2017 Over Dere!
Samuel Clemens or better known by his name-de-plume Mark Twain once stated that "History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. Aint' no better evidence of it rhyming when you look at World War II and understand its roots in World War I.
The reality is growing up Mike and Bone, and Bone's buddy Ron learned History in Metro Detroit in that there was the American Revolution, then the Civil War, then World War II, Vietnam, and Mike and Bone's Reign of Terror. World War One is not really much of an American war, we entered late and only played a minor role in the grand scheme of le Grand Guerre (French for the Great War.) Bone had had a chance to check out a few of the site and had many beer sessions with Mike and then with Ron. When Bone suggested a trip to visit most of the Western Fronts Battles Mike and Ron were in! So the Trio of Terror assembled in Brussels to check out the start in Liege to the end in Compiegne, with Belgian Frites, waffles, Belgian Beers, peeing baby statues( Manneke Piis!), Steak frites, more beers, French reds, and an awesome Absinthe in Harry's New York in Paris (?!?), it was a typical Mike and Bone trip with hijinks, history, and hilarity with Ron!
So What Caused World War I!!!
Those damned family jealousies !!! World War One was all started in large part to petty families jealousies, well considering the family maybe not petty and maybe royal (definitely royal pains in the asses !!!). Willie, Georgie, and Nicky were all grandsons of Queen Victoria, Willy wanted a bigger empire and had a complex of being hemmed in by the Russians on one side and the French on the other, and was itching for a war like the Franc-Prussian War of 1870 where Germany expanded into French Alsace-Lorraine. With this backdrop all the European Powers started alliances that would result in war if one attacked the other. With Germany (with Willie) and Austria-Hungary on the one hand in the Central Powers, and Russia (Nicky), France, and Great Britain(Georgie) or the Triple Entente on the other. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by an ethnic Serb who had been supported by a nationalist organization simply lit the match that escalated into a four year war across the globe that killed 17 million. Good thing this was the "war to end all wars !!! (was it???!)
What the heck is "Over Dere"?
Over Dere, or more likely known as Over There was a World War I song penned by George M. Cohan during the earliest days of the United States' involvement in the Great War, "Over There" stands as an artifact of a more innocent time. But for the so-called doughboys of the United States Army, something like Old World esprit de corps was still possible. "Over There" was the greatest of the wartime propaganda songs, made famous by the singer Noya Bayes, and recorded dozens of times, once by the opera star Enrico Caruso. By 1918, and the end of hostilities in the European theater, more than a hundred thousand Americans had lost their lives. It goes Over there, over there, send the word, send the word over there that the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming the drums rum-tumming everywhere. So prepare, say a prayer, send the word, send the word to beware -We'll be over, we're coming over, and we won't come back till it's over, over there. SO, in that spirit Mike and Bone and Ron, decided to go .OVER DERE!
Day 1: Napoleon had a Beef with Wellington
Day 2: The Jean-Paul Memorial Tour of Ft. Loncin!
Day 3: Ypres-Jeepers this place gives me the poppy creepers!
Day 4: The Boys Crater at the very Somme-ber trenches of Beaumont-Hamel
Day 6: "Hey Marne, you want some Compeigne at Harrys!?!
Mike, Bone and Ron's Western Front!
