March 20, 2026
Recently, I had the opportunity to secure a collection of historic 20th century front pages from our largest newspapers. I found them fascinating but also, it struck me they could be the inspiration for various pieces linking together our history with current events. Proving perspective, analysis and food for thought. I will use one from time to time. I hope you enjoy them.
World War One totaled 10,000,000 military deaths and 13,000,000 civilian deaths. Add 20,000,000 wounded and the total jumps to 43,000,000. I have tried to get my mind around those numbers, I have failed. They boggle the mind.
But adding an incredible second source of death, the Spanish Influenza erupted in 1918, not in Spain but in an American military camp. In all, the CDC estimates that 500,000,000 (yes, ½ billion) people were infected (compare that to Covid). CDC estimates global deaths at 50,000,000, and ironically, it attacked young adults between the ages of 20 and 40. How?
It caused a Cytokine storm. The virus triggered an overreaction of the immune system. Ironically, stronger immune systems (young adults) produced a more violent inflammatory response, flooding the lungs with fluid. This is why healthy young adults died at such high rates; they essentially drowned in their own fluids.
Thus, WWI killed, maimed and wounded 100,000,000 people. It was the equivalent of eliminating today the entire population of Iran (89M) and Israel (10M).
In terms of explosives, it is estimated that on the Western Front alone, 1.5 billion tons of explosives were detonated. As examples, the British alone fired roughly 1.5 million shells in the week-long preliminary bombardment at the battle of the Somme. In the battle of Verdun, an estimated 40+ million shells were fired over 10 months, and roughly 60 million tons of soil were churned up. In all, on the Western Front, roughly 5,500 shells were fired per hour, every day, around the clock. Or if you wish, 90 per minute. Put another way, in any single moment, a bomb or artillery shell was being dropped on human beings. Constant.
Of course, the effects of that trauma were profound. Those having an interest in religion and its history would find a rich field of study surrounding the war and its aftermath. As a simple example, Spiritualism had a significant increase in interest as grieving family members attempted to reach their beloved departed. And here is how history rhymes and tumbles down through time and rolls up alongside us:
The apocalyptic mood influenced major political decisions. Lloyd George, shaped by Old Testament teachings, saw the British conquest of Jerusalem as an opportunity to create a Jewish homeland, feeding directly into the Balfour Declaration. If you want to seek the modern source of the foment over the establishment of the State of Israel, there is as good a starting point as any.
I am not alone in believing that there weren’t two world wars. I believe there was one. It started in 1914 and ended in 1945 (excluding the Cold War of course). The unfinished business caused by the punitive terms of the armistice on Germany in 1919 merely continued a political upheaval which led directly to the rise of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler and all that ensued. Thus, after all the death and destruction of World War One, it was the hothouse and cradle for the second which itself caused 85,000,000 deaths.
WWI was the first real industrial war. Tactics were rooted in the 19th century…you massed your troops, and they went over the top and you counted on large enough numbers to survive the bloodshed to take out the enemy.
The problem was those generals who pushed those strategies did not realize that the killing power of the modern industrial army had increased exponentially, thus giving well-entrenched defenders nearly impregnable positions.
Massed tactics were developed in the Napoleonic Wars, when a soldier would pause, fire his rifle, and then laboriously reload. Thus, rates of fire were relatively slow and those rifles not at all accurate (it would take a rifled barrel to increase accuracy).
But when those massed attacks ran into the German Maxim machine gun, they confronted a weapon that fired 250 rounds per minute of sustained fire…four bullets per second. It multiplied exponentially, the power of defense.
This is why warfare eventually settled into trench stalemate. But it took thick-headed generals millions of casualties to learn their tactics were fatally flawed. The Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 featured150,000 combined casualties. Lessons not learned! A year later, at the Battle of the Somme, 1,500,000 casualties filled the butcher’s bill.
As we read news announcements today about fighting in the Middle East, we do well to keep this history in mind. What we see today, as tragic as it is, pales in comparison to what happened in the 20th century. And we learn that when evil is confronted, we might consider how much can be lost by postponing what is mostly the inevitable. People like Hitler and the Ayatollah do not change. History does teach that you should have the fight on your own timetable and terms.
Finally, one always must conclude this type of piece with Santayana:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Or,
“Wer sich nicht an die Vergangenheit erinnern kann, ist dazu verdammt, sie zu wiederholen.”
Wanted to be sure the Germans read it.
Thoughts, questions, or reflections? I’d love to hear them. You can reach me anytime at anthony@workingprofit.com
