World War I Anniversary: The Guns Finally Fell Silent 100 Years Ago Today

When World War I began, on July 28, 1914, all the countries involved celebrated. Really, it might be hard to believe today (and I emphasize the word might, because I remember how enthusiastically my fellow Americans supported invasions and wars in the recent past), but the nations initially involved in the so-called "Great War" actually saw people gathering in the streets to celebrate when word that the war that everyone knew was coming had finally been announced.

Prior to it's outbreak, the expected "Great War" was seen by some as the "war to end all wars." It was assumed - obviously mistakenly - that mankind had advanced to a point where it would be beyond war, and there was the apparently genuine belief that once this was was fought and put out of the way, that a new, more advanced and enlightened era would prevail.

Everyone looked forward to the opportunity to gain glory, both personally and on a national level. It was assumed, on all sides, that the war would be won quickly and decisively, and most expected to be home for Christmas. 

But World War I was not like any war that had come before. It was not decided, quickly and decisively. The soldiers were most definitely not home and celebrating in triumph when Christmas came. 

In fact, it was a gridlock like no other war before it. Trenches were dug, and became the de facto home for the soldiers for months and then years. These were virtually perfect defensive positions, so rarely did anyone advance or retreat. 

Meanwhile, there were shells going off all of the time. The relentless shelling literally stunned soldiers, and the term "shell-shocked" emerged, which we in more modern days now call PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). 

Nor was this all, or even the worst. Ironically, the worst came from what many viewed as a blessing, which is to say improved technology and medical abilities. There were weapons designed specifically to inflict as much damage as humanly possible to soldiers while keeping them alive, particularly landmines. And medical care had improved enough that these soldiers were indeed able to stay alive, although the financial resources that each side had to spend in order to take care of these soldiers meant less ability to spend on the war effort. These soldiers were eventually allowed to return home, but they were, pardon the expression, a shell of what they had formerly been. And while medical improvements were evident, they were still what we might consider rough, as soldiers returned home with fake limbs, with metal jaws and other clearly replacement equipment for parts of their bodies that had been blown off, quite literally. Obviously, this also clearly had an impact on the morale of the folks back home, and this happened to combatants on all sides.

It was also this war that introduced chemical warfare. Tear gas was introduced early on in the war, during the first year, but it was far from the only chemical agent introduced during this conflict. The most famous of these was mustard gas, which was delivered via shells, and which was not meant to be lethal, but rather to seriously disrupt the lives and normal bodily functions of the soldiers on the other side, as it blistered skin, caused internal and external bleeding, and coughing and vomiting. When soldiers did die from it (it could indeed be lethal when a lot of it was inhaled), it might take several painful, hellish weeks for a soldier to die from it. Mustard gas was heavier than air, so it eventually settled on the ground, where it would remain lethal for days or even weeks.

The use of chemical warfare became more or less nullified once both sides began to understand how to deal with it. That was through the use of gas masks,  although this made human beings appear unrecognizable,  with a decidedly inhuman look to them which,  in turn,  added to the disillusionment towards the war. Allegedly,  this is how one particular German soldier,  and future German leader Adolf Hitler,  came to get his trademark short mustache,  because the then more fashionable thicker mustache got in the way of sealing himself more fully from a chemical weapons attack,  when that mustache left a tiny gap allowing some of the gases in.  He allegedly cut his mustache short after this,  and simply kept this style for the duration of his life.  He would obviously go on in his capacity as German leader to start the European conflict during World War II.

Much of the war was a stalemate, although this was often interrupted by pointless offensive campaigns where thousands of lives were lost to gain a minimum of actual physical territory, sometimes as little as a football field's worth of territory. The numbers of dead just kept mounting, with incompetent and irresponsible generals simply sending thousands of young men to their sure deaths while themselves staying back, in order to keep working on strategy, as if this were a game of chess, and not something that affected millions of people's lives.

The brutality of the war shocked people. It was unlike anything that had ever been seen before, and considering the centuries and centuries of brutal warfare that human history had seen, that was saying something.

It also never seemed to end. Again, at the outset, all sides expected a quick and relatively easily victory. Perhaps they realized that there would be some losses, although surely, they did not expect the kind of enormous and pointless suffering that would ensue. But there was a heavy toll for the war back home in each country. Morale sagged, and in some countries, most notably Russia and Germany, there were revolutions. The Russian Revolution saw the rise of Vladmir Lenin and communism in Russia, which would then become the Soviet Union, and they pulled out of the war, at heavy cost. Germany thought that this would prove to be the decisive edge that they needed, as it ended the two-front war that they had been fighting. But the entry into the war of the United States nullified that advantage and, eventually, the stalemate resumed. 

Again, to the people at that time, especially the soldiers fighting in the trenches, it just felt like the war would never end.

But the war did end...eventually. Germany had spent too much resources, and was too exhausted to go on by late 1918. They were forced to surrender, and eventually, to sign a hostile peace treaty that placed all of the blame for the war on Germany, thus "justifying" the harsh terms and humiliation that Germany was then forced to face, which assured that another, even more brutal and shocking war would fairly quickly follow. 

It was on this day, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, that the war finally did come to an end - 100 years ago today!