5. 1943 was arguably the worst year of the Second World War, not least since the Nazi genocide machine was in full flow.
There really were no ‘good’ years between the start of the Second World War in 1939 and its conclusion in 1945. But 1943 was arguably the worst of the lot. Not only was the fighting at its peak but the Holocaust reached a climax as well. For years, the Nazi regime had been planning the annihilation of the Jewish people and, by the summer of 1943, they had perfected their sick system of efficient, systematic slaughter. Within the first half of 1943, an estimated 1.2 million Jews had been deported from Nazi-occupied lands, many of them sent to death camps.
By this point of the war, of course, the Allied powers had an appreciation of what was happening to Europe’s Jews. However, they lacked the military capability or, according to other, more-critical voices, the political will, to stop it. What’s more, 1943 also saw Britain increase the volume of food it took from its Indian colonies, with around 3 million then dying of starvation in the Bengal province. And in the United States, meanwhile, racial violence spiked right across the country as men of color were drafted into the Army to fight overseas without being given full rights at home.
Also Read: SS Officer’s Dramatic Trial Confessions Claimed He Joined the Nazi Regime to Save Jews.
4. 1914 began brightly, with Europe enjoying unprecedented peace and prosperity, but it ended in carnage and bloodshed.
Given the massive contrast between how it started and how it ended, it could be argued that 1914 was one of the worst years ever. At the beginning of the year, Europe was at peace. Moreover, most of its societies were stable and prosperous. Looking back, it’s hard to see any hint of the carnage that would soon follow. Indeed, in June of 1914, just before the assassination of Franz Ferdinand – the spark that set the world ablaze – the German Kaiser had been invited to inspect the British naval fleet, a sign of good, if not overly-friendly, relations between the two nations.
By the end of 1914, however, hundreds of thousands of men lay dead on European battlefields. Hopes that the war would be short and glorious were soon dashed. In this way, 1914 marked the start of modern warfare. The widespread introduction of modern killing technology, including machine guns, mortars, airplanes and poison gas, changed the face of warfare forever. For some military historians, the tactics and methods of the Vietnam War, the Second World War, the Iraq wars and even present-day drone warfare, can all be traced back to 1914.