TOPIC: JRR Tolkien and the Somme Centennial

Something to think about on this 4th of July weekend in America.

The country we from which we declared independence commemorated the bloodiest day in its military history Friday July 1st.

The Battle of the Somme began July 1st 1916 and would see almost 20,000 British soldiers killed by the end of day one. Over a million casualties would be counted by November. Knowing that JRR Tolkien was part of the battle and experienced it first hand is incredible.

There is a story about Tolkien and the Somme in the NY Times:

www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/opinion/sunday/how-jrr-tolkien-found-mordor-on-the-western-front.html?_r=0

There was also some very moving commemorations in the UK put on by an artist and several theater companies portraying Ghost Soldiers:
We're Here Because We're Here

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/secrets-behind-wearehere-revealed-how-8328558

Watch the videos for sure. Incredible.

Mordor and the Dead Marshes turn 100 years old, and I feel like I get a sense of what real sacrifice looks like.

An army of lions led by donkeys.

Yep. One veteran said "We were two years in the making and ten minutes in the destroying"

A contemporary German take on 1916.

Wow. I don't want to say "That was cool" due to the topic but thats pretty powerful. Great tune. I remember enough German to get most of it. Glad there are lyrics to go along.

An outstanding book on WWI is "A World Undone" by G J Meyer. It is very readable, each chapter ends with with a short background of the important places and people. The book is written to a modern age who is quite unfamiliar with the world as it was in those days.

You might enjoy this YouTube Channel.

They do a weekly video on events of the Great War for that week 100 years ago. And some special theme videos as well.

www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

Awesome!

Thanks!