Today is the commemoration day of WW1, 100 th anniversary. Lots of young pilots, flying unlikely aircrafts have improved aero skills during this period, lot of them died in flight…
They were from all the today’s European nations and we can fly today, thanks to them which were aviation pioneers. So I suggest we can just have tonight a thought for them…
Well said. Sometimes we fly to EBKT, visit Ypres, the Hill 62 trench and museum. A rotary engine half buried in the ground. Rain water in shell holes covered by a sheen of oil. Makes you think.
I am glad that today we have peace in Europe and can talk with each other on a friendly basis through these wonderful means of communication we have today (despite its downsides, this is one of the great advantages of the internet and social media).
We are pilots from all over Europe who, had we been alive back then, would probably have fought and killed each other, no matter our personal view of the war. The Christmas Truce of 1914 demonstrated, among other events, that the youth of 1914 did not want to fight each other. But they were forced to for another four years! The carnage continued 20 years later.
As a German I am especially glad that I can communicate with all of you without feeling any resentment towards us, despite my fatherland having been pictured as the principal bad guys of the last century. And in WWII we certainly were, while in WWI it is less clear. Through mutual exchange and remembrance we can avoid that we or future generations ever fight each other again. I hope that Europeans cooperate ever peaceful and for our mutual benefits in the future, be it inside or outside the EU.
If you are interested in the background of the WW1, here are two books that explain how and why it happened:
Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War, by Gerry Docherty and Jim McGregor
also in german: Verborgene Geschichte: Wie eine geheime Elite die Menschheit in den Ersten Weltkrieg stürzte
After reading the first book, you will want to read the second by the same authors:
Prolonging the Agony: How the Anglo-American Establishment Deliberately Extended WWI by Three-And-A-Half Years.
Especially interesting is the story about the ‘Belgian Relief’ food program by the neutral americans and how it really worked.
Remember: history books are written by the victors. WW2 would not have happened without the criminal treatment of Germany in the Versailles 1919 treaty.
Imagine, you are stuck in the mud with our friends dying around you, while some people ‘keep the war running’ to make money.
dirkdj wrote:
WW2 would not have happened without the criminal treatment of Germany in the Versailles 1919 treaty.
dirkdj wrote:
Imagine, you are stuck in the mud with our friends dying around you, while some people ‘keep the war running’ to make money.
It is a very long held view of mine that ALL politicians when elected, and civil servants when elected to high office, and probably a few others as well, MUST spend several days visiting the war graves and see just what war really means. It is not the ordinary every day people that start and perpetuate conflict, it is usually the politicians (politicians in the widest sense of the word).
MedEwok wrote:
I am especially glad that I can communicate with all of you without feeling any resentment
I echo that for all nationalities.
Emir wrote:
This is a way oversimplified view. There are tons of scientific books on this topic written in proper way without conspiracy theories involved
And isn’t the view of all these scientific books that the unrealistic demands on Germany in the Versailles treaty was a major factor in the nazi rise to power?
Emir wrote:
This is a way oversimplified view. There are tons of scientific books on this topic written in proper way without conspiracy theories involved.
If you read the two books I mentioned, you will see that the great majority of facts is documented. Living close to the old battlefields, I became quite interested in the how and why. What we learned in school is the ‘official approved history’, the keyword being approved.
Why were two neutral countries (NL and DK) buying 20x their normal annual supplies for foods, cotton, wool, etc during the war years? Why was the future US president Herbert Hoover involved in providing humanitairian food aid to occupied Belgium, only to have it sold to the German Army at great profit to some,
Germany was trying to arrange a cease-fire from 1916 onwards, why was it not accepted? Follow the money.
Lots of people make money out of wars. The smartest arms dealers sell the stuff to both sides concurrently 
And isn’t the view of all these scientific books that the unrealistic demands on Germany in the Versailles treaty was a major factor in the nazi rise to power?
Can I say WWII wouldn’t happen if appropriate action against Nazi Germany and Italy were taken on time? Maybe… maybe not. It could’ve been prevented in Spain, Austria, Czechoslovakia but it wasn’t. It’s similar to war in Yugoslavia, it could’ve been stopped before escalating if proper actions were taken against armed forces but it wasn’t. So the only conclusion I can draw is that any war can be prevented/stopped if there’s will for it. However the will lacks because of financial interests.
