Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War

--The Kansas City Public Library and the National World War I Museum are sponsoring a series of events entitled, Great War Great Read.

--Last night I attended the one where author Paul Jankowski talked about his book, Verdun.  Below is the description of the event:

At 7 in the morning on February 21, 1916, the ground in northern France began to shake. For the next 10 hours, some 1,200 German guns showered shells on a salient in French lines. The onslaught collapsed dugouts, obliterated trenches, severed communication wires, and drove men mad. The Battle of Verdun had begun.

Drawing from his book, Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War, Brandeis University historian Paul Jankowski looks back on what became one of history’s greatest and most demanding battlefield encounters – a 302-day nightmare that left an estimated 303,000 French and German soldiers dead and more than 400,000 wounded.

--I was surprised to see how many people attended the event. The room was packed and the estimate was that there were around 160 people in attendance.

--I enjoyed hearing Jankowski share his wealth of knowledge about World War I.

--So much of World War I seems to have resulted in a tremendous loss of life, with little being accomplished.  Verdun was a perfect example of that.  It was a battle that lasted 10 months, yet, no significant gains were made by the time it was over, and over 300,000 men were dead.

--Jankowski talked about how Verdun didn't have much significance to either the Germans or the French, but it became significant because of the battle that was fought there.  He said the war ended up running the leaders on both sides, instead of them running it.

--He discussed why the carnage couldn't be stopped and why it took so long for the French to ultimately defeat the Germans.  The longer a battle goes on, the harder it is to stop.  He also gave the keys to making an offensive work:

--Knowledge of the terrain
--Superior number of men and materials
--The enemy has a deficiency

--If you don't have the above factors on your side, then the battle stays at a stalemate/impasse, which is exactly what happened.

--The horrors of Verdun were great, soldiers described it with such words as gates of hell and inferno, and that it was the worst place on earth.  Yet, there were no significant mutinies by the troops during Verdun on either side.  Jankowski thinks that can be attributed in part to the men of that time that did what was their duty/honor no matter what.

--After Jankowski was done speaking there was a short question and answer time.  A man mentioned a book entitled, The Road to Verdun.  He talked about how the premise of that book was that nationalism was bad.  He asked what Jankowski thought of that.  Jankowski said that it would be hard to disagree with that premise.  I'm not sure if that was Jankowski being an elite liberal against any type of nationalism or patriotism, or if he just thought that it was bad for Germany to be so nationalistic.

--I thoroughly enjoyed the event, and definitely look forward to attending the next one, Intelligence and Espionage during World War I.

Longest Battle of World War I--Verdun

--There are a lot of events this year about World War I because it is the 100th anniversary.

--I have tried to learn more about World War I in recent years since it isn't as talked about near as much as World War II.

--I have been to Kansas City's own World War I museum three times, and would like to go back again.  Amazingly, it is the only one in the U.S.

--Tomorrow I am attending an event at the library where Paul Jankowski is going to be talking about his book, Verdun.

--I have started reading Verdun, and am excited to attend the event.  I will blog about it afterwards.

Saying Goodbye to World War I's Last Doughboy!

Photo Credits: KC Star

He didn't seek the spotlight, but when Frank Buckles outlived every other American who'd served in World War I, he became what his biographer called "the humble patriot" and final torchbearer for the memory of that fading conflict.

Frank Buckles enlisted in World War I at the age of 16 and died on February 27th at the age of 110. He was born here in Missouri, but was raised in Oklahoma and died in West Virginia. He went to numerous recruiting stations until he convinced the right person he was old enough to enlist.

There are two other World War I veterans still alive from outside America. The survivors are Florence Green in Britain and Claude Choules in Australia.

Buckles was remembered at a ceremony at Liberty Memorial here in Kansas City this past Saturday, March 12th. Richard Myers, a former Air Force general and the onetime chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said,

"Frank Buckles passing means that there are no more living memories of World War I. So it is important for all of us to keep this memory alive."

President Barack Obama ordered that the day Buckles is buried that all U.S. flags on official buildings be lowered to half-staff. A burial is planned at Arlington National Cemetery.

Kansas City is honored to have the only World War I museum and it was an honor to have a ceremony for him here.

The National World War I Museum

My home school group and I visited and had a tour through Kansas City's National World War I Museum yesterday. It is the only World War I museum in the Western Hemisphere and it is here in KC.

I think World War I is the War that most of us know the least about. Our tour guide was a sweet, older man whose own father had fought in World War I.

We were amazed at the sacrifices the soldiers made during the war and the countless lives that were lost as the commanders figured out the correct strategy to win the war. It put today's loss of life in context. History always has a way of doing that. Which, IMHO, is why liberals should do a lot more studying of history.

As always it inspired me to do even more research and studying on World War I. If any of you have read any good books and/or have any good recommendations, please let me know.

Previously on this topic:
My Review of Flyboys