The Deadliest Day of WW1

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  • Опубліковано 27 кві 2023
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    What was the deadliest day of any nation in WW1? There are multiple candidates for that, but why should we even care? Well, the answer to this question highlights a challenge with popular memory that is often focused on the biggest battles of the war like the Somme or Verdun.
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    » SOURCES
    Arthur, John. The Seventeenth Highland Light Infantry. (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Battalion) Record of war Service, 1914-1918. David Clarke, Glasgow, 1920.
    Desaubliaux, Robert, La ruée, journal d'un poilu. Paris, éditions des Presses de la Renaissance, 2005 (première édition 1919).
    Doughty, Robert A. Pyrrhic Victory. Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition.
    Duclos, Jean, and Louis-Jean Duclos. 2012. Notes de campagne, 1914-1916: suivies d'un épilogue, 1917-1925, et commentées par son fils, Louis-Jean Duclos. Paris: Harmattan.
    Greenhalgh, Elizabeth. The French Army and the First World War (Armies of the Great War) Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
    Historique du 2e régt [ régiment ] de marche de zouaves du 2 août 1914 au 11 novembre 1918
    gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt...
    Historique du 5e régiment de hussards pendant la guerre 1914-1918
    gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt...
    www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defe...
    Jünger, Ernst. The Storm of Steel: Original 1929 Translation. Mystery Grove Publishing Co., LLC. Kindle Edition.
    Pointel, Bernard, Baguer-Pican de Napoléon à nos jours, 1800-1994, Dinan, Grand Ouest Editions, 2000 cited in: Erwan Le Gall. Le 47e régiment d’infanterie pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. Histoire. Université Rennes 2, 2019.
    Rachamimov, Alon. POWs and the Great War: Captivity on the Eastern Front, New York, Berg Publishers, 2002.
    Sheldon, Jack. The German Army on the Western Front 1915. Pen & Sword Books. Kindle Edition.
    Smith, Leonard V. Between Mutiny and Obedience: The Case of the French Fifth Infantry Division during World War I: 225 (Princeton Legacy Library) Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
    www.1jour1poilu.com/
    Veaux, Georges. En Suivant Nos Soldats De L'ouest: Carnet De Route Publie Avec L'autorisation Du Ministe Re De La Guerre. Charleroi - Guise - La Retraite - La Marne - La Poursuite - Reims - Craonne - La Course a La Mer - Arras -Vermelles - L'Yser. Rennes: Impr. Oberthur, 1917.
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    Presented by: Jesse Alexander
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 699

  • @TheGreatWar
    @TheGreatWar  Рік тому +56

    Watch Red Atoms on Nebula: go.nebula.tv/redatoms?ref=the-great-war

    • @buddyluv584
      @buddyluv584 Рік тому +5

      Better watch real footage and interviews with actual event participants on youtube than another garbage which is called high quality docu lol for some reason!

    • @spoolermount3343
      @spoolermount3343 Рік тому

      tell us first about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the USA. It's not fictional.

    • @mistressofthewoods5333
      @mistressofthewoods5333 Рік тому

      Sounds like a Skyrim quest

    • @Stopovergarding
      @Stopovergarding 10 місяців тому

      1st day of American Invasion on Iraq on Just Civilians,? 750k ......Woopes! Sorry about that

    • @partygrove5321
      @partygrove5321 10 місяців тому

      @@Stopovergarding Sorry liar, but 750K civvies did not die on the first day of the Iraq war. And most that did die were killed in sectarian violence caused by the poor handling of post Saddam Iraq.

  • @anemptykarst
    @anemptykarst Рік тому +247

    “The senseless insignificance of heroism” ( 18:47 ) is such a harsh and raw line, so full of disgust and anger, but also pity and respect.

    • @siggifreud812
      @siggifreud812 Рік тому +8

      Hemingway wrote of it:......"What has been done this summer cannot have been done in vain.’ I did not say anything. I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. … Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.”

    • @TonyBongo869
      @TonyBongo869 Рік тому +6

      My grandfather served in the 7th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force, he was wounded on the Somme. About 12 of his mates signed up in January 1915, by October 1918, three were left. The rest dead or wounded. I’m writing a book about it. Lest we forget

    • @samr6408
      @samr6408 Рік тому +11

      Quite often those who lived through such a tragedy are able to put it into words best. WWI really broke the old ideas of glory and pulled people into modernity

    • @HistoryMadeSimple90
      @HistoryMadeSimple90 Рік тому +1

      @@TonyBongo869 Where could i read it once its done?

    • @FordRangerClassics
      @FordRangerClassics 29 днів тому

      I missed a lot of opportunities because I was afraid to bring things up, but looking back, I severely regret not being able to tell stories lost to time. I can't get them now. ​@@TonyBongo869

  • @user-cd4bx6uq1y
    @user-cd4bx6uq1y Рік тому +653

    It's insane that numbers like 23,000 dead in a day are thrown around casually when it comes to this war

    • @DarthYoshi401
      @DarthYoshi401 Рік тому +28

      The Battle of Malplaquet was one of the European battles of the 18th century, and had about that same number. It only lasted a single day, so imagine on of those every single day during a major battle of WW1 for months straight.

    • @peterrobbins2862
      @peterrobbins2862 Рік тому

      Yes that's half as many are killed by guns in America each year per day

    • @Paul-bs5wl
      @Paul-bs5wl Рік тому +27

      @JZ's BFF People being less questioning of civil and religious authority does not cause them to be illiterate? Most soldiers from Britain, France, Germany and Austria were literate, probably less so for Russians, but not by a lot. But don't worry, people are as unquestioning of "civil authority" as they ever were, it's just now they are also dependant on it in a way that the people of 1914 were not.
      There is merit in the idea that people become accustomed to death and suffering, this is true. Even if sheltered and working on a farm it would be normal for children to regularly witness the killing of animals as well as a higher base level of violence in society, settling things with a fight wasn't particularly frowned upon. Honour duels were still legal in a few places in Europe in 1914. However, even by the standards of the day, people knew that the war was a different beast. Even by the standards of war it was a protracted and ruthless business that nobody thought would be sustainable save for a few eccentric military thinkers.

    • @JG-oi5gg
      @JG-oi5gg Рік тому +2

      The term “wastage” is the one that strikes me - the term for daily casualties of incident and intent

    • @charlesc.9012
      @charlesc.9012 Рік тому +3

      It was characteristic of the age. In 1910, having 3 full meals a day was rare for the urban working class, childhood diseases like polio and scarlet fever were rife, and tuberculosis was still incurable and rampant. Values like patriotism and steadfastness also made up the political correctness of the age, so you would be cancelled just as easily. Times were hard, and so people were desensitised to suffering and death.
      We have come a long way, despite the global population being 3x higher than in 1914

  • @lahire4943
    @lahire4943 Рік тому +492

    My great great grandfather was the commander of the 3rd regiment of Zouaves, lieutenant-colonel René Louis, during the offensive of Champagne of 25th September 1915. His regiment took 400 prisoners in a few hours. He was shot in the belly and died in terrible suffering on his way to the hospital.
    He was professor of general tactics at the Military School in Paris, and advocated for combined arms tactics. His brother had been badly wounded in October 1914 and had to experience trepanning.

    • @atomic4650
      @atomic4650 Рік тому +26

      Sorry to hear that. My great grandfather managed to survive and later helped smuggle weapons to the resistance.

    • @secretagent86
      @secretagent86 Рік тому +18

      my grandfather fought in the Canadian army serving as a front line grenadier. he survived without any injuries that i am aware of. he never spoke of it. Our family treasures his "i was there" medals. How awful for your ancestor to go that way. RESPECT to veterans (and those serving today)

    • @Kekorast
      @Kekorast Рік тому +3

      I respect you all. Your Grandfathers were all heroes!

    • @davidlafranchise4782
      @davidlafranchise4782 Рік тому +3

      What is trepanning?

    • @lahire4943
      @lahire4943 Рік тому +4

      @@davidlafranchise4782 Some king of head/brain surgery

  • @HeisenbergFam
    @HeisenbergFam Рік тому +381

    WW1 is one of the scariest events in human history, its crazy there was Christmas truce in 1914 where soldiers of both sides buried friends and foes together

    • @artificialintelligence8328
      @artificialintelligence8328 Рік тому +28

      @@mikeirvine1734
      I'd say two decades afterwards would be a lot scarier for civilians.

    • @mckessa17
      @mckessa17 Рік тому +4

      This war was brutal

    • @charlesm.2756
      @charlesm.2756 Рік тому +5

      What's even more interesting is that modern warfare has come full-circle. Advancements in technology have relegated combat in Ukraine right back into the trenches. History repeats!

    • @GerMFnU1848Sax
      @GerMFnU1848Sax Рік тому +3

      Britain should have joined the Germans. Period

    • @mckessa17
      @mckessa17 Рік тому +6

      @@GerMFnU1848Sax I always thought the US should join with North Korea.

  • @oliversherman2414
    @oliversherman2414 Рік тому +222

    I already mentioned this in the comment section in Patreon but my great great uncle fought and died in the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. He served in the British army. His body sank into the mud and was never recovered. I thought I'd mention it here again for those who didn't see it on Patreon

  • @Jimleben
    @Jimleben Рік тому +73

    The numbers of killed and wounded in WW1 are mind boggling and inconceivable. Too bad that these horrors are forgotten and man seems bound to repeat them.

    • @mistressofthewoods5333
      @mistressofthewoods5333 Рік тому +3

      Trust me Europe, Scandinavia and The North will never go through that again. Believe me we remember (😑👉🇷🇺)

    • @idiot_city5244
      @idiot_city5244 6 місяців тому +3

      ​@mistressofthewoods5333 everything resets on a long enough timeline

    • @sealboy1211
      @sealboy1211 6 місяців тому

      Every 100 years or so. Before this; the napoleonic wars. Before that? Man waged wars across continents for North American furs and African lands rich in resource. Before that?? Peasant wars and vassal states breaking free of old ways. It goes in and on.

  • @MichaelMcGuyer
    @MichaelMcGuyer Рік тому +37

    My favorite thing about this channel is the attention to the memories of the common soldier.

  • @gobanito
    @gobanito Рік тому +79

    Its amazing to realize that only less than a hundred years had passed between the Battle of Waterloo and the first opening shots of World War 1. Only 102 years had passed when La Grande Armee marched into Russia and the First Battle of the Marne. Someone being born during the Napoleonic Wars was still alive in World War 1.

    • @Slenderslayer351
      @Slenderslayer351 Рік тому +20

      100 years isn't as long as many would think

    • @drunkenmmamaster419
      @drunkenmmamaster419 Рік тому +3

      ​@@Slenderslayer351 yeah bro 100 years totally isn't a long time 😂

    • @LilBoiPeep69
      @LilBoiPeep69 6 місяців тому +4

      @@drunkenmmamaster419it really isnt all that long ago.

    • @HanginInSF
      @HanginInSF Місяць тому +3

      Somebody born during WW1 was alive during desert storm

  • @keithplymale2374
    @keithplymale2374 Рік тому +43

    To put that day day in perspective I have read that the Germans opposite the Commonwealth countries suffered around 8,000 total casualties. And the initial attacking force on that day was around 66,000. So that also puts the losses he quoted in even more perspective.

  • @tokencivilian8507
    @tokencivilian8507 Рік тому +95

    Great episode, as always Jessie and the entire GW Team. Such a somber topic. For context for the US audience, the Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day in the Civil War with ~23,000 casualties, on both sides, dead, wounded and missing combined. To think the French suffered this many dead in a single day is tragic.

    • @alexp2327
      @alexp2327 Рік тому +7

      To think americans love to make fun of french fighting spirit and their soldiers is tragic

    • @bobmcham5192
      @bobmcham5192 9 місяців тому +7

      @@alexp2327 I think most of the unsympathetic attitude towards the French defeat in the second world war comes from their petty attitude at the conclusion of the first world war, which is arguably what lead to the second world war. From the American perspective it was another pointless European pissing contest amongst their elite aristocracies. The U.S. tried very hard to stay out of it for three years and was only dragged in due to cooperate greed in sending munitions aboard civilian transports to make a quick buck. Afterwards the attitude towards Americans was a ridiculously outrageous "why didn't you join us in our meat grinder sooner!?" So kindly excuse us for taking a jab at the French and their "pristine military record" that they pride themselves on every now and then. Most of us are protestant Christians and pacifists , we have sympathies for losses from all sides, but are also frustrated at the entire ordeal to begin with and rely on humor to ease over the subject.

    • @greatwolf5372
      @greatwolf5372 8 місяців тому +3

      ​@@alexp2327French mock the Americans all the time as well.

    • @musc1esman
      @musc1esman 3 місяці тому +3

      We joke about the french and saving their asses because over a century before ww1 the shoe was on the other foot and the french helped us out as a young nation in our fight against the british. Playful jabs really.

    • @shadwknight2172
      @shadwknight2172 3 місяці тому +2

      I love the French. Napoleon is my daddy.

  • @carolinerussell3782
    @carolinerussell3782 Рік тому +38

    My great grandfather died on July 7, 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. ❤ My two year old son is named after him.

    • @alexandrasmith4393
      @alexandrasmith4393 Рік тому +4

      My grandad was there, he was 21 when the war started, and fought through to Italy. We were blessed to have him back, even after he was gassed.

    • @fastfaps
      @fastfaps Рік тому +4

      RIP to your great grandfather!

  • @Simple_mechanic_guy
    @Simple_mechanic_guy Рік тому +18

    I personally know and remember the "second bataille of Champagne" besause of my Great Uncle who died there in October 1915.
    I preserve his "Médaille Militaire" and his memory, with the "citation à l'ordre de l'armée" to my grand father, who vas wounded in Verdun 1916 and was prisoner in 1940.
    This war was unbelievable... Inimaginable.

  • @martint5606
    @martint5606 Рік тому +69

    My great grand father (my grand mother’s dad) was wounded at Souain on the 25th. He was with the 5th colonial infantry regiment. It is strange when you realise that sons and daughters of men who fought that day are still around.

    • @sinisatrlin840
      @sinisatrlin840 9 місяців тому +4

      My great grand father (father side) was medic in Austria Hungary military. He survived the war and was later working pro bono fixing broken limbs, fractures and wounds.
      In those times real doctors where rare so all armies trained lots of combat medics, Sanitater was German name.
      I was born in 1975 and he has died before, but i remember fighters of the great war being around untill early 80s.

  • @Moredread25
    @Moredread25 Рік тому +25

    France's casualties in 1915 were catastrophic. It's not widely known, but they were just brutal.

    • @Paul-bs5wl
      @Paul-bs5wl Рік тому

      @JZ's BFF Not so much a surprise. The combined population of the primary allies (UK, France and Russia (USA after 1917) was more than 100 million more (with Russia) and 30 million more (with USA) than the Central powers, and the allies had a massive global base of supply thanks to the Royal Navy and lukewarm US sympathy (until late 1916). You also have to remember that everything Austria did that wasn't directly supported by Germans was pretty much an unmitigated catastrophe, and the Italians signed up (which at the time would have seemed like treachery) so the Allies did have optimistic news out of the South and East to keep up morale both in leadership and public circles.

    • @bruantquentin2777
      @bruantquentin2777 Рік тому

      ​@JZ's BFF except that the two highest year in term of casualties in the French army is not '15 and '16 but '14 and '15

    • @Brandon-nr8fn
      @Brandon-nr8fn 4 дні тому

      What's catastrophic

    • @Moredread25
      @Moredread25 4 дні тому

      @@Brandon-nr8fn catastrophic: extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin.

  • @andrewmarino5441
    @andrewmarino5441 Рік тому +15

    I think the Battle of the Marne in 1914 might have one the bloodiest days. 153,000 were killed in on both sides in only a 7 day battle and its known to have the highest average casualties per day than any battle in WW1

  • @1969Risky
    @1969Risky Рік тому +19

    1:48 When I saw that footage of the names of the fallen in stone, the name R. Ritchie stood out. I know it wasn't my Great Grandfather Robert Ritchie as he survived the Great War but I had to do a double take. Any loss of life in war is senseless & we lost a generation. Thanks again for another brilliant episode Jesse.

  • @captintinsmith3774
    @captintinsmith3774 Рік тому +39

    Thanks for posting this .... Very well done! 👍
    My great grand uncle Camille (sergeant in the 90th Infantry division) was killed in September 17th 1915, while preparing lateral trenches for the Third Battle of Artois....
    His brother Adrien, survived the Battle of Verdun....both my great grand fathers also survived the Great War ... I believe both were auxiliaries in the rear, due to their age.....

  • @Warum_Nicht
    @Warum_Nicht Рік тому +73

    Thank you for getting the French names right. And for recalling France’s losses. English speakers only remember the Somme. It is always “English speaking history.”

    • @vincentlefebvre9255
      @vincentlefebvre9255 Рік тому +14

      He is canadian. He speaks french,english and german.

    • @pianoman1857
      @pianoman1857 Рік тому +23

      @@vincentlefebvre9255 i think he meant that the history of WW1 is often depicted through the prism of British history and memory

    • @Mike-tz4ku
      @Mike-tz4ku Рік тому +9

      the English speakers can finally understand that they were not the only one who fought the Germans

    • @anthonycaruso8443
      @anthonycaruso8443 7 місяців тому

      I guess the Brits are supposed to write French history.Not many French were alive to right history@@pianoman1857

    • @danh555
      @danh555 6 місяців тому +2

      @@pianoman1857no it’s not
      What kind of deluded statement is that

  • @kenhayward5009
    @kenhayward5009 10 місяців тому +9

    The horrible losses experienced by the Newfoundland Regiment on the first day of the Battle of the Somme is still remembered to this day. July 1st was named Memorial Day after WWI and still is today despite it now being a part Canada (since 1949). Unofficially, the morning is a somber day of remembrance, and Canada Day isn't really celebrated until after ceremony at the National War Monument in St. John's.

  • @RTDice11
    @RTDice11 Рік тому +111

    You're one of the only History-tubers to give the men who bled in the dirt the respect they deserve, instead of treating them like squares on a map.
    Kudos, and hope to see more of your work here and on Real Time History!

  • @simongleaden2864
    @simongleaden2864 Рік тому +6

    05:00 Five old boys from my school were killed on 1st July 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. That day was tragic for many communities in Britain.

  • @welcometonebalia
    @welcometonebalia Рік тому +42

    Thank you. I didn't know that database had made us change our perspective on the deadliest day in the war. But it allowed me at the time to track down an ancester of mine who died at Chemin des Dames in 1917.

    • @guaporeturns9472
      @guaporeturns9472 Рік тому

      So are you extending a welcome to all species of Nebalia , or are you welcoming folks to a place named after the genus Nebalia?

    • @StuartTheunissen
      @StuartTheunissen 28 днів тому

      ​@@guaporeturns9472 Lay down the crack pipe buddy

  • @timturriff3823
    @timturriff3823 Рік тому +17

    I had the opportunity to travel to Belgium and France with the Vimy Foundation in 2016. We toured the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, where the Newfoundlanders were positioned on the first day of the Somme. What a solemn and heartbreaking site. While most of Canada celebrates the anniversary of confederation on July 1st, Newfoundlanders remember the Somme.

    • @lllordllloyd
      @lllordllloyd Рік тому +1

      It's even sadder and more incredible to think the Newfoundlanders were a follow-up unit: when they left the trenches, no-man's land was already full of dead and wounded from the regiments that had gone before them. Somehow, most modern British historians regard it as all part of a 'learning curve' and not a failure by any means.

    • @baabaabaa2293
      @baabaabaa2293 Рік тому +4

      Same as the Australians at Fromelles... planned by British Generals to 'blood' the Australians.
      Australians used it as a how not to pull a stunt from thereon.

  • @jankusthegreat9233
    @jankusthegreat9233 Рік тому +19

    U guys are the best UA-cam channel

    • @arkadisevyan
      @arkadisevyan Рік тому +1

      No doubt about that, I've been watching this channel for years

  • @user-md9ee9xk8q
    @user-md9ee9xk8q 10 місяців тому +36

    I'm a former serviceman in the British armed forces and I have visited the battlefields and cemeteries in France. The thousands of rows of gravestones was absolutely heartbreaking to see and it still seems impossible that so many fell. The graves went on for an absolute eternity and I don't even know how many cemeteries there are in France and Belgium 😢

    • @yurilytviak9066
      @yurilytviak9066 7 місяців тому

      It’s a shame that the Germans are forever condemned for all the war time deaths of the 20th century. Even more so when one considers the even-greater death tolls achieved during peace time under the soviets, who were sufficiently beloved in the west that millions more would die to save Stalin’s regime from its various victims …. That would be a discussion needed for eight or so decades by now..

  • @alexamerling79
    @alexamerling79 Рік тому +10

    Such a horrific war.

    • @Masada1911
      @Masada1911 Рік тому +2

      Indeed.

    • @drunkenmmamaster419
      @drunkenmmamaster419 Рік тому +2

      By far the worst in history and most that were lucky enough to survive got sick and died from the Spanish Flu

    • @FordRangerClassics
      @FordRangerClassics 29 днів тому

      ​@@drunkenmmamaster419yay, people????

  • @arsenal-slr9552
    @arsenal-slr9552 Рік тому +21

    I've tried researching the French battles of 1915, esp Champagne, there is very little English language materials out there for the public unfortunately

  • @toastertastic5085
    @toastertastic5085 Рік тому +3

    Thank you for these informational videos!

  • @indianajones4321
    @indianajones4321 Рік тому +25

    Another WW1 video here we go!

  • @justinh6651
    @justinh6651 Рік тому +2

    Great video. Love to see the channel dive deep into the conflict. I very much miss the forays into the Interwar period though. But it seems it just sadly didn't get enough views

  • @scumbaag
    @scumbaag Рік тому +2

    Phenomenal content, as always. Glad to see the great war in my feed again. Keep it up fellas!

  • @dansmith4077
    @dansmith4077 Рік тому +26

    Excellent video thank you.

  • @jonathanniay4649
    @jonathanniay4649 Рік тому +8

    I live near pere Lachaise cemetery, there is a 100m memorium with name of the fallen Parisian soldiers, so much names that's frightening me every time i see it. Be nice to each other, don't do war.

  • @djmario2038
    @djmario2038 Рік тому

    Great explanation and commentary! Thanks for the video🙏

  • @mpersad
    @mpersad Рік тому

    Another very well researched and produced video. Another excellent addition to an excellent channel.

  • @danwallach8826
    @danwallach8826 Рік тому

    Thank you for the great perspective and clear presentation.

  • @mogensschultzruhoff6770
    @mogensschultzruhoff6770 Рік тому +8

    I sometimes go to the churchyard in Haderslev (Hadersleben in German), Southern Jutland, Denmark. There's a memorial for the fallen from the city and surrounding countryside, who fell during the Great War in German service. Haderslev were part of Germany/Prussia from 1864 (after the war with Prussia and Austria-Hungary) until 1920, when Southern Jutland voted itself back to Denmark as a result of the plebiscite. There's more than a hundred single stones for the fallen, some of them with two and even three names on them (probably brothers). Not many of them more than 20-25 years of age when they were killed. I can't but think, that my great-grandfather could have been one of them. Luckily he survived the war, and lived on to be 90-something before dying of old age.

  • @philsigman9088
    @philsigman9088 Рік тому +3

    My great uncle was killed on Oct 8, 1918 during the Argonne -Meuse Offensive. He was in the US Army, 4th ID. Him and my grandfather registered for the draft together but my grandfather was deemed 4F due to a hernia.

  • @OmarChida
    @OmarChida Рік тому

    This channel is golden!!! I'm definitely subscribing to Nebula for more content from you ! Red Atoms sounds like a great doc to watch

  • @trenchgaming2166
    @trenchgaming2166 Рік тому +7

    Sergeant Welsh being able to standing at attention and asking permission to retreat after being shot twice in the chest is pretty baller

  • @bobmcbob9603
    @bobmcbob9603 2 місяці тому +4

    We are not built of the same stuff as our forefathers.

  • @paulx7540
    @paulx7540 Рік тому +11

    Thanks, new information for me.
    New Zealand’s blackest day was attacking Bellevue Spur in the mud on 12 October 1917. 843 dead, a high toll from a population of one million.

  • @jarroddivens8339
    @jarroddivens8339 4 місяці тому +2

    1915 also included the majority of the fighting in the Vosges, First Champagne, Vaquois, Les Eparges, the Battle of the Woevre Plain, and other battles that English historians generally brush over.

  • @MrGouldilocks
    @MrGouldilocks Рік тому +7

    I'm guessing the largest single day loss had nothing to do with actual combat. It's probably ill-equipped Austrian soldiers freezing to death in the Carpathians or their Ottoman counterparts freezing in the Caucus Mountains.

  • @g.pistof7581
    @g.pistof7581 7 місяців тому

    Excellent work, full of well documented information and quote of the sources.

  • @jeffersonwright6249
    @jeffersonwright6249 Рік тому +9

    Very small quibble to Alex’s as-always outstandingly well researched documented and narrated history videos: minute 2:27 unless I am mistaken I am certain this is a clip taken of BEF soldiers climbing out of tunnels dug half way into No-Man’s Land at the start of the Arras Offensive on 9 April 1917

  • @PurrtyPukeShoes69
    @PurrtyPukeShoes69 Рік тому +2

    Such an excellent episode.
    11/10.

  • @davidcarr7436
    @davidcarr7436 Рік тому +14

    Just a note to point out that Newfoundland was not a part of Canada during the First World War, but was a separate Dominion. Also, July 1st, 1916 was the 49th anniversary of the Canadian confederation.

    • @jessealexander2695
      @jessealexander2695 Рік тому +11

      That's why Nfld and Canada are mentioned separately in this video.

    • @davidcarr7436
      @davidcarr7436 Рік тому +5

      @@jessealexander2695 outside of Canada, other than historians, I would say not many people would know that.

    • @vincentlefebvre9255
      @vincentlefebvre9255 Рік тому

      ​@@davidcarr7436 I believe only one irish battalion had a higher ratio of killed men on the 1st of july.

    • @vincentlefebvre9255
      @vincentlefebvre9255 Рік тому

      ​@@jessealexander2695 Jesse tu devrais écrire des livres.

    • @jessealexander2695
      @jessealexander2695 Рік тому

      @@vincentlefebvre9255 J'en ai écrit trois!

  • @calvacoca
    @calvacoca Рік тому

    Awesome work ! 😯
    Thanks guy ! 👍

  • @Eric_Von_Yesselstyn
    @Eric_Von_Yesselstyn Рік тому +6

    Most of the Generals during WW1 were completely inept and worthless. REGARDLESS of their apologists saying "but it was a new kind of war.. Waaaaa, Waaaaa".
    They had YEARS upon YEARS to adapt, they didn't do much of that.

  • @maryhamric
    @maryhamric Рік тому

    Great video. An endlessly interesting topic.

  • @frank834skinner3
    @frank834skinner3 8 годин тому

    Really like your work

  • @Kino_1988
    @Kino_1988 Рік тому

    Great video, loved the list kind style. Can you guys please make a video on the Battle of Tsingtao?

  • @guydegregg8555
    @guydegregg8555 Рік тому

    Very well done, I generally don't subscribe after only one viewing but the facts, photos and narrative are compelling.

  • @wapiti3750
    @wapiti3750 Рік тому +2

    Thanks!

  • @adrianobier7593
    @adrianobier7593 9 місяців тому +4

    It took me a while, but NOW I'm uptodate with the channel. Great job these past 9 years, guys. BTW, will there be any more uploads?

  • @BangFarang1
    @BangFarang1 Рік тому +5

    My French great-grand-father has been killed on 20 April 1915 aged 34. My grand-mother was 8 and her brother 6. My great-grand-mother was 33, they were married during 10 years only.

  • @manindisgiuze7780
    @manindisgiuze7780 Рік тому

    FAAAAANTASTIC VIDEO, I love history and I consistently was blow away at your research skills and how little I truly knew about WW1.

  • @zetectic7968
    @zetectic7968 Рік тому +1

    Champagne-Artois often is overlooked because of Verdun, Somme & the Belgium sector.
    Very interesting video

  • @johncox2865
    @johncox2865 Рік тому +1

    13:15 “irresistible élan”? Big words for an old man who wouldn’t be anywhere near the bloodshed himself.

  • @ehayes5217
    @ehayes5217 Рік тому

    & btw, ur narrations, along with the video clips, were absolutely fantastic!!!🇺🇸

  • @johnnyreno7200
    @johnnyreno7200 Рік тому +14

    Awesome production..great job guys..your ease in pronouncing the French names is so impressive

    • @jessealexander2695
      @jessealexander2695 Рік тому +10

      I started learning it when I was about 4, so that helps!

    • @johnnyreno7200
      @johnnyreno7200 Рік тому +2

      @Jesse Alexander I really do enjoy the videos man...great work, the Sparkling Wine quip at the end was a crack up

    • @Ukraineaissance2014
      @Ukraineaissance2014 Рік тому +1

      He speaks every language for some reason

    • @jessealexander2695
      @jessealexander2695 Рік тому +7

      @@Ukraineaissance2014 haha, not even close.

    • @flyforce16
      @flyforce16 Рік тому

      @@jessealexander2695 Which languages do you speak?

  • @sevensongsful
    @sevensongsful 8 місяців тому

    I really enjoy your channel. Doing some research on my great uncle who fought in WWI in France and died two years later in Montana. He's was in the 361 Infantry Regiment. So many of the records have gone missing with the archives fire. Sounds like the other allies haven't done much better with record preservation

  • @BlueJayWaters
    @BlueJayWaters Рік тому +6

    This isn't as surprising to me as one would think. I am a veteran of the US Navy. Through my time in service, though brief, I learned a lot about our military as a whole, and it is quite often the small forgotten battles that lay waste to the most souls. That was the reason they were forgotten. Perhaps that's only the case with our military, or when we're involved, but your average American knows absolutely nothing about most major conflicts, and it's up to us veterans to remember our brothers (and sisters), and the families of the departed to remember their names.
    And what's worse? 108 years from the day you talked about, we're about to live through the nightmare again. With the risk of nukes involved, who's going to remember our names? Who's going to be left to tabulate the losses?

  • @user-ru3ql6ji4p
    @user-ru3ql6ji4p Рік тому

    You guys are the best!

  • @jeremyrounds6821
    @jeremyrounds6821 Рік тому +4

    Determining the deadliest day is about impossible because you have often multiple battles and offensives at once in various locations and slow attrition in so-called quiet sectors and then the lingering impact of disease, deaths in captivity, the Arminian genocide, etc

  • @pdruiz2005
    @pdruiz2005 11 місяців тому +2

    Ahhhh...thank you for bringing attention to the Battles of Artois and Champagne. This is literally the first time I've heard of them, and I'm a huge history geek.

  • @jimraymond1393
    @jimraymond1393 7 місяців тому

    The host/narrative is excellent and easy to follow and listen to.

  • @scottamori3188
    @scottamori3188 Рік тому

    This video is simply superb.

  • @teddyduncan1046
    @teddyduncan1046 Рік тому +1

    I love the video as a whole but especially your pronunciation of the many names especially the French.

  • @Roronoa79
    @Roronoa79 Рік тому +7

    Another excellent video from this channel. Though i am curious if there was any information on the deadliest days for the more minor players of the war? Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria? Belgium? Individual French colonies? British India? Japan?
    The Ottomans were certainly major, but finding sources for them, especially accurate ones, must be daunting if not impossible.

  • @thebrightdangerousmysterio7685
    @thebrightdangerousmysterio7685 10 місяців тому +1

    Hello! I am a regular watcher of your channel and has been for the past months. Though, I fail to see that you have uploaded many videos in the past month or so. Is there a specific reason as to why that is the case or has the Great War ended? Thank you.

  • @ehayes5217
    @ehayes5217 Рік тому

    What a great video, thanks!🇺🇸

  • @ArmandDupin
    @ArmandDupin Рік тому +6

    I'll make a guess and say the 22nd of august 1914, when the french army lost ~22.000 men in a few hours. But IIRC those estimates were criticized by some historians. Now onto watching the video.

  • @bigsarge2085
    @bigsarge2085 Рік тому +4

    Incredible.

  • @t5ruxlee210
    @t5ruxlee210 Рік тому +7

    The repeated failures of British industry to mass produce reliable clockwork fuzes for the WW1 army artillery projectiles was another major reason for high British Empire casualties on the Western Front. Excessive consumption to offset the high dud count was the real reason for the "shell shortage scandal". The huge PR effort involving constant cinema propaganda newsreels of the flood of munitions pouring forth from factories and "quickly being shipped to the front" was an early form of "damage control".

    • @method341
      @method341 3 місяці тому

      Sort of like western propaganda regarding ukraine today.....

  • @Surferjo
    @Surferjo Рік тому +3

    it was all deadly..........great channel ty.........

  • @richcifelli7777
    @richcifelli7777 Місяць тому

    By far the best narration for any European conflict of any era. Excellent German and French (especially) pronunciation; Italian words even creditably expressed. Easy to follow, clearly enunciated: bravo!

  • @brianoneil9662
    @brianoneil9662 Рік тому +33

    Considering the tactics, and the attitudes of their leadership, the later mutinies of French troops seem not just understandable, but inevitable.

    • @Balrog2005
      @Balrog2005 Рік тому +6

      Considering that British ''tactics'' were quiter similar in even in the Somme and in the 1917 Flanders offensives I don't see nany specific French, a part the fact that they endured a continuous series of ofensives from 1915 to mid 1917 and had to defend Verdun. The mutinies changed the mindsed to defense, limited well prepared attacks and large counter-attacks in 1918. But it's not ''tactics'' it's policy and politics that get to use of over the top offensives. The same as in other armies, even as the germans like in Verdun or in the Kaiser's offensives of 1918. Tactics largely changed, a french platoon in 1918 would have be seen as very alien a strange to french soldiers from august 1914 in nearly all aspects.

    • @Trebor74
      @Trebor74 Рік тому +4

      The British practically rotated troops out of the trenches extremely frequently,some months troops never went to the front trench. The French kept troops in the trenches for prolonged periods. The British were better looked after but lost local knowledge of the sector they were on

    • @maskr5520
      @maskr5520 Рік тому +9

      French mutinies are overlooked. Every country had its own mutinies, sometimes more serious and more harshly reproved.

  • @MrChaostheorie13
    @MrChaostheorie13 Рік тому +18

    I'm going to guess maybe in 1914? Maybe during the battle of the frontiers?
    Anyway, super happy to see this video!

    • @yellowjackboots2624
      @yellowjackboots2624 Рік тому

      My first thought

    • @Ukraineaissance2014
      @Ukraineaissance2014 Рік тому

      Im guessing that as well before i watch the video, although it could also have been on the eastern front, russias mad casualties dont seem to be talked about

    • @derrickthewhite1
      @derrickthewhite1 Рік тому

      That was my guess: the moment when it was revealed that grand rushes on machine guns didn't work... I've watched the video now, and its... very very close to the most. 2nd place, and only after close inspection of fastidious records.

  • @Mike-tz4ku
    @Mike-tz4ku Рік тому +148

    the French fought like lions in ww1, especially battle of Verdun. respect 🇫🇷

    • @nerdyguy1152
      @nerdyguy1152 Рік тому +16

      They shall not pass!

    • @drunkenmmamaster419
      @drunkenmmamaster419 Рік тому +40

      And then fought like absolute women in the second world War 😂

    • @Mike-tz4ku
      @Mike-tz4ku Рік тому +35

      @@drunkenmmamaster419 fun fact :
      1. in the first week in Battle of France (1940), French lost roughly 100,000 men against German offensive,
      2. on 4th June 1940, before French surrender, 40,000 French soldiers, including 7,000 North African soldiers, confronted German offensives at Lille to ensure the British retreated safely at Dunkirk

    • @Mike-tz4ku
      @Mike-tz4ku Рік тому +30

      @@drunkenmmamaster419 i don't mind if you like making fun of French troops , but please, read some books first.

    • @nerdyguy1152
      @nerdyguy1152 Рік тому +19

      @@Mike-tz4ku easy bro, i’m ok. he’s clearly a yankee. Don’t expect too high from him 😂

  • @leejames929
    @leejames929 8 місяців тому +4

    A cruel and pointless war

  • @grafneun
    @grafneun 2 місяці тому +1

    The numbers are insane

  • @briangarrow448
    @briangarrow448 Рік тому +8

    Have you thought about doing a movie review of the new interpretation of “All Quiet on the Western Front”?

  • @williamp.9045
    @williamp.9045 Рік тому +3

    22nd august 1914, 27000 french soldiers died in 1 day, the bloodiest day of the French army in history.
    One of my related felt this day in the east of France near Pierrepont.
    One dead every 3 seconds, scary...

    • @nerdyguy1152
      @nerdyguy1152 Рік тому

      Mes plus sincères condoléances. Vive la France 🇫🇷

    • @jessealexander2695
      @jessealexander2695 Рік тому +1

      Watch the vid, newer estimates put the losses that day at a lower number, and another day higher.

  • @tristonvisser
    @tristonvisser 10 місяців тому

    Thanks for a great new video just wanna ask if you can do a video about south africa during ww1 and the tensions between the English and afrikaaners.

  • @PtolemyJones
    @PtolemyJones Рік тому +1

    Been awhile, pleasant surprise to see this in my feeds.
    I think the Somme would have been high on my list. Not shocking that most of these are when a nation goes on the offense.

  • @Digmen1
    @Digmen1 Рік тому +2

    Jesse what about the Russian losses at the Battles of Tannenburg, or the Masurian Lakes a few days after.
    A geat video thanks
    I have studied WW1 since I was 15.

  • @maxdishaw
    @maxdishaw 3 місяці тому +1

    The top 3 deadliest days are all French related. Going through small towns in France you will see war monuments with rows and rows of names. Entire villages lost all their sons and fathers. I’ve seen them. It’s insane.

  • @billyjackson2605
    @billyjackson2605 10 місяців тому

    Solid music with the video

  • @sovietblobfish
    @sovietblobfish Рік тому +5

    making my guess before watching this video, i think it'll be that day in the first month of the war when the french were advancing into germany from alsace in tight formations and got annihilated by german artillery, i think like 25000 died that day

  • @EricMatheson
    @EricMatheson 3 місяці тому

    The quotes in these videos always muster emotion

  • @nvelsen1975
    @nvelsen1975 Рік тому +33

    Being ex-army myself I answered "That day the army cooks let their imagination run wild, that was the deadliest day" as I'm aware those guys cause the most casualties. 😉
    That said, let's watch the video and see if I'm right.

    • @jessealexander2695
      @jessealexander2695 Рік тому +7

      Haha, we should have included that as a candidate!

    • @markmaher4548
      @markmaher4548 Рік тому

      Or as they're commonly known to the rest of us? RATION ASSASSINS!

  • @asullivan4047
    @asullivan4047 10 місяців тому

    Interesting and informative. Class A research project. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what/whom the orator was describing. Class A research project. Special thanks to the veterans sharing personal information/combat experiences. Making this documentary more authentic and possible. Fighting/perishing/surviving knowing certain death 💀 Debilitating wounds were possible. Yet still advanced forward regardless of the consequences. That’s true grit style determination to succeed. Along with the medical 🏥 personal.risking life and limb tending to the wounded.

  • @henryquenin6580
    @henryquenin6580 Рік тому +5

    I always heard that the battle of Tannenberg was one of the bloodiest few days for the Russian army. First battle of the Marne was also bad for France before trench warfare began and troops fought out in the open. The French stopped the German advance on Paris and then drove them back into retreat for 100 kilometers at very great cost. Their battle cry was "they shall not pass."

    • @nerdyguy1152
      @nerdyguy1152 Рік тому

      Oui on ne passe pas!

    • @AV-the-machinist
      @AV-the-machinist 7 місяців тому

      You may want to fact check that

    • @saraprva4172
      @saraprva4172 6 місяців тому +1

      ​@@nerdyguy1152Oui, et aussi "ils ne passeront pas"

    • @nerdyguy1152
      @nerdyguy1152 6 місяців тому

      @@AV-the-machinist you may want to do more readings

  • @mightbesomeone6391
    @mightbesomeone6391 3 місяці тому

    Two of my great great grandfathers were soldiers in the Portuguese army during ww1, they were both in the same company and they both made it through 2 years of the war

  • @l.faraday8767
    @l.faraday8767 Рік тому +1

    The battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917, Canada. 2,414 killed in one day, total 1914 - 1918, 56,639. 🇨🇦🇨🇦

  • @garybobst9107
    @garybobst9107 Рік тому

    I've got a pictorial history book on the Great War, published before the bodies got very cold. A great attempt at downplaying how bad it was, with talk of stalwart heroes and daring deeds and on and on.

  • @wills2140
    @wills2140 Рік тому

    "In Flanders fields the Poppies blow. Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place ; and in the sky ; We are the dead. ... " And with parts of that great poem by Lt Col John McCrae - Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz taught an ( all too ) young me just how deadly WWI was. With simple words and art in an animated cartoon, Snoopy and the gang transported to a place and a history I had not known or thought about ( though my mom had always told me her father served in the U S Navy during the Great War ). Support arts and humanities teaching folks, it matters.
    Thank you to Jesse Alexander and all @ The Great War and Real Time History. I like the ongoing "update" videos, as well as these "special episodes". Though it took me a couple of extra days to ... prepare for this - I knew it would make me cry.
    Thanks again, everyone.
    (: