In 2018, as part of centenary observances of World War 1, a monument unveiled at Fiume Road Graveyard in Budapest. This became the first national memorial erected commemorating the efforts Hungarians undertook during the Great War. Government officials noted the memorial was in line with a fundamental theme of the nation: to restore historical continuity broken during the Nazi and Communist occupations.
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Italy remembers World War One – la Grande Guerra – a bit differently than World War Two. First off, they were on the winning side in the first war. Second, a little over a hundred thousand more Italians died during the First than the Second – 651,000 to 689,000 compared to approximately 500,000. The vast cost of the First War in treasure and men along with THE thought by Italians as unfair results of their sacrifices at the treaty tables at the war’s end ended destabilizing the nation. Enter the Blackshirts and Benito Mussolini.
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Along the old highway leading south into Trieste – State Highway 14 – just past where the ancient river of mystery, the Timavo, emerges to run its short course to the sea, stands a stone monument in memory to Maggiore Giovanni Randaccio who lost his life near here 28 May 1917. A short burst of machine-gun fire mortally wounded the young 32-year-old Italian. His death due to Austrian gunfire. Alas, a death also a result of his friendship with the self-proclaimed Vate of Italy, Gabriele D’Annunzio.
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One of the true gems of the Mediterranean world is the little town of Kotor lying at the head of a ten-mile-long fjord system flanked by huge peaks rising over 4,000 feet above the waters. Lying deep in its mountain fastness, Kotor positively exudes magic, even in the wake of ever-increasing numbers of tourists and development threatening to divest the enchantment. Hidden amongst the cliffs and peaks the bays and fjords lie 83 forts around Cattaro erected during the 19th century by the military of the Austrian empire. Their role, to both defend the Bocce di Cattaro – Bay of Kotor – from sea and land attack.
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Drive on US 30 as the highway meets US 101 underneath the Oregon side of the Astoria-Megler bridge over the Columbia River and you pass a small statue of a World War I soldier. The monument is “the Doughboy” or Astoria’s Doughboy. Doughboy refers to the nickname given to American infantrymen during the Great War. The nickname continued to refer to American soldiers until the Second World War nickname “G.I.”.
World War 1 was a major event in the country’s history. The war pushed a somewhat unwilling nation onto the international stage. Not since the American Civil War had something like World War 1 transfixed the US. During that war, some 10% of the population of the Union served in the Federal Army. By 1918, with 4.8 million serving in the armed forces, 4.7% of the population had served.
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