Am I the only one who finds World War I...

midnight rain · 12-20-2010, 01:34 AM

more interesting then World War II? Everyone I've said this too looks at me like I'm crazy, but for some reason I'm just fascinated with WWI. Maybe it's because WWII has been done to death and pop culture, and I'm kind of sick of it, but ever since I read All Quiet on the Western Front I've been interested. I know a lot of people think WW1 was boring because of 'trench warfare' but, not only do I find trench warfare interesting in itself, but that was far from the only thing going on in WWI

Anyone else interested in The Great War?

Oh and an interesting fact is that there are now only 3 surviving members of the first World War. It'll be a sad day when that generation of history passes on. List of surviving veterans of World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sljslj · 12-20-2010, 02:22 AM

I agree. I'm not an expert on either one, but I liked learning about WWI more than WWII when I was in school. My favorite one, though, was the American Civil War.

I don't think that first picture is authentic, btw; I'm pretty sure color photos weren't around at that time, but I could be wrong.

midnight rain · 12-20-2010, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sljslj

I agree. I'm not an expert on either one, but I liked learning about WWI more than WWII when I was in school. My favorite one, though, was the American Civil War.

I don't think that first picture is authentic, btw; I'm pretty sure color photos weren't around at that time, but I could be wrong.

It does look fake, but it is authentic. It's just very old.

More color pictures from world war one: World War One Color Photos - Color Photos from World War I

Guybrush · 12-20-2010, 02:31 AM

The trench wars of WWI don't appeal to me much. In general, I think WWI lacks some of the drama and flair (dashing nazi uniforms) that large scale fascism had and I guess the trench wars sort of show that the generals of WWI didn't really know how to do tactics with their new war toys either.

What I do like from WWI is the air combat and the pilots. Although they perhaps didn't do the largest contribution to the war, it's a piece of the history away from the muddy trenches that has a bit of shine to it.

midnight rain · 12-20-2010, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

The trench wars of WWI don't appeal to me much. In general, I think WWI lacks some of the drama and flair (dashing nazi uniforms) that large scale fascism had and I guess the trench wars sort of show that the generals of WWI didn't really know how to do tactics with their new war toys either.

What I do like from WWI is the air combat and the pilots. Although they perhaps didn't do the largest contribution to the war, it's a piece of the history away from the muddy trenches that has a bit of shine to it.

The new war toys didn't come into play until late into WWI, and at that point trench warfare did start to become obsolete.

Don't know much about the aerial aspects of WWI, will do some research on it.

I find trench warfare interesting though.

Some interesting info on "No Man's Land":No Man's Land

Guybrush · 12-20-2010, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuna

Don't know much about the aerial aspects of WWI, will do some research on it.

I just like the glory

I'm no expert on it either, but from what I think I know .. If you have a fokker plane high up in the air with a machine gun on it, you're not going to be able to shift the tide of war with it. Without bombs, it's not a practical way to attack anything on the ground, so it's mostly a threat to whatever's in the air.

Holding "tactical air mass" is of course also problematic because planes can only stay up for so long. So generally, these planes and pilots fought eachother. How much that contributed to the war effort on either side is probably negligible compared to what went on closer to the ground, but they also used zeppelins for bombing which is cool.

OccultHawk · 12-20-2010, 03:58 AM

The first world war has cooler imagery, especially with those moonscapes and gasmasks chemical zones, but WWII had more clear cut good guys and bad guys giving it a more dramatic story line.

~~someonecompletelyrandom~~ · 12-20-2010, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

The trench wars of WWI don't appeal to me much. In general, I think WWI lacks some of the drama and flair (dashing nazi uniforms) that large scale fascism had and I guess the trench wars sort of show that the generals of WWI didn't really know how to do tactics with their new war toys either.

What I do like from WWI is the air combat and the pilots. Although they perhaps didn't do the largest contribution to the war, it's a piece of the history away from the muddy trenches that has a bit of shine to it.

I love that era of aviation. The red baron is like the most badass thing ever.

Guybrush · 12-20-2010, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan

I love that era of aviation. The red baron is like the most badass thing ever.

Yeah, it was completely stupid and awesome at the same time. There was lots of glory involved for those who did well (like the Red Baron), but I find it hard to understand the relative strategic importance of winning such dogfights. Perhaps protecting zeppelins or something from enemy fire (?) ..

But yeah, it was totally cool nonetheless

right-track · 12-21-2010, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Yeah, it was completely stupid and awesome at the same time. There was lots of glory involved for those who did well (like the Red Baron), but I find it hard to understand the relative strategic importance of winning such dogfights. Perhaps protecting zeppelins or something from enemy fire (?) ..

But yeah, it was totally cool nonetheless

Originally used for reconnaissance. In fact, using them for anything else was considered a war crime.
It quickly progressed from shooting at each other with hand held weapons, to mounted machine guns.

12-20-2010, 01:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
midnight rain Music Addict Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1,711	Am I the only one who finds World War I... more interesting then World War II? Everyone I've said this too looks at me like I'm crazy, but for some reason I'm just fascinated with WWI. Maybe it's because WWII has been done to death and pop culture, and I'm kind of sick of it, but ever since I read All Quiet on the Western Front I've been interested. I know a lot of people think WW1 was boring because of 'trench warfare' but, not only do I find trench warfare interesting in itself, but that was far from the only thing going on in WWI Anyone else interested in The Great War? Oh and an interesting fact is that there are now only 3 surviving members of the first World War. It'll be a sad day when that generation of history passes on. List of surviving veterans of World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

12-20-2010, 02:22 AM	#2 (permalink)
Sljslj The Omniscient Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Reno, Nevada, USA Posts: 998	I agree. I'm not an expert on either one, but I liked learning about WWI more than WWII when I was in school. My favorite one, though, was the American Civil War. I don't think that first picture is authentic, btw; I'm pretty sure color photos weren't around at that time, but I could be wrong. __________________ MY LYRICS

12-20-2010, 02:31 AM	#4 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	The trench wars of WWI don't appeal to me much. In general, I think WWI lacks some of the drama and flair (dashing nazi uniforms) that large scale fascism had and I guess the trench wars sort of show that the generals of WWI didn't really know how to do tactics with their new war toys either. What I do like from WWI is the air combat and the pilots. Although they perhaps didn't do the largest contribution to the war, it's a piece of the history away from the muddy trenches that has a bit of shine to it. __________________ Something Completely Different

12-20-2010, 03:58 AM	#7 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	The first world war has cooler imagery, especially with those moonscapes and gasmasks chemical zones, but WWII had more clear cut good guys and bad guys giving it a more dramatic story line.