101st Anniversary Of W.W. I

Today is a big anniversary for the United States that few alive today could ever remember. It's the anniversary of 'The Great War", which began in 1914, but which began for the U. S. April, 6th, 1917. The U.S. Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, formally bringing the United States into World War I. I am old, but not nearly old enough to have been alive then. I have always thought that W.W. I was the most interesting of all the wars I have studied or read about. World War I changed the world, for more than military means. And sadly, though it was called "the war to end all wars" because it involved most of the world's nations and killed (17 million) so many people, I suspect we have a few more wars on the horizon in most places in the world.

The war was notable for using more advanced industrial technology than any previous war, leading to high numbers of casualties. But those high tech inventions translated well into peace time. Air traffic control, rapid improvements in airplanes, giant ships later used commercially like the air craft carrier, hydrophones, pilot less drones, mobile x ray machines and even the sanitary napkin were all invented during and because of the war. This is not to say we should have a war to spur inventions. That's because tracer bullets, the machine gun, poison gas, the tank and flame throwers were brought about during that war.

But wars are not measured by technology. One of those was the status of women in society forever changed in the U.S. (Uh, this is when women became the boss to we men....) Because women were needed to help in the war effort they were employed in most aspects of the economy and military that fought in the war. Women did what men did before the war and did it just as well, proving that the notion that women were to be seen and treated as inferior was ended in the United States. Because wars are frightening and difficult for societies, they tend to bring us together in effort, and this makes us realize the artificial prejudices and the perceived differences among us should be forgotten even after the war.

Wars should not be forgotten after their conclusion. They should remind us that amidst the worst in humans that those wars display are also moments that show humans are better than the conflicts that they create.