Early submarines were not taken seriously. David Hayman, War at Sea: Scotland’s Story II
But as the Dreadnought war ended, the U-boat war intensified dramatically. ibid.
Lusitania: A single torpedo killed 1,198 lives. ibid.
The German war effort and the German people were both being starved by the British naval blockade. ibid.
The sea war would end four days later in Fife. ibid.
Hardy: Sometimes nothing happens for hours on end; then – all of a sudden – ‘over she comes!’ – rifle grenades – Minnies – and those horrid little things like pineapples ... Swish – swish – swish – BANG! R C Sheriff, Journey’s End
Osborne: Nearly three years. He came out straight from school – when he was eighteen. He’s commanded this company for over a year – in and out of the front line. He’s never had a rest. Other men come over here and go home again ill, and young Stanhope goes on sticking it, month in, month out. ibid.
Osborne: We are, generally, just waiting for something. When anything happens, it happens quickly. Then we just start waiting again. ibid.
Stanhope: If you went [to the doctor], I’d have you shot – for deserting. It’s a hell of a disgrace – to die like that. I’d rather spare you the disgrace. I give you half a minute to think. ibid.
Hibbert: Stanhope! I’ve tried like hell – I swear I have. Ever since I came out here I’ve hated and loathed it. Every sound up there makes me all – cold and sick. I’m different to – to the others – you don’t understand. It’s got worse and worse, and now I can’t bear it any longer. I’ll never go up those steps again – into the line – with the men looking at me – and knowing – I’d rather die here. [He is sitting on Stanhope’s bed, crying without effort to restrain himself.] ibid.
Stanhope: Supposing I say I can’t – supposing we all say we can’t – what would happen then? ... Supposing the worst happened – supposing we were knocked right out. Think of all the chaps who’ve gone already. It can’t be very lonely there – with all those fellows. Sometime I think it’s lonelier here. ibid.
Mason: Will you have a nice cup of tea, sir?
Stanhope: Can you guarantee it’s nice?
Mason: Well, sir – it’s a bit oniony, but that’s only because of the saucepan. ibid.
‘This war’s in its last months; no-one doubts that one final effort, one last push, will see it over this year.’ Journey’s End 1988 ***** starring Jeremy Northam & Timothy Spall & Edward Petherbridge & Mark Payton & Gary Caby et al, director Michael Simpson, officer to men opening scene
‘Now you’re going to find trench warfare damned uncomfortable. At times very noisy indeed.’ ibid.
‘Think of your school and your country and the glory’s yours.’ ibid.
‘I’ve had rather an unpleasant surprise, sir. You know that tin of pineapple chucks I’ve got, sir? Well, I’m sorry to say, sir, it’s apricots.’ ibid. Mason
‘You must have you’re revolver to shoot the rats.’ ibid. officer to new officer
‘It all seems rather silly, doesn’t it?’ ibid. new officer
‘I’m awfully proud that he’s my friend.’ ibid. new officer’s letter
‘You can either stay here and try to be a man …’ ibid. officer
Shoot the wounded horses! Shoot them! All Quiet on the Western Front 1979 starring Richard Thomas & Ernest Borgnine & Donald Pleasence & Ian Holm & Patricia Neal & Paul Mark Elliott & Dai Bradley & Matthew Evans & George Winter & Dominic Jephcott et al, director Delbert Mann, distressed soldier
Always, over every one of us, is the element of chance. ibid. commentary
Like I say, it’s not a bad little war. ibid. Borgnine
We can destroy and kill to save ourselves and to be revenged. When we see their faces we become wild beasts. We turn into thugs and murderers. ibid.
And when the wind blows it brings the smell of blood which is heavy and sweet. ibid.
If we threw all those away we could be brothers. ibid. German in hole with dying enemy soldier
Does anybody know what we’re fighting for? ibid.
The only reason we’re fighting this was is because it’s useful to somebody. ibid.
There is no argument about the meaning of life, because it has no meaning. ibid. hero
In the summer of 1917, at docks up and down the eastern seaboard, thousands of American soldiers boarded ships bound for France. They were the vanguard of a new American army about to enter the most destructive war the world had ever known. The Great War I, PBS 2017
African American men joined in a war for freedom abroad while being denied it at home. ibid.
Millions of men were fighting a war whose very purpose seemed hard to comprehend. ibid.
Tin Pan Alley’s love affair with anti-war songs reflected the growing force and popularity of the American peace movement. ibid.
American companies also sold Britain and France massive quantities of bullets, artillery shells and high explosives. ibid.
Three days after the Lusitania was sunk, in front of a crowd of 15,000 people in Philadelphia, Woodrow Wilson tried to reaffirm America’s neutral role in the conflict. ibid.
By the evening of April 2nd 1917 president Woodrow Wilson … had asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany … In his speech to Congress the president had claimed that German aggression was a challenge to all mankind. The world must be made safe for democracy, he said. The Great War II
Americans began to notice the posters almost overnight. Within weeks they were everywhere … America was suddenly at war. ibid.
Congress passed the Espionage Act … ‘to clamp down on dissent.’ ibid. Rubin
Woodrow Wilson … insisted that American troops operate independently from the British and French. ibid.
An attack on German Americans and their culture. ibid.
Young African American men from all across the country were drawn to the new unit from Harlem. ibid.
The overwhelming majority of the men in these labor battalions were black. ibid.
The passing of the Sedition Act prompted a wave of new crackdowns and arrests. ibid.
Despite appalling casualties the Germans kept coming. ibid.
Already the Great War was by far the most destructive conflict in human history. The Great War III
American troops would have to play a decisive role in winning the war. ibid.
The weapons that had transformed warfare also produced new types of casualties. ibid.
Full one-fifth of front-line hospital admissions were victims of a terrifying phenomenon called shell-shock. ibid.
In September 1918 40,000 soldiers were admitted to army hospitals oversees with flu. Then the disease started cropping up on the home front … By 2 October the epidemic was running wild. ibid.
Pershing’s nerves were failing. ibid.
The Treaty was a series of compromises satisfactory to no-one. ibid.
Wilson felt that black soldiers posed a threat to the United States. ibid.
In 1915 the horrifying rumour that a Canadian soldier had been crucified to a barn caused outrage across the world. The story symbolised the brutality of the German army. After the war the Germans claimed that Allied atrocity accusations were propaganda. But now new evidence uncovers the real record of the German army and reveals the untold real story of the crucified soldier. Secret History: The Crucified Soldier, Channel 4 2002
When the [First World] War ended in 1918 even the victorious nations had little to celebrate … Up to 2 million Germans had died. Secret History: The War that Made the Nazis, Channel 4 2002
Defeat in 1918 was more than a military setback. It was a national catastrophe … For Germany, 1918 would only be the beginning of a titanic struggle to sweep away humiliation and once again achieve domination of Europe. ibid.
The German experience of the First World War would produce not only Adolf Hitler, it produced his politics too. ibid.
‘War had taken hold of them and would never let them go’. ibid. Ernst von Salomon, The Outlaws
For many German soldiers the experience of war was one of both camaraderie and beyond that the sense of being Germans. ibid.
It spurred many Germans on to even greater desire to sacrifice themselves for Germany. ibid.
The failure to bring home to Germany the reality of defeat led to the growth of a myth that Germany had not been defeated but betrayed. ibid.
Germans seethed with resentment … that would make further conflict inevitable. ibid.
Now Hitler was ready to revenge Germany’s humiliation in 1918. ibid.