While weather and its effects on both battlefields and trenches was a recurring theme during World War I, in no battle was this problem more pronounced than what occurred during the battle of Passchendaele in the late summer and early fall of 1917. Rain and mud were the defining…
In order to get a sense of what it was like to experience those early days of Passchendaele, one has only to listen to the voices of those who were there. In looking at the accounts written by those who were involved with the battle, you can come to an…
Passchendaele, or the Third Battle of Ypres: a battle of mistakes not learned. On July 31, 1917, the British Expeditionary Force launched the initial assault that would be the Third Battle of Ypres, although it is better known to us as Passchendaele. Passchendaele was yet another in a long line…
Erich Ludendorff In previous submissions, I dealt with two themes found in Patty Jenkins’s new film, Wonder Woman. My third and final examination of the most prominent World War 1 elements in this film concerns one of the primary villains, German general Erich Ludendorff. In the film, Ludendorff is a…
In a previous submission, I addressed the inclusion of trench warfare in Warner Brother’s latest superhero film, Wonder Woman. While trench warfare played only a small role in that film, a more central theme was the use of poison gas, specifically a hydrogen-based, rather than sulfur-based, mustard gas (spoiler: Scientificallyy…
The UK’s Cheshire Regiment, entrenched at Somme In Warner Brother’s latest film release, Wonder Woman, which is set in World War 1, there is a moment halfway through the plot in which the titular hero, Diana Prince, is faced with the bleak hopelessness of trench warfare on the Western Front.
The man with The Plan: Alfred von Schlieffen In United States history, we know December 7, 1941, as the “date that will live in infamy,” due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the context of world history, however, the most infamous date in history is June 28, 1914. This…
In July of 1914, in a memorandum written by Helmuth von Moltke, the German Chief of Staff to Germany’s Chancellor at the time, Bethmann Hollweg, von Moltke warned of the coming conflict of World War I that “the leading nations of Europe would tear one another limb from limb ……
When the aged enter the realm of digital virtual reality.