ARMISTICE Day

One hundred years ago today just outside of Paris, France - at precisely 11 am local time, the "War To End All Wars" finally came to a conclusion.  It was a literal bloodbath the world had never seen before - combined military and civilian casualties from both sides easily topped the 40 million mark.  Add in the totals from "collateral damage" {ie, the great influenza pandemic of 1918-19}, and the number approaches 50 million.  To put this figure into perspective, the US population as of this past Thursday was 328,953,020.  Then divide that by 50 million, and you get roughly 6-1/2 %.

One century ago, that was a LOT of world population wiped out, in the space of four years.  Ironically, The Great War did more to forecast the future of international / global conflict, than it did to "solve" any societal issues, redress grievances, etc.  

Item: three new means of warfare - all of them mechanized - made their respective debuts during the conflict.  Seaborne warfare gave twin births to the "dreadnought" {battleship} class of surface warships, as well as the first mass deployments of practical below-the-surface submarines.

In the air, the great Zeppelins were soon to be displaced by the much more practical airplanes - and an ancient practice was given new life, as aerial combat quickly evolved into the 20-century equivalent of the joust.  "Aces" - those with five or more confirmed kills - were honored and feted much as the successful knights of old were.  When the infamous "Red" Baron Von Richtofen finally met his demise, he was honored and mourned equally on both sides.

And the landbound troops?  Well, for them the writing was on the wall the very first day one of these showed up on the battlefield:

Thus was the mighty horse, noble symbol of true battlefield glory for close to five millennia, quickly and unceremoniously retired in favor of man-made metal monsters that would - like their cousins in the air and on / in the water - continue to evolve and grow ever-more formidable, right up to the present day.  Oh yeah - the modern subs and planes can literally circle the globe to deal their death, and then calmly return home in a single maneuver!!!  As for today's tanks, they can level a good-sized city - say 75,000-150,000 or greater population, in the space of a couple hours; or a bit longer, if they have to fight........

The treaties and alliances spawned by the Great War set the stage for both social and economic chaos, and a strong thirst for even bloodier vengeance that would eventually re-ignite the flames of war across the globe, not quite 20 years after 11/11/1918.

Item: in 1918, much as in 2018, the Moslem population was "feeling its' oats," and creating much havoc and distress as they wantonly plundered whatever war-torn territories they wandered into, stretching from the remains of the Persian Empire {the Middle East}, to the remains of the Ottoman {Mediterranean}  and Austro-Hungarian {European} Empires.  It got so bad, that a certain John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing declared "enough is enough," and stopped the Moslem hordes dead in their tracks, with some good old-fashioned intimidation that kept the "followers of Allah" absolutely silent and socially invisible for the next 60-odd years.  

This is clearly one instance where history needs to repeat itself, if we ever want to move forward as a whole society ever again.  If Black Jack were still around, there'd be no "Brexit," if nothing else.

Item: in November 1918, Communism was engulfing Russia; indeed, the Bolshevik Revolution had abruptly yanked Russia almost totally away from the Great War the year before {much to the relief of the beleaguered Triple Entente}.  The United States faces much the same in 2018, as the mainstream Democratic Party has been effectively overrun by bona-fide Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists.  I won't mention the GOP's coincidental struggle with narcissistic plutocrats, and spineless "can't we all just git along?"autocrats within it's own house - and no, The President is NOT included in the GOP rank-and-file, despite everything the media has said since November of 2016......

The War To End All Wars?  For a very bloodied, and totally exhausted world a century ago, the notion seemed massively appealing.  Looking at it from the modern perspective however, it clearly seems to still be wanting, for those who care to see - and even for those who don't.  Which makes it all the more important for us to REALLY understand why that famous, fatally-flawed notion should once again become something to aspire to - no matter the ultimate cost.

To me, THAT is the true meaning of Armistice Day, One Century On.

May God Bless and Keep all of the Vets who served in The Great War To End All Wars, and in all the others before and since...........