ANZAC DAY - LEST WE FORGET

LazyUmberto wrote:
Seriously, no need to get worked up.

I wasn't taught ANYTHING about ANZAC Day or Gallipoli in any level of education in Canada despite going to well-ranked schools AND studying history during those specific periods. Whenever WW1 came up, the focus was always on the horrors of trench warfare in Europe, the rapid industrialization of weaponry/technology couple with the slow methods of transportation, the assignation of Archduke Ferdinand, and WW1 treaty of Versailles which created grievances that led to the rise of Hitler and WW2. That's about it. And Canada is part of the commonwealth.

Gallipoli wasn't covered and even more obscure but significant aspects of WW1 were not covered but are being widely studied today. And this shi t is quite interesting ... like:

1) India had the largest number of voluntary soldiers who fought and died in Europe during WW1, what was their motivation? Why did they sign up in such numbers to fight alongside their 'oppressors'?

2) Little is know about African troops who also fought bravely and valiantly. I recently read an obscure book/diary of a WW1 Canadian frontline soldier who spoke glowingly of the 'Negro' soldiers who fought with extraordinary courage, bravery, and ultimate sacrifice.

3) WW1 has DIRECT ties to modern conflicts in Serbia/Kosovo, the Middle East etc. Very little research is being done on a micro level to understand just how these conflicts continue to fuel ethnic, ideological, and national tensions.

It's be great if we learned about this. Historians call WW1 "the forgotten war" because so little is taught about it anywhere besides the 30 sec commercial sound bites.

Just my 2 cents... :)

Thanks for the info. I've been reading about it this morning and it's pretty interesting. Sorry to get into with that troll and derail the thread. My apologies.