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It lasted only six years, but it produced the biggest armies, the longest battle lines, and the most devastating weapons of any other war. It inflicted more suffering, destroyed more, and cost more than any other war. It killed perhaps thirty-five million, including millions who were never in uniform, for it was also a war that slaughtered a great deal more indiscriminately than any war before it. Like every war before it, the fighting was done largely by men who knew little about why it had started, who was to blame, or what sort of world it would leave when it was over. There was never much doubt about what we were fighting for or whether victory was worth the price. Few wars have had such a clear-cut purpose. We fought to win, and win we did. But when peace came, the world was very different than it was before, and it would never be the same again. |
