Question to Brits: which world war was a bigger trauma?

[Razgovory]

Poland wasn't really devastated by WW1. And there was no significant deathtoll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties#.C2.A0Poland

Poland was occupied by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia from 1795–1914. By late 1915 Germany had complete control over modern day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3.4 million Poles served in the Armed Forces of the occupying powers during World War I. Total deaths from 1914–18, military and civilian, within the 1919–1939 borders, were estimated at 1,130,000.

[Valmy]

Poland wasn't really devastated by WW1. And there was no significant deathtoll.

Bullshit.

I mean really?  Poles fought on both sides in great numbers and Poland was one of the main theatres of war for awhile.

[Tonitrus]

Incidentally I recently read about some of the proposals for 2014 commemorations, which I think indicate that WWI was a larger trauma. They include flying all official flags at half-mast for the day and ringing the church bells across the country on Armistice Day at the eleventh hour.

Which is interesting considering noone who was an adult (and hardly anyone who was alive) during WWI lives today, but there is a whole lot of people who did during WWII.

A further point to make is that WW2 was a fairly direct result of WW1. IIRC Clemenceau said something to the effect that "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years". Nearly 100 years on and the causes of WW1 are still a matter of intense debate, whereas the causes of WW2 seem straightforward. It all went wrong in August 1914 and Britain was a bit of a loser in the new world created by that, having been a winner and major beneficiary of the long peace before that.

I recall some historian on a show I watched as a teenager calling WW1 and WW2 the "Second Thirty-Years War".

[Ideologue]

I want to think AJP Taylor coined that phrase.

[jimmy olsen]

World War One fought with the pike and shot armies would have been much more interesting to me.

[Jacob]

World War One fought with the pike and shot armies would have been much more interesting to me.

Pity no one told them. I'm sure they all would have been happy to oblige if only they'd known.

[Jacob]

Poland wasn't really devastated by WW1. And there was no significant deathtoll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties#.C2.A0Poland

Poland was occupied by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia from 1795–1914. By late 1915 Germany had complete control over modern day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3.4 million Poles served in the Armed Forces of the occupying powers during World War I. Total deaths from 1914–18, military and civilian, within the 1919–1939 borders, were estimated at 1,130,000.

I guess a million dead Poles is not significant?

[Tamas]

I suspect it is the way it is taught in schools over there. It's supposed to be a festive glorious period, so details like a million death and initial power struggles are gallantly skipped over

[jimmy olsen]

Poland wasn't really devastated by WW1. And there was no significant deathtoll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties#.C2.A0Poland

Poland was occupied by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia from 1795–1914. By late 1915 Germany had complete control over modern day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3.4 million Poles served in the Armed Forces of the occupying powers during World War I. Total deaths from 1914–18, military and civilian, within the 1919–1939 borders, were estimated at 1,130,000.

I guess a million dead Poles is not significant?

Those were Russians and Germans, not Poles! No true Polish patriot would fight for those Imperialist Dogs!

[grumbler]

Poland wasn't really devastated by WW1. And there was no significant deathtoll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties#.C2.A0Poland

Poland was occupied by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia from 1795–1914. By late 1915 Germany had complete control over modern day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3.4 million Poles served in the Armed Forces of the occupying powers during World War I. Total deaths from 1914–18, military and civilian, within the 1919–1939 borders, were estimated at 1,130,000.

I guess a million dead Poles is not significant?

I hate to side with Marti on any issue, but you seem to be trolling here.  Marti didn't say that "one million dead Poles is not significant," he said that the death toll from WW1 was not significant.  Even if we accept the Wiki figures (250,000 military, 370,000 civilian deaths) - which are based on pretty flimsy evidence - that doesn't total a million (which figure would include the German, Austrian, and Russian soldiers killed in battle) and so may not, as Marti claims, be "significant" in Polish history.

[Josquius]

When was there more switch between how the world and people's everyday life looked like?
1913 and 1920ish
or 1938 and late 1940s?

Definitely has to be WW1 in the UK.
Things are confused somewhat by the post-war introduction of the welfare state, some may be too quick to point to the war as the cause of that, but the rise of labour had been going on for years with the messed up situation of the 30s and the war delaying it for a while. There was of course an aspect of reaction to the war but it certainly wasn't the whole picture

[jimmy olsen]

Poland wasn't really devastated by WW1. And there was no significant deathtoll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties#.C2.A0Poland

Poland was occupied by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia from 1795–1914. By late 1915 Germany had complete control over modern day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3.4 million Poles served in the Armed Forces of the occupying powers during World War I. Total deaths from 1914–18, military and civilian, within the 1919–1939 borders, were estimated at 1,130,000.

I guess a million dead Poles is not significant?

I hate to side with Marti on any issue, but you seem to be trolling here.  Marti didn't say that "one million dead Poles is not significant," he said that the death toll from WW1 was not significant.  Even if we accept the Wiki figures (250,000 military, 370,000 civilian deaths) - which are based on pretty flimsy evidence - that doesn't total a million (which figure would include the German, Austrian, and Russian soldiers killed in battle) and so may not, as Marti claims, be "significant" in Polish history.

How big was the population of Poland at the time? 30 millionish?

620k is 2%, that would be normally a devastating loss, but compared to what happened to Poland in World War Two I can see how it would considered paltry.

[Razgovory]

Poland wasn't really devastated by WW1. And there was no significant deathtoll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties#.C2.A0Poland

Poland was occupied by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia from 1795–1914. By late 1915 Germany had complete control over modern day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3.4 million Poles served in the Armed Forces of the occupying powers during World War I. Total deaths from 1914–18, military and civilian, within the 1919–1939 borders, were estimated at 1,130,000.

I guess a million dead Poles is not significant?

I hate to side with Marti on any issue, but you seem to be trolling here.  Marti didn't say that "one million dead Poles is not significant," he said that the death toll from WW1 was not significant.  Even if we accept the Wiki figures (250,000 military, 370,000 civilian deaths) - which are based on pretty flimsy evidence - that doesn't total a million (which figure would include the German, Austrian, and Russian soldiers killed in battle) and so may not, as Marti claims, be "significant" in Polish history.

That's because the Wiki figures you looked at only included Poles who lived in borders of contemporary Poland, not much larger borders that existed between 1919-1939.

[Valmy]

620k is 2%, that would be normally a devastating loss, but compared to what happened to Poland in World War Two I can see how it would considered paltry.

Yeah it was not bordering genocide or anything but I was not aware losses on that scale were not even considered signficant.

[Admiral Yi]

Did the three partitioning powers all draft Poles into their armies?