In the summer of 1914 the lives of everyone on earth, and all those to follow them was changed forever. The Great War from 1914 to 1918 was the first, but sadly not the last of the World Wars. World War 1 ushered in a new era in warfare. Millions of innocent lives were lost over those four years. Woman lost there husbands, and many children became orphaned. Famalies all around the world felt the aftermath of the war, including my own. I never knew my great grandfather, but I do know that he was one of the millions that put his life on the line in World War 1. His bravery later influenced my grandfather years later to join the army and participate in World War 2. However the history of this to war all began in August of summer of 1914. Several nations in Europe had issues that could not be settle by peaceful means. Efforts were made right up until the last moments before the war began to find a peaceful end. Unfortunatly, their best efforts were unsuccessful.
In the approximate 3,500 years of recorded history, there have been about 3,200 years of war. Which means we have only lived in about 300 years of peace (Balding 1). We are a people that seem to not be able to resist bloodshed. However never before World War 1 had so many lives been lost. Never before in our history had we caused such death. The war took an estimated 10 million lives, and cause another 20 million to be crippled or seriously wounded. As the blood on the fields of battle began to dry, 5 million widowed woman realized there husbands would not coming home, and another 9 million children became orphans (Heyman 114). My family was one of the lucky few to have their hero make it home safe. However not all families were that lucky, man ...