My family and I were in the greater Washington DC area last year, visiting with my brother-in-law and his family. One afternoon, we traveled to Manassas, a city not too far west from DC. This was the site of the first major battle of the American Civil War in July 1861.
One display at the visitor's center captures the words of a young soldier, suffused with the patriotism and courage that bordered on romanticism. Apparently many of them, and their generals, believed this war wasn't going to last very long.
How wrong they were.
I was struck by how many American deaths this war alone caused, and one larger display draws up the brutal numbers in comparison.
These were just American deaths. How much larger the numbers are, if we take into account all people - across all walks of life in many countries - who died in these major wars.
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