The series has episodes with more details on each of the stupid moves. Watch either summary, and then choose *one* event you want to know more about and view the episode that gives details on that event or choose any of the other "Great War" videos and comment here on your impressions. If you look at the links to the right on the video here, you'll see all the "Great War" videos in chronological order.
For extra credit, click on the comments link below and note something you learned from the video that would help you write a good essay on the senseless violence of World War I.
Those of you who are interested in guns may like some of the "special" episodes that talk about rifles used by various countries, e.g., this video on German rifle.
Enver Pacha sent his army into battle wearing "summer clothes" and 10% of them died because they froze to death not even due to war. Close to 150,000 men died and made it back to their starting positions after 3 weeks of marching through freezing and critical weather. They were also living off of only olives. Then Enver blamed the Armenians for his loss and that led to another war.
ReplyDeleteTreyton Cacek
In Mesopotamia the British were forced to surrender not because they were being beat, but because they were led up the river to far for their supplies to go. So they surrendered because of Starvation.
ReplyDeleteTreyton Cacek
Austrian army chief of staff Conrad Von Hotzendorf launches 3 winter attacks against the Russians in the Carpathian mountains. He was trying to free the garrison of over 100,000 men but the offensives were so unplanned many men froze to death. Over 800,000 people died of the Austrian Empire. This reminds me of Napoleon and his reckless attack on Russia in the winter as well. I find this senseless because he sent hundreds of thousands of men to battle undressed and without a good strategy.
ReplyDeleteWeek 4:
ReplyDeleteFrench field regulations stated that you could move fifty meters in twenty seconds before enemies reloaded. This regulation was made without thinking about machine guns, and how they can fire rapidly. This was senseless because all of these soldiers followed this regulation, resulting in a lot of them dying. This led to the French breaking.
- Jameson Palmer
Week 5:
ReplyDeleteThe Belgian army harassed the German army and went through them easily. When the Belgian army left, the German army took it out on the Leuven residents for no reason. The German troops executed a lot of these innocent people and burnt the entire city down. This was a useless move because it did nothing to help them in the war, it was pretty much a move to release anger and frustration.
- Jameson Palmer
After watching the "Stupidest moves of 1915-1916" I was able to come up with potential topics that would help in an essay to prove the senseless violence that happened in the first World War. One example I found to be crazy was the lack of communication between the French and British to coordinate at Somme. There would be five battalions attacking at random times which cause many deaths and was chaotic. They also wouldn't call off attacks on areas they knew they couldn't get through which shows the lack of communication and how they wasted so many lives.
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Reagan Spomer- After watching the "Stupidest Moves of 1915-1916," I think that the failures of the German Army at the Battle of Verdun would make for a very interesting essay on the senseless violence of World War I. Not rotating in fresh troops to give exhausted ones a break and their failure to disrupt the French's ONLY supply route to Verdun despite their total air superiority in the first months of the battle are testament to the senseless violence that could have been reduced had the Germans thought even a little bit about what they were doing before sending hundreds of thousands of men to die for no good reason.
ReplyDeleteI think that the communication issues between the British and French were overall very preventable but a great example that led to the senseless violence of WWI. Attacks would happen at random times and places, and nobody really knew what was happening. During these battles, there was also no support or backup for each other. Even if there was an attack that would be a complete loss and disaster, it would not be called off so many lives were lost for absolutely no reason. If some communication and coordination had taken place this could have prevented much of this from happening. - Ricky Berndt
ReplyDeleteI remember learning about the Archduke's assassination. That started the war, and I always found that interesting. I never knew that it launched riots, and I found that interesting. Arch had good views, and it's interesting to know how Germany and Russia got involved. It was cool to see how Germany had no hope by 1917. It was remarkable that Germany would stay on Austria's side. Germany was against a WW. I found the demands they wrote to be cool. I never heard about demands. This was close to a war. Austria really wanted the war, and I never knew that. I found it very cool how the war led to everything. From the assassination to the division to the demands. And finally, what the Kiser wrote. France signed a war on Serbia, which would lead to the war.
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