World War I

Europe dangled on the edge of war for a decade before the assassination of the heir-apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914 brought everything to a head. As the nations started to mobilize their armies it was incredible how the citizens of each nation enthusiastically endorsed the coming war.  Jubilation and huge crowds formed in Berlin, Moscow, Paris and London. Four years later though, 16,000,000 were dead, another 21,000,000 were wounded, the governments of Germany, Russia and Austro-Hungary were in shambles and Europe lay in ruins. An entire generation of young men was basically gone. What kind of war could bring this much horror?

Imagine this...you are a soldier standing in a trench waiting to go "over the top" charging headlong into the enemy. When the whistle blows, you and thousands of your brother soldiers climb ladders and start to run across an open field. Facing you are thousands of men armed with rifles. Suddenly the sky is darkened by hand grenades exploding all around you. Artillery rounds come screaming in taking whole sections of land and soldiers and throwing them high into the air. Then machine guns send streams of bullets cutting diagonally across the field, mowing down all in the way. Poison gas starts drifting across the field and the your attack slows down, falters and then everyone flees to the rear. Demoralized and decimated, your soldiers rally in your trench and get ready because here comes the enemy across the same field. They don't make it either and both sides rest, exhausted. Is is any wonder that at the single battle of the Somme, over 1,000,000 men ended as casualties. Battles such as Verdun, Ypres, Cambrai and Paschendaele were all meat-grinders where the soldiers of both sides knew they had little chance of survival.

WWI saw an amazing introduction in new weapons. The airplane, tank, submarine, barbed wire, machine gun, handgrenade, mammoth artillery and poison gas are just some of the horrific weapons which caused such casualties in WWI.

Deks tells the stories of the common soldier - how he lived in bunkers under the ground, fought in the water soaked trenches which stretched from the North Sea down to the Mediterranean. His diet was poor and he endured constant boredom, disease and back-breaking work which was periodically interrupted with the terror of war. Masterfully telling stories of these heroes, Deks helps his audience understand what WWI was all about.

"In 1988 I was asked by the German government to come to Germany to lecture on the stories of soldiers in WWI.  While there, I was privileged to meet with 5-6 German First War veterans. It was a very humbling experience. See the picture to the left.  This is Joseph Ambrose, one of the last US veterans from the Great War. Sadly though, they are all gone now.  The last living veteran from WWI, a Brit, just passed away in August 2009. Thankfully, we have their stories to help us remember them." - Deks on WWI