Anyone else watch PBS' "Nova" on Wednesday?

[Archae]

The episode showed archaeologists excavating WW1 emplacements.
Trenches, bunkers, etc.

Very good show.

[HereSince1628]

1. Yes. And the more I learned, the sadder I became.

The suffering and horror politicians convince parents to ask of their children.

It speaks highly of tribalism and empire and very poorly of the human character.

Tunneling in mud, churning the earth with a million artillery shells.

To survive that, only to advance a mere 8 kilometers and to die in the stalemate of the trenches. Again.

My God! I just want to weep.

[Archae]

8. Yeah, a hundred years ago, yet so much hasn't changed.

Those who didn't willingly sign up to get limbs or faces blown off were "slackers."

The "enemy" was the "Hun," so sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage."
("Freedom fries," anyone?)

And war profiteers made out like bandits.

[HereSince1628]

10. When she came and called for me, I answered. Those she coerced did more poorly than I

I sat on an exam table yesterday at the V.A. contemplating bone cancer in my foot and beyond.

And I decided all the effort around me was about guilt. Guilt of a bad war, guilt of drafting people against their will for a worthless cause, guilt of oiling us with Agent Orange (which is how I got V.A. help at all). And just plain GUILT that to get young people to die in Afghanistan and Iraq would require dealing with those undealt with 35 years before.

It left me not angry but very disappointed in my fellow humans.

[lamp_shade]

2. I caught the last 20 minutes or so. I'll find a way to watch the whole thing.

[NutmegYankee]

6. Here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/tunnel-warfare.html

[lamp_shade]

9. Thank you.

[Duckhunter935]

3. no, hope to see it, love history

[NutmegYankee]

5. You can stream it from PBS

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/tunnel-warfare.html


Since I don't have cable (only antenna) I live off of PBS shows.

[Duckhunter935]

7. thanks

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Yes, that was fascinating. Also horrifying.

[earthside]

11. The horror of 'The Great War'

We pay so much attention to WWII ... it only ended 70 years ago.
And, of course there was much better motion photography and audio recordings when that war took place.

But World War I was by far much more horrible for the soldiers than even WWII.
This NOVA program was excellent because you got a real sense of how bad was trench warfare at the beginning of the mechanized era. The introduction of WMD in the form of poison gas is still too awful to contemplate.

And there was the incompetence and corruption of the French and English officer class.

I recommend this episode of NOVA, too.

[csziggy]

12. Thanks for mentioning it - I've now marked it to record

While my grandfather arrived in Europe too late for that the episode will be interesting to watch.

Unfortunately my grandfather was responsible for destroying some of the bunkers left at the end of the war. He arrived in northern France in August of 1917 and the main job for his group of American Expeditionary Forces engineers (114th Engineers) was to rebuild roads.

Company A began near Binarville working on the Vienne le Chateau road and used rubble from the buildings in the villages as road fill - as he stated in his report "The entire town of Binarville was soon on the road, and all the ruined buildings from Vienne le Chateau soon followed. Workable deposits of concrete in German Pill boxes, Cut and Cover shelters, and Artillery emplacements were found. With the assistance of Salvaged German explosives, a good production soon developed." (Historical Reports of the Chief Engineer, documenting the period April 1, 1917 to August 31, 1920, from the Records of the American Expeditionary Forces. Unit: 114th Engineers)