Thursday, April 14, 2016

With All the Ways We Have To Kill Each Other.... Why do Countries Sill Want "The Bomb"



The following post has graphic historic photos from World War 1. Please be warned.


Part 1 : The Beginning
Before the United State Civil War, man had not really had the capacity to take down the numbers of men that constitute a casualty count anything like that of modern war. The guns where primitive compared to today. Repeating rifles, Gatling Guns, portable cannon, even hand guns had moved on in the last 50-75 years from black powder, one shot, then a lengthy reload time, then you shot again and would be lucky to hit the broad side of a barn because many of the bores where not rifled.
But the Civil War was a war of seeing how horrible old tactics went up against new technology. Cavalry charges, or infantry charges where mowed down by entrenched men with the early wonder weapons of their day. It was a horrendous war , which produced massive casualties for the size of the battles, and those Generals which did not learn lost Regiment and Regiment to stupid , set piece battle moves which no longer applied in a trench war. This was the first modern entrenched war, while the movement that did happen made the horror to come in less than 100 years later during WW1 would really begin the research in killing men , soldiers, civilians, it didn't matter, they where the enemy. These weapons laid the ground work for the MADNESS of the cast of greedy, misguided, patriotic, cold, single minded , all the good, and the bad qualities of man are on display in this long tale.
The war that really makes the end of the old ways of war, and made it clear civilians where fare game, and while the "good guys" on both ides showed propaganda videos of themselves giving cigarettes, or chocolates from their kit, we , on both sides first started using video as propaganda during WW1, and as such a new technology, it made a major difference. I doubt countries would endure the hardships now that those countries, France, Germany, Russia, England to a slightly lesser extent, although their shipping lanes where ravaged, and even luxury liners which are so well no known no need be mentioned of them here sunk thanks to German sub attacks.
We developed the flame thrower, it was the first real use of the TRUE machine gun , the Maxim guns or the equivalent of each country could cover large swaths of no mans land and made charging nothing more than orders to die by the enemy. You may go over the top. EVEN SURVIVE NO MANS LAND! But then you would be in the enemy trench fighting hand to hand, killing the enemy weather he be English, German, French, or any of the other dozens of peoples involved.
WW1 taught us what the power of fire power could e, but it needed to be mobile. A war of trenches is a war of attrition and that means massive losses of life on both sides.
So there was only one thing to do. Find better ways to kill more of your enemy, break the line, and get the war moving again. So both sides set to work doing this.
It is true that the Germans used real life threatening Chlorine Gas first, while the french had used tear gs, but the battles of Ypres have went down in the history of war as the first men to see what poison gas attacks look like have become the stuff of legend. Never before had men fought smoke. Other men, gun to gun then trench club to trench club, but this, this was dirty pool.
That was the Englishes view of this horrible new weapon in its news papers. Although with a very short period they had their own poison gas division. And the poisons would simply get worse and worse, and their deliver systems more and more sophisticated.
The planes had ,mainly been held to a recon use, however many dog fights did happen as the plains guarded large blimps meant to drop bombs on London. The weapons where essentially ineffective and would be much ore advance during the Blitz 30 years late. But I truly believe that our obsession with finding a way to kill more people more efficiently started in WW1. With of all people a small bi-speckled scientist named Fritz Haber. A Jewish man who had converted to Christianity he devoted himself to the a war effort and finding these gasses and ways put them to use on the field.
His wife, also a scientist and the first female ever to receive a degree in chemistry fro the prestigious school she attended hates his use, and what she saw as perversion of science. To Fritz he was known to have said " In peace time science belongs to the people but in war to the state."
After many months and an accident that killed one of her good friend. She killed herself with a pistol shot to the chest. No longer able to live with what her heart told her was a perversion for science. This may have upset him but it did not stop his research and soon he had Phosgene and Mustard Gas wreaking mayhem on the field.
The guns got bigger.... the bodies and mud mixed together to be cooked in the horrid rain. It was a war were 100 thousand dead in one day in one battle was not an uncommon thing. We were getting better at killing in large numbers. But he war that his war lead to, will really show man start to get on his killing game.

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