The First World War caused suffering on a scale that had not been seen before.
Advancements in technological and industrial sophistication wreaked unexpected devastation on armies using outmoded tactics from an earlier time.
“In Flanders Fields” is a war poem written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae that immortalized the poppy as a symbol of Remembrance.
Click here to read the entire poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
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.
The story goes that McCrae was unhappy with the poem and threw it away, but it was saved by fellow soldiers and published in London’s Punch magazine.
McCrae fought at Ypres and had to bury a close friend in the fields of Flanders, Belgium.
He noticed how quickly poppies grew around the graves.
The poem’s reference to red poppies helped make the poppy internationally recognized as a symbol of Remembrance Day.
The First World War was one of the deadliest conflicts in human history.
The Allies lost around 6 million military personnel and the Central Powers lost around 4 million.
It was called “the war to end war”.
Samuel Barber’s haunting Adagio for Strings brings home the immense sadness of a world at war.
![Infantry from the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment, New Zealand Division in the Switch Line near Flers, taken some time in September 1916, after the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53439511127_d812fd32f4_o.jpg)
![A ration party of the Royal Irish Rifles in a communication trench during the Battle of the Somme](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53439511357_e29dc125b2_o.jpg)
![A German prisoner helps British wounded make their way to a dressing station near Bernafay Wood following fighting on Bazentin Ridge, 19 July 1916, during the Battle of the Somme.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440762389_95094e7d5f_o.jpg)
![Gathering the wounded](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440859840_cdfc13f5a4_o.jpg)
![Soldiers of an Australian 4th Division field artillery brigade on a duckboard track passing through Chateau Wood, near Hooge in the Ypres salient, 29 October 1917](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440842700_a3ddfdb3ea_b.jpg)
![British soldiers haul an 18 pdr field gun out of the mud near Zillebeke.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440777309_bbffb03a2b_o.jpg)
!['Man in the mud' sculpture in the Australian War Memorial. Adapted from image by Nick-D.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440620543_f3815543bd_o.jpg)
Graphic content warning: image of trench feet
![](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5713/22856199016_828a04a9dd_b.jpg)
![Troops 'going over the top' at the start of the Battle of the Somme in 1916](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53439538332_1c9ee0e545_o.jpg)
![Soldiers drill in their gas masks during World War I](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440609353_ab56f19e56_o.jpg)
![Men of the 12th Royal Scots wear respirators during a gas attack on a front line trench, Meteren.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53439538327_4fbd08f068_o.jpg)
![British 55th (West Lancashire) Division troops blinded by tear gas await treatment 10 April 1918, part of the German offensive in Flanders.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440859835_8e148f95d2_o.jpg)
![Members of the 6th Battalion in August 1918 near Lihons during the Battle of Amiens.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53439549607_9d0cf952e3_o.jpg)
![Stretcher bearers struggle in mud up to their knees to carry a wounded man to safety near Boesinghe on 1 August 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440799954_bd6def11f2_o.jpg)
!['The Response', World War I Memorial, Barras Bridge](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440609358_2413e0b7b4_o.jpg)
![Wytschaete Military Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery war cross](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440504726_0fd4db0db6_b.jpg)
![Tyne Cot cemetery, the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for WW1. The 'Cross of Sacrifice' can be seen in the background.](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53440813804_7b37e44ff7_o.jpg)
![Ossuary of Douaumont, Verdun, France](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4584/38328850761_589ab52fa1_b.jpg)
![Lafayette Escadrille memorial in Marnes-la-Coquette, France. During World War I, it was a French Air Service squadron comprised largely of volunteer American fighter pilots](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53439574137_1c651bb0b5_o.jpg)
![National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4585/38297156932_b789a0bcd5_b.jpg)
![Graves in the Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery, seen with the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, Thiepval, France.](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4521/38297220422_cb932c7777_b.jpg)
![Poppies Field in Flanders](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5646/22870842582_8b656725f2_b.jpg)
Recommended Reading:
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In this landmark, Pulitzer Prize–winning account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world.
“A fine demonstration that with sufficient art rather specialized history can be raised to the level of literature.”—The New York Times.
“ has a vitality that transcends its narrative virtues, which are considerable, and its feel for characterizations, which is excellent.”—The Wall Street Journal.
“More dramatic than fiction . . . a magnificent narrative—beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained.”—Chicago Tribune.