Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Armistice day - 11 November 1918


Yesterday, Monday 11 November, was Armistice day in France, called differently throughout the world but all remember the end of World War I.  France had 1.4 million military deaths, or about 4.2% of its total population.  There were another 4.2 million wounded.  Basically, a generation of young French men were nearly wiped out by this war.  It's hard to comprehend.

10 comments:

  1. It is a scale beyond comprehension. Good shot here.

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    1. Indeed it is. I think France suffered more casualties than any other allied country.

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  2. It is.

    I am Franco-German and my great-grandfathers mutually butchered themselves, which is hard to believe too...

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    1. How horrible what people do to each other in war. And with the growth of technology and severe political divides, it just seems to escalate. I want to remain optimistic about the future, but....

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  3. Replies
    1. Yes. But it does remind us that being politically aware is important.

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  4. Almost impossible to comprehend Stuart.. it's called Remembrance Day here in Oz, too many 'digger's were lost also.

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    1. Thanks to your comments, I keep learning more and more about Austrailia. And thanks to that internet thing, I just learned that Austrailia had 152,000 casualties in WWI. As a percentage of population that is pretty high. Who knew ? (I clearly didn't.)

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