November 11thVeterans Day

Mr. WilsonEnglish Language ArtsLMAC2011

Why do we observe Veterans Day on November 11th?

by John McRae House, Guelph ,Ontario

WWI memorial outside Ypres, France

The Outbreak of WWI

The British “Dreadnought”

Mobilization

Modern Communication

Alliances???

The Assassination of…

Archduke Franz

Ferdinand

War should be avoided at almost any cost, that war would solve nothing, that the whole of Europe and more besides would be reduced to ruin, and that the loss of life would be so large that whole populations would be decimated.

- General Horace Smith-Dorian

Did you get all that...?

Outbreak – Notes Review

Arms Race - between England/Germany ▪ the British Dreadnought

New weaponry – old tactics▪ The U-Boat; the machine gun; the grenade; the airplane;

chemical warfare; tanks; etc. “Mobilization” = preparing for war Communication = old and slow The Alliance system = very messy Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand =

the last straw.

The “Great” War...

Recruitment

The Schlieffen Plan

The Result?

The Trenches

The Machine Gun

Barbed Wire

Artillery

Mustard Gas

Horses?

Horses with Gas masks…?

“No-Man’s Land”

by Christopher Williams (1873-1934)

In Flanders fields, the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below...

J. McRae

The “Great” War – Notes Review Recruitment – Mostly volunteers. Rations & Military Bonds The Schlieffen Plan Trench warfare No man’s land Machine guns; Artillery; Barbed wire;

Mustard gas; horses; etc. The result? Old tactics vs. new

weaponry = lots of dead people.

The War to End All Wars...

“The Hundred Day Offensive”

November 11th, 1918

The “Lost” Generation

“You are all a lost generation," Gertrude Stein said to Hemingway. We weren't lost. We knew where we were, all right, but we wouldn't go home.

James Thurber

The War to End All Wars – Notes Review

1914-1918 The guns stopped on November 11th

1918 70 million personnel were involved 40 million were killed, wounded or

missing An entire generation “LOST” France and Germany were

devastated Germany forced to pay damages

Inspiration?

Surgeon Lt. Col. John McRae1872-1918

Siegfried Sassoon1886-1967

2nd Lt. Wilfred Owen18 Mar 1893 – 4 Nov 1918

Erich Maria Remarque1898 - 1970

This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all and adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped the shells, were destroyed by the war.

E. M. Remarque

Inspiration – Notes ReviewMcRae, John. In Flanders Fields.

Sassoon, Siegfried. Aftermath.

Owen, Wilfred. Dulce et Decorum Est.

Remarque, Enrich M. All Quiet on the Western Front. New York: Fawcett Books, 1929. Print.

“Lest we forget…”