British WWI captain released by Kaiser from German prison camp so he could see his dying mother in K - Polidicks

[QUOTE=catbarf;42078802]That's some serious rose-tinted glasses if you're going to ignore the widespread massacre of native peoples, frequent refusal to accept surrender leading to execution of prisoners, and the use of weapons specifically designed to inflict pain and maim rather than kill (see: gas, land mines). The idea of 'honor' in the era of the First World War was a bullshit veneer of European civility fueled by long-out-of-date notions of romanticism that were only forcibly ended when it was impossible to ignore the brutal reality of war, primarily through front-line reporting and photographs. You want to talk about 'honor' in a war where civilians were hunted as opportunity targets by U-boats, Germany conspired in secret with Mexico to try to start a land invasion of an ostensibly neutral country, and the complaint to the US that shotguns caused horrific, crippling injuries was essentially met with 'deal with it'. The idea of a 'gentlemanly conflict' was left to rot in the trenches.[/QUOTE] Well said. This makes me think about how in just the past few years, confidence in our police has dropped dramatically. All our lives we were taught they were among the best of men ("New York's Finest", for example), but suddenly mountains of video evidence starts getting shared of extremely out of line conduct by police officers who should know better. You can thank youtube and camera phones for this, just the same way early cameras and reporting helped eliminate the romance of war. It gets very interesting when you think about how easy access to information hurts authorities. Why else would they be so hell bent on restricting the internet?

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;42084792][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Passchendaele"]yo[/URL] and a million other battles to take strategically useless hills and a thousand other wars that were started over name calling, border conflicts, and women. Hell, the Trojan war was waged because the king's wife ran off with another man. You're completely blind if you think every war is waged for a reason.[/QUOTE] Name calling, border conflicts and women are all reasons. They're just not good ones. [QUOTE=thisispain;42084797]plenty of generals have sent kids to die for useless reasons in history, not as much today because now theyre accountable, but in the past petty squabbles between the ruling class constantly resulted in useless conflicts. i said in the name of nothing, and that still stands. what are you dying in the name of when you die in a conflict like that? honour and pride? honour and pride mean nothing, you're dead either way. im not trying to be edgy, i just find this concept of honour and pride deplorable. i think we're better off not thinking that way.[/QUOTE] Oh, I know full well that wars have been waged for the most pathetic reasons imaginable; but they were always waged for a reason. As I said, no general or king has ever intentionally sent men into battle [I]without [/I]a reason. Then you have to consider that as far as the people doing the sending were concerned, it was totally justified. But yeah, it's all dumb.

Back when war still had some honor.. besides the chemical warfare, trenches and shelling part.

Heh the people that think war was ever a "gentleman's" affair should look up the history of the town the POW camp was in. Specifically the Sacking of Magdeburg.

[QUOTE=Sword and Paint;42093859]Back when war still had some honor..[/QUOTE] yes, sure is honorable to be forced out of a trench under artillery fire, charge across the fields into the enemy guns or retreat back and face your countries guns. [QUOTE=Sword and Paint;42093859] besides the chemical warfare, trenches and shelling part.[/quote] So WWI was honorable except for all the things that caused the most casualties. You guys have a really shitty warped view of what honor and chivalry is, and portraying that on warfare is pretty fucking offensive to those who actually fought and died in those senseless wars.

[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;42094629]yes, sure is honorable to be forced out of a trench under artillery fire, charge across the fields into the enemy guns or retreat back and face your countries guns. So WWI was honorable except for all the things that caused the most casualties. You guys have a really shitty warped view of what honor and chivalry is, and portraying that on warfare is pretty fucking offensive to those who actually fought and died in those senseless wars.[/QUOTE] guess what he was being a smartass. [editline]6th September 2013[/editline] Did you honestly think it was a serious post?

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42094993]guess what he was being a smartass. [editline]6th September 2013[/editline] Did you honestly think it was a serious post?[/QUOTE] hard to tell with you people.

[QUOTE=thisispain;42083044] "dignity"[/QUOTE] Your point would have come across better if you used a picture of a gas attack or something.