The Americans who fell in Normandy in 1944 were tall fellows measuring 173 cm. on average, and if they were laid head to foot they would measure 38 kilometres in total. The Germans were tall fellows too, while tallest of all were the Senegalese fusiliers in World War I who measured 176 cm. so they were sent into battle in the first ranks in order to scare the Germans. It was said of the First World War that people in it fell like seeds and the Russian Communists later calculated how much fertiliser a square kilometre of corpses would yield and how much they would save on expensive foreign fertilisers if they used the corpses of traitors and criminals for manure. And the English invented the tank and the German invented gas, which was known as yperite because the Germans first used it near the town of Ypres, although apparently that was not true, and it was also called mustard because it stung the nose like Dijon mustard, and that was apparently true, and some soldiers who returned home after the war did not want to eat Dijon mustard again. The First World War was known as an imperialist war because the Germans felt the other countries were prejudiced against them and did not want to let them become a world power and fulfill some historical mission. And most people in Europe, Germany, Austria, France, Serbia, Bulgaria, etc., believed it to be a neccessary and just war which would bring peace to the world. And many people believed that the war would revive those virtues that the modern industrial world had forced into the background, such as love of one's country, courage and self-sacrifice. And poor people looked forward to riding in a train and country folk looked forward to seeing big cities and phoning the district post office to dictate a telegram to their wives, I' FINE, HOPE YOU ARE TOO. The generals looked forward to being in the newspapers, and the people from national minorities were pleased that they would sharing the war with people who spoke without an accent and that they would be singing marching songs and jolly popular ditties with them. And everyone thought they'd be home in time for the grape harvest or at least by Christmas.

Some historians subsequently said that the twentieth century actually started in 1914, when war broke out, because it was the first war in history in which so many countries took part, in which so many people died and in which airships and airplanes flew and bombarded the rear and towns and civilians, and submarines sunk ships and artillery could lob shells ten or twelve kilometers. And the Germans invented gas aand the English invented tanks and scientists discovered isotopes and the general theory of relativity, according to which nothing was metaphysical, but relative. And when the Senegalese fusiliers first saw an airplne they thought it was atame bird and one of the Senegalese soldiers cut a lump of flesh from a dead horse and threw it as far as he could in order to lure it away. And the soldiers wore green and camouflage uniforms because they did not want the enemy to see them, which was modern at the times because in previous wars soldiers had worn brightly-colored uniforms in order to be visible from afar.