Undoubtedly, the First World War is overshadowed by the Second World War. One might argue that the latter war is unmatched in terms of dead, wounded, and plain cruelty. However, in order to truly understand the Second World War, one needs to understand the great seminal catastrophe, the First World War. The roots and foundations of many problems and challenges of the past and to some extent even today’s world date back to the First World War and its consequences.
A good place to start understanding things is Flanders, Belgium. Worth a trip for its medieval cities and villages alone, the area will forever be a memorial site for what happens when gloom reigns. In August 1914, German troops invaded Belgium. Close to the town of Ypres, the advance of the German troops came to a stop quite soon. From October 1914 onwards, a bloody trench warfare went on until late 1918. Throughout the whole course of the First World War, the frontlines never really moved. Those former frontlines are today called “Ypres Salient”.
When the war was still young, the war zone around Ypres supposedly was the home of the famous Christmas truce. Later on, the war zone around Ypres became a battlefield unmatched in terms of barbarity: Lethal gas was first used in the war trenches of Ypres. Exploring Ypres Salient today, you will come across an endless amount of graveyards. The most famous ones: Langemark German war cemetery, where 44,061 former soldiers are buried, and Tyne Cot, where 11,965 former soldiers of the Commonwealth are buried. Numbers which speak for themselves. As the numbers themselves would not be enough, the view of mass graves and endless crosses for soldiers whose names are known only to God, or who are simply missing, is absolutely horrifying. Walking into Tyne Cot, a voice keeps reading the names and the ages of fallen soldiers, making you realize that a whole generation was fed to guns and grenades. Not only Belgian, French, British and German soldiers died in the war zone of Ypres: people from more than 50 nations and cultures fought in the area.
A visit of Ypres Salient must be completed by a visit to the town of Ypres itself. Before the First World War, the town was home to a massive Cloth Hall, even one of the biggest buildings of the Middle Ages worldwide. Unfortunately, Ypres was almost completely erased from the map during the battles of the First World War. However, after the war, large parts of the town, including its famous Cloth Hall, were completely rebuilt true to the original. The impressive Cloth Hall itself is home to the excellent In Flanders Fields museum which does a great job in explaining coherences of the First World War around Ypres, while showcasing the fate of individuals and illustrating the cruelty of the battles.
A visit to Ypres will leave everyone speechless. There are many things which can be understood in Ypres and then again, there are things which are so inhuman that they cannot be understood at all. Getting to know the inhumanely battles of Ypres makes you wonder how the world was able to slide into an even more bloody warfare only 21 years later. Current events and movements show that, even in open societies, the seeds of nationalistic thinking can still grow. Exploring Ypres Salient, one thing becomes sharp and clear: these seeds lead the world into pure and utter darkness two times in a row. Under any circumstance we have to push back in order to prevent these seeds from growing further.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies grow
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 poem was written by John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, died from pneumonia, most certainly caused by inhaling chlorine gas during the Second Battle of Ypres.
@sebel_tours 
[…] in European history a few years ago. So I was very happy when I got the chance to visit the Ypres Salient in 2019, a shocking experience despite previously learning and reading a lot about the Great War. […]
LikeLike