Hat Tip to Grendel for this:
The History Channel has a fabulous tribute to Memorial Day. It consists of military maps of historical US wars such as the Revolutionary War, War with Mexico, War of 1812, Civil War and more. They also have an interesting Did You Know? section with interesting tidbits:
- The number of U.S. armed forces personnel who served in World War II between Dec. 1, 1941, and Dec. 31, 1946 was 16.1 million. – A total of 292,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines were killed in battle in WWII. – The number of other deaths sustained by U.S. forces during WWII was 114,000. – 671,000 U.S. troops were wounded during WWII.
16 million American soldiers. Phew! The History Channel delivers some neat stuff. Visit its Memorial Day Homepage for more.
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COMMENTS / 6 COMMENTS
Dave Schuler added these pithy words on 30 May 06 at 2:19 pmAnd that was when the country’s population was 120 million. That’s 1 in 8 having served.
IJ added these pithy words on 30 May 06 at 5:38 pmWW2 casualties are recorded in Wikipedia. The biggest losers were the Soviet Union (23.2m deaths), China (10m), Germany (7.5m), Poland (5.6m), Indonesia (4m), and Japan (2.6m). Expressed as a proportion of the population, the countries who suffered most were Poland (160.9 in 1000), Lithuania (141.2), and the Soviet Union (137.7).
In order to prevent a repeat, the United Nations was formed with an emphasis on controls over the global economy. However the key controls were unfortunately scrapped in the early 1970’s.
snow added these pithy words on 30 May 06 at 7:06 pm“However the key controls were unfortunately scrapped in the early 1970’s.”
Unfortunately? Thank god the UN has as little influence over the global economy as it does, incompetent as it is in so many other areas.
IJ added these pithy words on 30 May 06 at 7:34 pmYou guessed that the US scrapped them. But then again, international treaties are no barrier to the ‘exceptional’ nation.
germanicus added these pithy words on 30 May 06 at 11:53 pm“. . But then again, international treaties are no barrier to the ‘exceptional’ nation.” Nor to most other nations either if they seem to conflict with their interests.
IJ added these pithy words on 01 Jun 06 at 3:51 pmThe principles of war are being re-examined at a conference in John Hopkins University. JHU just posted the “speech by Christopher Coker”, the latest guest:http://www.jhuapl.edu/POW/rethinking/video.cfm; at 6 minutes in, tape 3 notes the fundamental change in the way the United States now conducts warfare:
“George Bush, unlike every other American President, does not promise security in the form of a new world order; Woodrow Wilson did when he took the country into war in 1917; Roosevelt did in 1941; even [GW Bush’s] father did after Operation Desert Storm in 1991. This the first president in a hundred years who says there’s no such thing as a global order, just a global disorder – all we can do is manage it to make the level of risk that our citizens have to suffer day by day more acceptable.”
However many think that global order should be promoted, instead.
