which war

[crazie]

which war was the most horrible war world war 1 or world war 2

[Ethel]

All war is horrible, especially if you are in it.

[goldenboy]

define horrible, both were bad in different ways.

[spudqueen]

If I had to go back in time and fight in one or the other I would choose the second world war as there is no way I would want to be in the trenches in World War I.

[jno]

I know what you mean spudqueen but note that the death toll was far higher in WW2 (about 60 million to 15 million, I think); so WW2 was more dangerous. I don't suppose the trenches were worse than Japanese prison camps. It would depend where you were sent to fight. Those at home had to put up with aerial bombing (on both sides); that was minimal in WW1.

[Loosehead]

WW1 no contest. The arrogance of the military leaders threw away a generation of young men on dubious tactics, that they stuck with come what may. I don't know if the total deaths where comparable with WW2 but the manner made it more horrific.

[bernardo]

From the point of view of the whole world, it was WW2 (55 million dead compared with 10million for WW1). For the UK and Empire, it was WW1 (700,000 dead compared with 300,000 for WW2).

[shammydodger]

It would be interesting to hear Henry Allingham's view as to which he found more horrible. He's the 110 year-old veteran who's been on the TV today in relation to the 1st Veterans' Day commemoration in Britain. He fought at The 1st Battle of the Somme in 1916, and was on active service in WWII. An unscientific and unrepresenatative exercise, I know, but to ask him for his personal recollections and opinion would be illuminating from 1 soldier's perspective.

WWII probably involved far more non-military in the carnage. I'm thinking of the Holocaust and the purges by Stalin, for example, as well as those civilians killed in the Blitz and the firestorms of Cologne, Hamburg etc. And I wouldn't for a moment attempt to belittle the sufferings of the POWs in Japanese hands or, indeed, the soldiers on the Eastern Front. But I tend to agree with Loosehead in terms of the sheer horror and despair that must have confronted the Tommy, the Frenchman and, indeed, the Boche, in the trenches.

[charlybabe]

both were awful wars-as bad as each other