I think "great" in this context is meant to be understood as remarkable, of outstanding significance, or extensive. All words that can be used to describe World War I.
Inasmuch as war itself allows us to plumb the depths of our disgust and disgusting behaviour, the use of the adjective in this case is apropos.
It's easy for those of us in these modern times with so many "armed conflicts" littering our collective consciousnesses, but for those who experienced first-hand that first truly modern mechanized global conflict it was literally like visiting hell on earth. It was probably the most life-changing and singular moment for many who lived through it.
All previous wars, including the disastrous Napoleonic campaigns (which had the dubious distinction of being the largest armed conflict to date) paled in comparison (so far as we can measure these things, which by their nature are almost unquantifiable) in every single way one can compare such things.
This, of course, is not to minimize experiences elsewhere since. World War I was pretty much the first conflict waged on such a scale. A scale so great that at the time those who experienced it found it nearly impossible to fully comprehend.
(An ironic postscript: the CAPTCHA that came up for this comment is based on the world "soldier.")
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Date: Tuesday, 11 November 2008 06:59 pm (UTC)Inasmuch as war itself allows us to plumb the depths of our disgust and disgusting behaviour, the use of the adjective in this case is apropos.
It's easy for those of us in these modern times with so many "armed conflicts" littering our collective consciousnesses, but for those who experienced first-hand that first truly modern mechanized global conflict it was literally like visiting hell on earth. It was probably the most life-changing and singular moment for many who lived through it.
All previous wars, including the disastrous Napoleonic campaigns (which had the dubious distinction of being the largest armed conflict to date) paled in comparison (so far as we can measure these things, which by their nature are almost unquantifiable) in every single way one can compare such things.
This, of course, is not to minimize experiences elsewhere since. World War I was pretty much the first conflict waged on such a scale. A scale so great that at the time those who experienced it found it nearly impossible to fully comprehend.
(An ironic postscript: the CAPTCHA that came up for this comment is based on the world "soldier.")