There was an interesting article in today's DEPECHE DU MIDI; this is the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Verdun. They showed a photo of the trenches and gave the following statistic: the battle lasted for ten months. 145,000 German soldiers and 160,000 French soldiers died during those months.

Can you even begin to comprehend those numbers? And that statistic was for a battle at one, single location. During the course of the war, France lost 1,375,000 of its young men. Russia lost 1,700,000 and the United Kingdom lost 703,000. Germany lost 1,773,700 and the Austria-Hungary lost 1,200,000. Of course, there were large numbers in other countries as well, but these were the main players.

Reading this made me angry at those Americans who make fun of France's ability to fight a war. U.S. casualties for World War I were 123,000. Perhaps that puts the various contributions into perspective. Is it any wonder that the face of Europe was totally changed by the war? Ten percent of the active, adult male population was lost. Imagine, if you will, what that would mean today? It's a staggering statistic.

And, for what? Historians agree that "the war to end all wars" was ultimately deemed to be an "arbitrary and unfortunate mistake." Well, isn't that special. Does it remind anyone of anything?

Randy