Myths exist and then to unpack them a little bit and think more about the reality of the experience, right . I want to start first by talking about how this connects to the first World War overall. So its not just america that has these myths, but even this sense of how we understand the first World War to begin with. And we think of the kind of general narrative that we attach to it. One of the most common narratives is that World War i was a senseless slaughter. Right . Weve already talked about the uncertainty as to why this war ever even occurred, but once its underway there is this predominant image and we get a lot from popular culture. Those are the kind of images that i have up here for you, the idea that this really was just men sent needlessly to their deaths. And so i got two examples. One is all quiet on the western front. Youre going to like this image, right . This is the cover for the first English Edition of the novel. Youll recognize that image from something we discus
All right. All right. So, today, were going to talk about america during the first World War, and i have called this lecture americans at war the Mythbusters Edition and i did that kind of intentionally, because when we think about understanding the first World War in general, there are so many myths and misconceptions that are attached to the war that its really interesting for us to first understand why those myths exist and then to unpack them a little bit and think more about the reality of the experience. And i wanted to start first by sort of talking about how this connects to the first World War overall. So, its not just america that has these myths, but even this sense of how we understand the first World War to begin with, and we think of the kind of general narrative that we attach to it. One of the most common narratives is that World War i was a senseless slaughter, right . Weve already talked about the uncertainty as to why this war ever even occurred, but once its under w
Next the united States World War one Centennial Commission marks the opening of the national World War I Memorial in Washington Dc with a Video Tribute and Flagraising Ceremony to honor the 4. 7 million americans who served during the war the memorial opened to the public on april 16th. It you for more than two centuries the stars and stripes has flown over the land of the free. And the home of the brave we know that its flying around the World Today everywhere us forces are stationed protecting all of us. There are nuns still alive who saw it flying above the american doughboys in places like bella wood cantini and the muse are gone. Now its our job to keep faith with those brave men and women who came before us. In less than two years some 4. 7 million americans would join the armed forces during World War one. Many of them volunteers and just six months of decisive combat. More would die than in a decade of War And Korea and vietnam combined. With a higher Casualty Rate than World W
I have five books occupy World War i, after being told when i was trying to publish my first book, book ted the army and World War i dont sell so still to prove peek wrong but my grandfather got me interested. He was a swedish immigrant. Went back to france, shot in 1918, laid in the field overnight and lived another 75 years, and so he told the small story about how he had that happened to him and in the morning some french Colonial Stretcher Bear bearers would go around and kick guys and pick them up if they were alive. And i got to he lived to 101 if i recall. He was 101 and died in 1993. Well, in developing the story in the book, you do spend a lot of time not only talking about yorks background, which i found very interesting, being a son of the south, reading about the rural parts of East Tennessee and his very in a lot of ways rudimentary upbringing, very little education, but you also look at the background of the other soldiers involved in the York Patrol which i think is the
used during world war i and world war ii. he discusses more than 20 firearms detailing the manufacturing history and innovations of each weapon. the buffalo bill center in wyoming hosted this event and provided the video. first, my interest in old were to firearms stemmed from my family. i was raised around these guys and got a tremendous respect for what they did. kim interested in the history of that time in our country. i would also like to tell you that all of these firearms appear have been checked, they are unloaded, we will observe all of the firearms safety rules. there is no ammunition for any of these firearms in this room. if you are uneasy about that, be assured they have been checked. the title of this presentation is rifles and carbines of world war i and world war ii. you may be asking yourself, why in the world are we going to consider both of the wars? the fact is, backed in the 18 back in 1890 s, we had some important developments. we had three men that