On Fri, 2010-12-24 at 20:05 +1100,
Geoffrey Heard wrote:
> >I wish everybody a very happy Christmas, and I wish to us all
a constructive
> >2011. A year when we shall have a 1.1.11 and a 11.11.11.
> >In German Switzerland, the Carnival fans start preparing for
the Carnival on
> >11.11. at 11.11, it's an impressive moment. So next year,
it's going to happen
> >on 11.11.11., 11.11 ;ñ))
> >Greetings!
> >Anne
>
> Hmmm -- on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the
> 11th month, we in Oz have Remembrance Day ...
> marking the end of WWI, a war in whcih between
> 50,000 and 60,000 Australians (well, Australian
> residents, a lot of them were immigrants) died.
> In fact, more than twice as many Australian died
> in WWI than in WWII. Amazing carnage in WWI.
>
> Cheers (or something), geoff
Embarrassingly, what I know of WWI I know from the appendices of
the
Lord of the Rings Extended DVDs (because of Tolkien's involvement in
the
war, which they went over fairly extensively). The level of
carnage
doesn't surprise me at all. Anybody here up on what REALLY started
that
one?
It was the last Feudal family dispute -- the sovereigns of all
the principal nations when the war started were cousins. Of course,
underlying that was the treasure generated by power over less
developed lands that could be sucked dry.
All the allies claim victory but in reality, the war ended
because of the "Spanish flu" -- both sides were too sick to
fight.
Actually, the "Spanish flu" entered the human world,
not from Spain, but in the usual way, via migratory water birds from
the swamps of northern Russia (and perhaps China). In this case, the
birds went to the USA, where the flu jumped to pigs then to people and
into the army very early on (in Idaho if my memory serves me correctly
-- which it often doesn't these days!), and it was transported to
Europe by US troops (an American general practice doctor with an
obsession finally tracked this down and nailed it a relatively few
years ago when he was in his 80s. A great piece of detective work). So
both Russia and the USA (which entered the war in only the last year)
can be said to share the privilege of ending WWI !
Cheers, geoff