Most of us are familiar with the holocaust in WW2 enacted by Nazi Germany against Jewish people, Gypsies, communists and the mentally ill but this week sees the 100th anniversary of another holocaust or Genocide, the Armenian Genocide in Turkey. Historically The Ottoman Empire had far outshone most European states for centuries in terms of… Continue reading 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
Tag: WW1
Posts predominantly WW1 related.
The Christmas Truce and football match of 1914.
Whilst we are getting ready to enjoy or in some cases already enjoying our Christmas in 2014, it is worth remembering what was happening 100 years ago not so far from where I am writing today. In what is perhaps one of the most inhuman situations in history a series of events played out that… Continue reading The Christmas Truce and football match of 1914.
PS. Thanks for being my hero
As long-time and regular readers will be aware, I have been for some time been interested in a particular family relation of mine, Serjeant Reuel Dunn who served in the Royal Flying Corps, the precursor to the RAF. He was an experience flyer himself and had a number of kills to his name before bad… Continue reading PS. Thanks for being my hero
Sights of the WW1 battlefields
This my penultimate post for now on WW1 and my recent tour to the battlefields of France and Belgium. There are simply so many places to see and despite being out all day, every day for a week, we only scratched the surface. One of the first places that we visited was Vimy Ridge. This… Continue reading Sights of the WW1 battlefields
Paying homage at the Thiepval Memorial to family and strangers alike.
During my trip to the WW1 battlefields in September there were a number of places I wanted to visit for the first time and just as many as I wanted to revisit after a gap of several years. Thiepval though is one of the must-sees for the area, if there can be such a thing… Continue reading Paying homage at the Thiepval Memorial to family and strangers alike.
The Lochnagar Crater and a relic of war
At the end of September I visited some of the WW1 battlefields in northern France and Belgium and thought in the lead up to Armistice Day on 11th November I would dedicate some of my posts to what I saw. One of the places that we visited was the Lochnagar Crater in The Somme. This… Continue reading The Lochnagar Crater and a relic of war
The Angel of Mons
Whilst writing and researching my WW1 history book, Lest We Forget, I came across a number of semi-mythical events and accounts that went from the completely unbelievable to those that actually occurred despite being hugely unlikely. There is the grim tale of the Crucified Soldier which went from being common knowledge in WW1 to increasingly… Continue reading The Angel of Mons
WW1: A nation remembers, a family grieves.
With the war memorial services of the last week, I thought that I would share just one or two of several family photos related to WW1. Though I already knew of many of their stories, I did quite a bit of research into those family members that fought and more often than not, died in… Continue reading WW1: A nation remembers, a family grieves.
At the going down of the sun and in morning, we will remember them
So yesterday was the big day, the 100th anniversary of the start of The Great War – The war to end all wars until of course WW2 at least. Like many other people I spent much of the day watching the live ceremonies from around the country and in France and Belgium. Reading extraordinary accounts… Continue reading At the going down of the sun and in morning, we will remember them
The Lamps are going out all over Europe
It is now 100 years since this famous phrase was first uttered by Sir Edward Grey to describe the ominous feeling that Europe and perhaps the world was about to slip into a war more bloody than most could ever imagine. His remarks were made on the evening of the 3rd August whilst looking out… Continue reading The Lamps are going out all over Europe
Stephen Liddell 