The three battles of Ypres perfectly demonstrate the extent to which stupidity and/or bad luck plays a role in war. The first battle showed the stupidity of the Belgium soldiers opening up the dyke. The same act proved to be terribly unlucky for the Germans. The second battle showed the stupidity of Sir Douglas Haig. Haig made the mistake of thinking the Germans were on the brink of exhaustion after a preliminary bombardment. During the third battle Haig again made the same mistake he made during the battle of the Somme. Stupidity and/or bad luck play a major role throughout these battles. If it hadn't of rained uncontrollably during Passchendaele, the Germans may have won. We will never know.
On October 14, 1914, German forces attacked allied forces stationed in the small Belgium town of Ypres. The first real act of stupidity occurred during this battle. The Belgium troops opened the gates to the dyke protecting the Low Countries from the sea. This flood encompassed ten miles of trenches in the far north of Belgium. Even though this stopped the first German offensive, which was terribly unlucky for themselves, it also severely hindered the Allied offensive later on in the war as troops and equipment found it neither impossible to cross this terrain. On the German side this act was completely unlucky for their cause. The Germans had to recover from this and launch another offensive that the Allies knew was coming, and they were unable to ever capture Ypres. Overall the first battle of Ypres cost the British over sixty thousand BEF (British Expeditionary Force) which destroyed them as a fully professional army as England could not afford to keep the infrastructure of this outfit. I believe that even though the Belgians flooded the ten mile stretch of German trenches, the flooding demobilized the Allies later on in the war. .
During the battle of the Somme it became obvious that trench warfare favoured the defender and not the attacker, even armed with this knowledge, all faith was put into preliminary bombing the enemy lines before any major offensive.
Carnage in the Name of Religion Throughout history religion has played a key role in shaping societies, and building nations. ... (Carmody, Brink 334) The most horrific display of religious carnage was, arguably, the Holocaust. ...
The novel Carnage and Culture written by Victor Davis Hanson whom is a military historian and professor at California State University gives a new perspective on why the West always wins their wars. ... Furthermore, the title Carnage and Culture best illustrates Hanson's theory on the western culture. ... Carnage and Culture written by Victor Davis Hanson provides the insight of the Western way of warfare and the cultural influence on the soldiers and Western armies. ...
Carnage and Culture, written by Victor David Hanson, is a very informative and intellectually honest work that was capable of tackling some of the touchiest subjects regarding the history of Western warfare by professors and historical authors alike. Also taking a method which has been seen to be somewhat loathed by critics, he has made Carnage and Culture work in such a fashion that Jean Bethke Elshtain, author of Women and War wrote that, ˜ Hanson is courting controversy again with another highly readable, lucid work Together with John Keegan, he is our most interesting historian of ...
There were no bodies or carnage of the realities of war, but in actuality this was a marketing scheme designed specifically to deceive the public and glorifying the acts of war. ... Nevinson's, The Harvest of Battle, presented the trenches and more importantly the carnage that the war has brought. ... Since the truthful depictions were not really released or circulated until after the war was actually over, it would have been appalling to me, but sine that war was already over, I would hope that I would have realized the carnage that comes with war and push for a peaceful solution going f...
True, none of the parties made the carnage on our roads a campaign platform - it's hardly glamorous and it's not much in the way of a vote-getter, and it would be churlish to nit-pick as Thaksin Shinawatra enjoyed his finest hour, but the issue does warrant serious attention by our new government. ... This is supposed to be a time of celebration, not suffering, and yet we seem to take this annual ritual carnage for granted. ...
The United States and Nato should be held responsible for the carnage in Bosnia. ... If they would have even helped for a very short period of time the chaos would have stopped, so the United States and Nato should be held responsible for the carnage in Bosnia. ...
Traveling along with the 2nd Ranger Battalion, the viewer is introduced to a modern day realistic view of the carnage that met these brave soldiers. ... Special effects makeup artists went out of their way to ensure a very real look at the carnage of the war. ... It is, however, a very graphic depiction of the overall carnage of war. ...
To the veterans who flew the Enola Gay or fought in the war, the plane and what it did were cause to shed tears of relief and realization because they suddenly had fututes and had no longer to deal with the anxiety and carnage of being on the front lines. ... To some, the Enola Gay represents excess force resulting in excess carnage; some consider it a necessary evil that was the best choice among the worst and most difficult options; and some feel completely justified in their/ our actions because it put a quick end to the war. ...
The hatred that started at the end of Afghan-Russia war, gained momentum by the events of Gulf war, fired by the massacres of Bosnia, increased by the destruction of Chechnya, fueled by the forced mass migrations of the Kosovar Albanians, Intensified by the horrors of Dagestan and again Chechnya and of course kept up by the constant violations and destruction of Palestinians and Kashmiris, brought the 9/11 carnage. ... The western people, immediately after the carnage of 9/11, were screaming for blood (just as we would have) but soon the passions subsided and common sense began to take ho...