19,240. Study that figure for a moment. That’s the number of soldiers killed on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. That is not the final death toll. This is just a single day. The first day.
Since 1815 the balance of power in Europe had been maintained by a series of treaties. In 1888 Wilhelm II was crowned ‘German Emperor and King of Prussia’ and moved from a policy of maintaining the status quo to a more aggressive position. These actions greatly concerned Germany’s neighbours, who quickly forged new treaties and alliances in the event of war.
Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia on the 28th July 1914, producing a cascade effect across Europe. Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia declared war with Austro-Hungary, Germany declared war with Russia and France declared war with Germany. Germany’s army crossed into neutral Belgium to reach Paris, forcing Britain to declare war with Germany, due to the Treaty of London (1839) whereby Britain agreed to defend Belgium in the event of invasion.
By the 4th August 1914 Britain and much of Europe were therefore pulled into a war which would last 1,566 days, cost 8,528,831 lives and 28,938,073 casualties or missing on both sides.
Armistice Day is held on November 11 every year and commemorates the signing of the armistice between the Allies and Germany at 11 am on 11 November 1918 - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, bringing to an end four years of war. Also called Remembrance Day, they both refer to November 11th although it's not to be confused with Remembrance Sunday, which always falls on the second Sunday in November. Schools, offices and churches up and down the country usually take part in a two-minute silence at 11 am and hold services at war memorials on either or both days.
At the end of the First World War, poppies were the first flowers to grow from the churned mud of Northern France and Flanders battlefields. The significance of the poppy was brought to the public’s attention through the poem In Flanders Fields, written by Canadian surgeon John McCrae whilst serving in Ypres in 1915.
POPPY POEM - In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' Fields.
Before long, poppies made their way to the UK and became the symbol of the Royal British Legion when it was formed in 1921. The first ever 'Poppy Appeal' in the UK that year raised over £106,000 for war veterans. The following year, a poppy factory was set up by Major George Howson MC, giving jobs to disabled former servicemen.
The bright red poppy is regarded as a resilient flower which managed to flourish despite fields being destroyed by war and in 2014 the Poppy Appeal raised a record £44m for the Royal British Legion.
According to the musical "Oh! What a Lovely War" the average life of a machine gunner under attack on the Western Front was four minutes. Throughout, it follows the Smith family - stand-ins for the British working class - who initially view the war with sunny optimism. But after the Smith boys -Jack, Freddie, Harry and George - witness the reality of trench warfare, their illusions are shattered, and the best they can hope for is survival.
The final seven minutes of the film of this musical - directed by Richard Attenborough - includes the most incredible footage and cinematography to include poppies in the context of the First World War and can be viewed here:
