I've watched several documentaries about WWI today on TV. I don't understand how such a butchery could happen: most of them must have known that they were going to die!
For example, there are hundreds of thousands of graves around Ypres. Basically, they're grouped into units (example: "5th Grenadier Regiment", followed by the names of all the soldiers that were in this regiment, from the officiers to the drummers)
Another example: did you know that during the first days of the war (august 1914), a French army stormed into the Belgian Ardennes, attempting to stop the Germans.
150,000 French soldiers have been killed there in 10 days, which is incredible when you compare it to the 200,000 US Soldiers who have been killed on the Western Front during the whole WWII.
Others examples are the battles of Verdun (250,000 killed for a hill), of the Somme (over one million killed) or Ypres (over one million of soldiers killed for a small town).
I wonder why there weren't more mutinies.
Fortunately, there is now a lasting peace in Europe, thanks to the European Union.
Today, we played not only the Brabançonne, but also the European Anthem.
YouTube - Beethoven 9th - Ode to Joy