The Great War

[Story]

One of the most intriguing figures of 20th-century warfare is T.E. Lawrence, the British army officer who immersed himself in the culture of the Arabian Peninsula's Bedouin tribes and played a key role in the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks during World War I. He became a well-known and romanticized figure in post-war England, and was immortalized in the 1962 film, Lawrence of Arabia.

Scott Anderson spent four years researching Lawrence as well as three other young men who were involved in the momentous events of the Middle East during and after World War I. (Those other men include an American, a German and a Jew living in Palestine.) What Anderson discovered about Lawrence is different from, but every bit as interesting as, the popular image of the man.

Anderson is a journalist who's covered conflicts in Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Chechnya and Sudan. He's written two novels, two books of nonfiction and co-authored two books with his brother, journalist Jon Lee Anderson. He joins Fresh Air's Dave Davies to talk about his new book, Lawrence In Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East.

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/19/209573091/lawrence-of-arabia-from-archaeologist-to-war-hero

 

[hatguy1]

I agree, but WW1 has always fascinated me for several reasons, one of which trying to fight a modern war with outdated tactics i.e. calvary charging into machine guns. I too have always been fascinated with the fronts that were fought in colonial possessions.

Kirk H.

Man's history of warfare is full of fighting the current war with the last war's tactics.

 

[hatguy1]

There is an outstanding, world class museum on The Great War in Kansas City, Missouri. It's across the street from the restored Union Station train depot and under their monument to WW1 veterans and the allied victory called "Liberty Memorial." Here's a link to the Muesum's website.

http://theworldwar.org/

 

[stu48]

Hi
I have seen some of your vids of you guys from the US on you tube before and checked out your web site you guys are amazing you really keep the history of this era alive well dome and thank you for sharing the pics etc with us.

i have seen some of the UK ww1 reenactors at old sarum castle in the past and these guys are amazing as well there dedication in keeping alive the memory of this era is fanatstic

i have a passion for the history of this era and love the air war and tank side of it as most people have stated it was the real prelude to understanding of our modern day history.

my great grandfather was at the somme and was one of the missing he was never found. there was a story my nan told me that he run off with a french women never to be seen again as he was a bit of a rouge. but i think that was to shield my young ears from the truth. i have a feeling he went the way of a lot of other missing. caught by a massive shell horrid to think i know but at least it was quick and painless

the weapons used ie the airplane and tank etc it was the first time these had been used in combat it amazes me

and to think some of the air combat manouvers are still used today

keep up the great work
cheers stu

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Here's an interesting news story about a recent discovery in France. http://www.capitalbay.com/uk/346255-archaeologists-unearth-the-bones-of-at-least-20-french-first-world-war-dead-after-chance-discovery-by-hikers-in-the-forest-of-verdun.html

 

[Story]

Ireland's WWI records updated and available online
http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0110/496960-war-records/

 

[Harry Gooch]

I've only recently discovered having spoken with my mum, that my Grandfather (her father) served in the British Army during the debacle of the Gallipoli Campaign!! *(I had 'no idea' of this).

Some of you will be aware that I've been on several battlefield trips in France and Belgium, walking over the old battle fields. It's 'very' sobering and the cemetaries (some 'very' small of only a handful where maybe a platoon got killed, some with 100's where most of a Battallion were annihilated) make you *think* very hard at the scale and cost of it all...
Even the names that the Tommies gave roads, intersections, corners of fields still remain to this day, like HELLFIRE CORNER, SNIPER'S REACH or MUD LANE.

Hello Paddy,

My maternal grandfather, Cpl. Harry Gooch Harper, was with the BEF for the entire war on the Western Front.

IV Hussars (Churchill's Regiment in his early military career, but not during WWI); cavalry charge early in war; survived mustard gas attacks at the Somme;
Long Service Medal, Victory Medal, Mons Star (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1914_Star).

Like your grandad, my paternal grandfather was also at Gallipoli, but took shrapnel the minute he hit the beach. Left for dead, he was picked up several hours later and eventually placed on a hospital ship and evacuated to England. Not all grim, he did meet my grandmother while in a convalescence ward (she was a volunteer.)

As was common with many men who served in the Great War, they didn't speak of it. I heard most of this from my grandmothers and aunts, so the names I used for the medals may not be quite right.

Cheers,

Harry

 

[Harry Gooch]

Story, this is an excellent "thread" that I only just discovered.

Thanks for all your posts (and to the others, as well.)

Harry.

 

[bellero]

Awesome thread!

Here's my modest contribution, a nice WWI Diggers picture, all wearing slouch hats with the brim down. I don't know the background story but love the pic.

 

[Horace Debussy Jones]

World war 1 is 100 years old now! All of the veterans are gone. But it still has a strange sort of haunting "nearness" to it as it was fought by many of our ancestors, and was truly a "modern" war because of the technology employed. I think that it's the photographic and film records of the war in particular that really gives it that odd sense of nearness to our time. And really, 100 years is not that long a time in the grand scheme of things.