[Deleted]
100 Years Ago: 1st August 1914 It all happened today, just 100 years ago. Kaiser Wilhelm II. announced on his balcony the armament of Germany. There was no other choice. After the violent death of Franz Ferdinand and the promises that the war will just exist for a few weeks, millions of loyal soldiers marched to the West. My Huguenot ancestors were also part of it. They hoped that they can now finally take back, what is rightfully ours. Our French motherland, from which the Catholics threw us out so long ago. It was all so enlightened. Going back and take revenge, for everything these Catholics did to my ancestors, in the very name of Jahwe. With the Black-White-Red flag and the Iron Cross as their military emblems, the German soldiers went forward, no matter from which province they were coming from. “Ich kenne nur Deutsche!” (I only know Germans!) said the Kaiser, which unified the people of the young German Empire, which has just been forged a few decades ago with blood and steel in 1871. But what was that? Suddenly after the battle on the Marne, the armies were not moving anymore. Heavy artillery fire and these new machineguns blew thousands of our soldiers into pieces. The weeks passed, but the war did not want to end. Every day a new offensive and every day the same result. Thousands of dead soldiers for just 2-5 km ground, which has been mostly recaptured by the enemy on the next day. The trenches have become the new home for millions of soldiers on all sides. Names of generals like Paul von Hindenburg, Erich Ludendorff and flyers like Manfred von Richthofen, Max Immelmann, Oswald Boelcke and Ernst Udet have became legends. Zeppelins, Verdun, Langemarck, Ypern and Somme have become faces of the war. But the millions of unknown soldiers, who died in the trenches, have been forgotten forever. All the propaganda made no sense anymore. The war seemed never to end and nothing went forward. Cities have been blown away by artillery, country sides from the North Sea to the Alsace have been totally deformed by the massacre of steel and blood. At the end, nobody was able to remember why this war has started. But the death of Franz Ferdinand and the war itself, keep the world still in their claws. The treatment of Versailles, Adolf Hitler, the 2nd World War, the soviet revolution in Russia and the splitting of Germany, all these huge historical points would have never happened, if Franz Ferdinand wouldn’t have been murdered by Gavrilo Princip, which led to a war that made history.
Aug 1, 2014 8:45 AM
Corrections · 16
1

100 Years Ago: 1st of August, 1914  <em>(American English puts the month before the date, but I think British English does put the date before the month)</em> 

It all happened today, just 100 years ago. Kaiser Wilhelm II announced on his balcony, the armament of Germany. There was no other choice. After the violent death of Franz Ferdinand and the promises that the war will just exist for a few weeks, millions of loyal soldiers marched to the West. My Huguenot ancestors were also part of it. They hoped that they can now finally take back, what is rightfully ours. Our French motherland, from which the Catholics threw us out so long ago. It was all so enlightened. Going back and take revenge, for everything these Catholics did to my ancestors, in the very name of Jahwe.

With the Black-White-Red flag and the Iron Cross as their military emblems, the German soldiers went forward, no matter from which province they were coming from. “Ich kenne nur Deutsche!” (I only know Germans!) said the Kaiser, which unified the people of the young German Empire, which had just been forged a few decades before with blood and steel in 1871.

But what was that? Suddenly after the battle on the Marne, the armies were not moving anymore. Heavy artillery fire and these new machine guns blew thousands of our soldiers into pieces. The weeks passed, but the war did not want to end. Every day a new offensive and every day the same result. Thousands of dead soldiers for just 2-5 km of ground, which had been mostly recaptured by the enemy on the next day. The trenches hadbecome the new home for millions of soldiers on all sides.

Names of generals like Paul von Hindenburg, Erich Ludendorff and flyers like Manfred von Richthofen, Max Immelmann, Oswald Boelcke and Ernst Udet have became legends. Zeppelins, Verdun, Langemarck, Ypern and Somme have become faces of the war. But the millions of unknown soldiers, who died in the trenches, have been forgotten forever.

All the propaganda made no sense anymore. The war seemed never to end and nothing went forward. Cities had been blown away by artillery, country sides from the North Sea to the Alsace had been totally deformed by the massacre of steel and blood.

At the end, nobody was able to remember why this war had started. But the death of Franz Ferdinand and the war itself, had kept the world still in their claws. The treatment Treaty of Versailles, <em>(Perhaps you were thinking about how the beautiful Germans were treated unfairly by the ugly French at Versailles. ..haha :))</em> Adolf Hitler, the 2nd World War, the Soviet revolution in Russia and the splitting of Germany, all these huge historical turning points would have never happened, if Franz Ferdinand wouldn’t have been murdered by Gavrilo Princip, which led to a war that made history.

August 4, 2014
@Donald: Sure we are. I mean, this is our history and this war is holding us in it's claws still today, with all the results it has brought to Germany! Berlin for example would look different, if the war would have never happened, because we wouldn't have been divided.
August 10, 2014
Cool I didnt know Germans were interested in WW1
August 9, 2014
@Comandante: I have nothing to add on this. You are just right.
August 5, 2014
It is clear that these weapons were designed to kill more civilian. It is very obvious. The problem is not with these weapons but with dehumanization. Dehumanize the people then kill their children, women and all of them. It is not a problem to kill 10000000 civilian as long as you dehumanize them. As some people become happy to see the big number of victims. It is sick and even it is not worthy to converse them.
August 5, 2014
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