This image seems innocuous, even peaceful. You can almost imagine the feel of the gentle wind on your skin, feel the long grass tickling your legs, and your face brighten with joy at the audacity of the bright red poppies, daring to peek their heads out from beneath the seemingly endless stream of grass. You can all but hear the gentle call of birds, and the rustle of the grass. Looking out across this field a sense of calm invades your senses, but one hundred years ago this field was anything but calm.
Almost exactly one hundred years and one month ago this field was plunged into a bloody battle and became the place nearly 300,000 men died or were wounded. This field of poppies was once the front line of World War I, the home of The First Battle of Marne (September 6-12, 1914). One hundred years ago, our world was breaking apart, the tendrils of World War I spreading fast. This field is just one of many where countless men sacrificed their lives for one of the worst wars in human history. It doesn’t seem possible that just one hundred years ago—or perhaps that it was only a hundred years ago—our world was warring.
“The war destroyed kings, kaisers, czars and sultans; it demolished empires; it introduced chemical weapons, tanks and airborne bombing; it brought millions of women into the work force.” It is surely hard to deny that World War I had an unspeakably large impact on society. As the ‘war to end all wars’ it taught us so much more about starting them. The epidemic of World War I in Europe quickly spread through Asia in World War II. These ‘viruses’ infected the lives of millions of people, perhaps even billions. In every country this legacy is different, each story viewed in a different way. “If the inheritance is mixed, the war still casts a long shadow, refracted through what can now seem the inevitability of World War II and our tumultuous modern history.”
Our views are clouded and our opinions set in iron, but there is no denying that World War I happened. There is no denying that thousands and thousands of men died. They died fighting for their countries—be they right or wrong. They died in the muck and mud and many of them did not even get recognition for it. Partially because many of them were never found. At this point, it does not matter what we have been taught or how we look at it, there can be no denying that these men died creating one of the most famous and infamous stories in world history. One of the most lasting stories in world history. They died creating World War I—and even a century cannot change that.
I love how you opened up your post with such expressive imagery and personification. You perfectly described how I responded to the picture of the field where the battle had taken place. I never would have guessed that was where a war was fought! In the next paragraph, you did a great job of switching tones and creating a more dark aura with the phrase 'plunged into a bloody battle'. The idea was emphasized with alliteration to further enhance your idea and make the piece sound more poetic. One thing that I would suggest to alter in the future is the content of the third paragraph. I feel like the quotes that you used to embellish your writing could have been more effective if they had been thoroughly described. Other than that, great job!
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