and their families. Now look at the countries they fought for. Not a lot left anymore, all over run by the 3rd world immigrants the governments can’t get enough off. While we lose our identities as to not offend. About time our politicians put the country they are supposed to lead, first.

Quiet, hippy.

Bankrolled by whom?

@@SunnyvaleTrailerParkSupervisor Rothschilds

The merchants guild lmaooo just kidding bro thats a obscure reference of my own pleasure​@@SunnyvaleTrailerParkSupervisor

The king telling his german cousin that he can't wait until the war is over so we can play tennis again. An aristocracy end plan because they were scared the working class were about to destroy them.

It is easy to forget WWI and WWII were only 21 years apart.

Luckily for the ww1 vets, it wasn't really noticable for them, but those poor ww2 vets definitely had to witness the degeneration of our society and failures of leadership.

YES

Amen brother. Country is a disgrace now.

I couldn’t agree more. I’m Dutch but i fully stand behind your comment.

American civil war came very close and some military strategist could see the horror and carnage of modern industrial weaponry but as usual their voices got ignored with the outbreak of WW1.

No war happens no matter who declares it

@@LemonHead-sq5ws yea but did any of the people who decrlare the war actually fight in it?

My Father told me of Grandfather time serving during WW1 He told me his lungs were burned by mustard gas.

@@Ronald-hx6znmust have been horrible

@@Ronald-hx6zn My great grandfather was also mustard gassed and sent home. He suffered badly and died two years after the war ended. Poor fellas all of them.

@Woodsman_uk I never met my grandfather. Dad told me very little, because grandfather didn't talk about. My dad told me that grandfather said there were two treatments, morphine and alcohol. Said he refused morphine. My uncle served in British Army WW2.He was in a tank turret. That was the only thing my uncle said of his time during WW2.My dad wanted to join the Navy during WW2,but couldn't join due to medical condition. Dad left England 1939 for Canada were he worked in bomb factory. My Mother worked for him.Mom said she worked in the powder room.My Dad became Canadian citizen. We all moved to North Carolina in 1964. Dad got his United States 🇺🇸 citizenship giving him 3 citizenship. I joined USAF in 1975 as a Canadian. After serving I got my citizenship, United States 🇺🇸. I am very proud to be 3rd generation Veteran.

We never will either. It's in our Animal nature. We are a failed experiment from the Alien gods

My Grandfather also fought at The Somme ( Canadian Scottish) were he was wounded twice. Latter wounded at Vimy and the D.Q. Line. He also rarely spoke of it but had nightmares nightly until he died at the age of ninety one. A few years back I found his memoir and what wrote there was chilling. Up most respect for these men. Not forgotten

Everyone old enough told me of these stories, and "their kids" told me of WWII, Korea, Nam. LORD? PLEASE? BLESS THEIR Sacrifices', Souls', efforts', and Family! GOD! Please? BLESS LIGHT!

Very humbling and so sad that so many young men never returned home

I'm sure there was a programme that followed some of these men, I recognised George Littlefair, he went back to france, accompanied by his daughter, he visited the grave of his old friend Joe. What a lovely gentleman he was.

@@pauldurkee4764 - I love that. I’m sure it brought him closure and peace.

• true legends here •

But the first begat the second. So sad

This must been seen in context: Churchill firmly believed that WW1 and WW2 were simply one war with a 20 yr armistice. It was one war!

@@staleydu1 a plan by the British empire to take out a near peer competitor x2

@@staleydu1 I've played the different scenarios in my head for years! What if the French and UK had given Germany a fair deal after the 1st?! Would their radical side never have risen? If Germany had not gone insane... Would Stalin and the Soviets have started a war with the Western country's? Could there have been German, French, UK alliance against the USSR... Treaty of Versailles was an epic moment in human history!

Churchill and Patton, and Frankland are Just About the three most historic souls I love to study, and I Do Admire!

My grandfather would only talk about his favourite grub, or so Nanna said

grenadier? I wonder if he did trench raids. Probably saw and did barbaric things.

Everyone in war did​@@Reignor99

Canada isn't real

they were both pretty good if you ask me

Ww2 was the beginning of pop culture thanks to the US dominance in the conflict.

Because WW1 was useless and people went to war thinking it would be sports event. In WW2 people went there for their believes and convictions. Not that I want to make them look less but WW1 was just senseless and stupid from everyone involved. That's why they are called the lost generation and not the best generation.

They were called the silent generation for a reason.

@@joesmalley397The Silent Generation (born between 1925-45) is the one after the Greatest Generation. So named because they didn’t do political activism and in general showed conformity, strong work ethic, and traditionalism, also affected by growing up in the shadow of the Great Depression.

We still have accounts of wars from thousands of years ago so it won't be forgotten. What is lost is the personal effects of such wars.

I wonder too. However, look at the great nany things that came from it gor our comforts. Technology, medicine etc. When the world gets to working quadruple time, things get done. Think of the airplane, went from a 15 second flight a few feet off the ground to supersonic in 40yrs. That's insane.

Europe might be less peaceful. Germany, France and England have been fighting each other for over a thousand years, and only stopped because of how horrible ww1 and ww2 were. Now they fight somewhere else, against weaker opponents, but at least western europe is rather safe.

overpopulation would be an actual issue

@@OWnIshiiTrolling, I sincerely hope that your screen name is not who you really are because I hate trolls and trolling. I have to wonder if you don’t consider the Russia/Ukraine war to be European infighting?, and if you don’t consider it as infighting then what is it?. As for western Europe being “rather safe” try again, the fact is the whole world is unsafe at the moment and WWIII could easily start. In regard to fighting against “weaker opponents” are you forgetting that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars dragged on and on without making any difference to the forces that we were sent to fight, their capacity to wage war and the number of fighting men they could call upon never diminished, and, like all the other nations that invaded those countries, including Russia, we departed very very quickly with our tails between our legs leaving both countries in a worse position than before we decided to “help” them, and if you really think they are weaker foes then I suggest you reevaluate your opinion, just because these so called weaker foes don’t have the hi-tech weapons and equipment that we have, or the superior numbers of personnel available does not mean they are weak, they have been fighting between themselves (except for brief periods when other countries invaded them) for centuries and they are still fighting in the same way but using modern weapons, the weapons that we, the free world, supplied to them and the ones supplied by or captured from other countries, and we lost, less advanced enemies?………yes, weaker?………..no.

@@sadhu4624Overpopulation IS an issue.

Well it was 110years ago

They’re old

Weird comment

Made with AI

Would be cruisey if you were an officer or an officers bat man /pole smoker or working on supply in the rear never see the front line

Absolutely

I wonder what they would think, if they saw the country they fought and died for today!

You got sent where you were needed there was no picksies

It was the logic of the time

Around 11% of ordinary soldiers and NCOs were killed in the first world War, compared to 17% of Officers, over 200 generals were killed wounded or captured, British command had been trained to fight small colonial wars, and had to make radical changes to adapt to fighting an industrial continental war, despite this, the British command in three years developed tactics that are still recognised today and by the summer of 1918 it was arguably the most lethaly effective fighting force in the world, dealing crushing defeats to the German army. Don't be fooled by the " lions led by donkeys" mindless slaughter narrative. These veterans certainly experienced some terrible events, but the same could be said of all veterans of all conflicts.

@@spannaspinna The title is "1914..." In 1914 ALL soldiers taking part in the conflict were regulars and thus had a choice of their branch of service when they joined. This was the case up until 1916.