{"id":3306,"date":"2016-08-25T13:23:32","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T13:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.internationaldiplomat.com\/?p=3306"},"modified":"2016-08-25T13:23:32","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T13:23:32","slug":"3306","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/?p=3306","title":{"rendered":"Nations at War: Centenary Commemorations 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Known as the Great War, and later First World War (1914-18), it was fought in many different lands by armies from many nations. It was one in which the Central Powers (Germany, and Austria-Hungary, joined later by Turkey and Bulgaria) were defeated by an alliance of Britain and its dominions, France, Russia, and others, joined later by Italy and the United States.
\nPolitical tensions over the rise of the German Empire were the war\u2019s principal cause, although it was set off by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Bosnian Serb nationalist in Sarajevo, an event used as a pretext by Austria for declaring war on Serbia. Most of the fighting took place on land in Europe and was generally characterised by long periods of bloody stalemate. The balance eventually shifted in the Allies\u2019 favour in 1917 when the United States joined the war. Total casualties of the war are estimated at ten million killed. One of the consequences of the war was the collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires.
\nIn trenches and mud fighting took place in the snowy forests of Eastern Europe, in Turkey and the deserts of Arabia, on the plains of East Africa. There were great naval battles and beneath the waves, submarines stalked Atlantic shipping. The bloodiest fighting was on the Western Front, a long line of defensive trenches that stretched from Belgium, through France, down to the Swiss border. Medals were awarded while soldiers on both sides lived and died in wretched conditions. Any who fled were tried for desertion and then shot.\u00a0 It was described as the worst conflict the world had ever known \u2026 Historians and others continue to expound on war fronts and the quagmire of horrific battles that took millions of young men like cattle to the slaughter.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>As well as British and Irish soldiers, empire troops included Indians, East Africans, South Africans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. Their allies in the \u2018Entente\u2019 included France and its empire, Japan, Italy (from 1915), Russia (until 1918) and the United States (from 1917). Ranged against them were the \u2018Central Powers\u2019 of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.
\nIn 1914 the soldiers had marched off to war in a patriotic mood, singing the popular songs of the day. When guns fell silent in 1918, some ten million young men had been killed in all the armies. Countless more were left blinded, disabled, or in a state of severe stress called \u2018shell-shock\u2019. The allies had won the war, but at a terrible cost.
\nCentenary Commemorations 2016<\/strong>
\nThe Battle of the Somme was a major battle of the First World War between the British and the Germans on the Western front in northern France July to November 1916. More than a million men on both sides were killed or wounded. In a spirit of reconciliation a number of formal and moving commemoration ceremonies were held in France and elsewhere to remember the dead whose remains are marked by lasting resting places in the several military cemeteries that are maintained in their honour.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The Battle of the Somme had been raging since early July. \u00a0A Supplement to The London Gazette<\/strong> 10th<\/sup> November 1916 printed a long list of Non-Commissioned Officers and Men awarded the Military Medal* for bravery in the field. One of their number is L.\/C. J. Fullerton, MM 9504, 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers. The history of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers is well documented as is the courage shown by the fearless \u2018Dubs\u2019 of the 2nd<\/sup> battalion on 9 October 1916 when they were not far from Ginchy in a place just east of Trones Wood. From there the battalion diarist wrote: Every place is now very desolate owing to the<\/em> previous bombardment. The camp is of tents and owing to the recent heavy rains in a very muddy condition. <\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>John Fullerton was born in Dublin in 1884, married with two children and living with his mother-in- law at Richmond Cottages situated opposite Richmond Barracks where the 1916 Rising leaders were taken after the surrender. He had worked as a machinist in the Great Southern and Western Railway, now Hueston Station, where he is remembered, amongst others, on a WW1 Memorial plaque as Private John Fullerton 9504, 2nd<\/sup> Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
\nIn the centenary year of his death the story of John Fullerton is probably typical of many Irishmen who joined at the outbreak of war. He died of wounds received in action on 24 October 1916 and is laid to rest at Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, France, commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. His headstone reads 9504 Private J. Fullerton, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 28th<\/sup> October 1916. His Military Medal for bravery in the field decorates the headstone where the War Graves Commission has recently agreed to insert the initials M.M.
\nIta Marguet, September 2016<\/strong>
\nNote<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0 Acknowledgement is given to the Fullerton family and other sources used in this text. The *Military Medal<\/strong> (MM) was established in 1916. It was the \u2018other ranks\u2019 equivalent\u2019 to the Military Cross (MC) awarded to Commissioned Officers. The Military Medal was discontinued in 1993 and the Military Cross has been awarded to personnel of all ranks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Known as the Great War, and later First World War (1914-18), it was fought in many different lands by armies from many nations. It was one in which the Central Powers (Germany, and Austria-Hungary, joined later by Turkey and Bulgaria) were defeated by an alliance of Britain and its dominions, France, Russia, and others, joined
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