Murder With Friends: Battle Verdun

In Membership, Murder With Friends - On Demand by Gigi Manukyan28 Comments

Grace Baldridge is joined by Amir Nikoui, Mary Ignatova, & Jack Ruley on MWF’s “Campfire Edition.” This campfire edition’s theme is atrocities of war starting with Amir’s pick: Battle of Verdun.

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Comments

  1. I specifically want to speak on the audio of the barrage.

    There is a metaphor, one that’s existed for ages, the phrase “the drums of war”. As far as I can find, it was associated with actual drumming that was a prelude to battles clear back to the times of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. However, this audio clip starts out with an eerily similar sound, that continues throughout the entire clip, an underlying note to the sound of the shells actually hitting; this is the modern “drums of war”, which is far more horrifying than the drums that occurred in ancient times, because these persistent drums come with death *at the same exact time*, rather than a prelude that ends, an announcement of coming battle – it now *is* the battle.

    And that is a damn horrific thought.

  2. 10 months of the sound of something that can quite easily kill you, toxic gas, advancement at the pace of a snail. If only every day was like Christmas Eve of 1914, when both British and German soldiers has a ceasefire and celebrated Christmas together.

  4. My grandfather was in that war. He was the son of a German immigrant to the US and then went to fight against the Germans. He was gassed. There is a wonderful monument to the soldiers of that war in Kansas City, MO; the National WWI Memorial. Here is a link https://www.theworldwar.org/.
    Keep up the good work.

  6. I took a course on WWI for part of my undergrad, and the lecture my professor gave on the Battles of Verdun and the Somme still sticks with me today.

    He said that the bloody 20th century began, in earnest, in the year 1916 on the battlefields of Verdun and the Somme. All of the mechanized and industrialized slaughters that followed, be they WWII or the Holocaust, essentially had their genesis in these killing fields where hundreds-of-thousands of lives were snuffed out by mechanized slaughter. So many people died that individuals were dehumanized to a simple statistic. The cost was too great to comprehend in terms of the full depth and breadth of an individual human life that was squandered writ large on a massive scale.

  9. I’m from Canada and I’ve heard you bring up the Karla Holmolka and the Paul Bernardo case. Have you heard the one of the pig Farmer in British Columbia? I remember hearing about it on the news for quite some time including what the new death toll count was so far. Here’s a clip of it:

    Robert William “Willy” Pickton of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, is a Canadian serial killer convicted in 2007 of the second-degree murders of six women- 49 victim possibly. But 6 could be proven without a shadow of a doubt.

  10. Have you guys thought about doing Dennis Neilsen? He’s from the UK and didn’t kill many people but is a truly fascinating example of a British Serial killer.

  12. I think both state & federal senators & representatives should have to listen to these sound tapes, watch the MOST graphic of pics & films.

    Then any children of immediate family members 18+yrs (male & female) must be sent into military combat.

    The only choice they are allowed is to send their children to whatever particular war or “police action” they are currently wearing a flag-pin for.

    I hate our government.

  13. If you want a great, detailed breakdown of the first world war in digestible groups, go watch The Great War on YouTube. Really exceptional work.

  14. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast series on World War I is…amazing enough that he seriously deserves a Pulitzer Prize. If ANYONE wants to learn about WWI it’s an unparalleled source.

    1. YES!! Not to promote other shows/work on this site but if you enjoy history definitely check him out for some crazy stuff from the Mongols through the world wars.

  15. Grace, I’ve got an INCREDIBLE topic for your show: Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos. Long story short, it appears extremely likely that both were killed by a serial killer who was a police officer (and using his position of power to target ethnic minorities).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Terrance_Williams_and_Felipe_Santos

    Not only did local authorities fail to invest adequate resources investigating, they have invested resources to harass journalists who investigate. One journalist made an entire website about it:

    http://justiceforvictoravaldes.com/call-action-community

  16. Blah I really have not been a fan of the campfire episodes. They’re always 10 minutes long then I only get to look forward to another 10 minute episode next week.

    Please either tell all the stories in one episode or make each story longer because I feel this is a rip off of time.

    Otherwise, keep up the good work.

    1. not necessarily a waste of my time, but AGREED,longer stories or all the stories in one episode. ten minutes isn’t enough.

    2. AGREED. I’m always disappointed to see the campfire episodes, they’re interesting but too short. Definitely feels like a rip off

  17. Great segment, really impressive, only a bit short.
    Maybe make a second one with more details, particularly with regard to the specific horrors, like the effects of mustard / chlorine gas, “war trembling” etc., and the horrific injuries?

    More ideas:
    – Stalingrad
    – Cannibals, e.g. the Cannibal of Rothenburg, Germany, which also has a weird internet connection

  19. I think these spots on wars it good and interesting. As a rule I don’t think most Americans know much about history whether it’s the history of the U.S. or anywhere else.
    What would make it stronger is finding one or two people within the period of time during the war with a story. One that you can back up with letters or relatives with stories. You did it a little bit with Earnest Unger and played some of his audio. Every story needs a protagonist… it helps the audience relate… Great job everyone!

  20. Thanks for watching as always guys – love reading your comments and getting feedback.

    I’m actually super bummed about this episode – we ran into studio scheduling problems (Aggressive Progressive taped late!! >.<) and we ran short on time. We had A LOT more to talk about as you could imagine, and we really only scratched the surface on this one. I encourage everyone to learn more about WWI – the things that happened during that time are truly extraordinary. I recommend listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History multi-episode on the topic – Blueprint For Armageddon. It's mindblowing stuff.

    -Amir

    1. Thanks Amir, I really got into WW1 after seeing a brief YouTube animated presentation on it done by James Portnow and the guys at Extra Credits. James in particular brought up some incredible points in the follow up segment he calls ‘Lies’ where he clears up occasional content errors or vague points in the history of The Seminal Tragedy. Rowan Atkinson, in the last of his Black Adder series called Blackadder Goes Forth, did a dark, profound comedy with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie about being in those WW1 trenches and the last ‘push.’ Atkinson deserves WAY more than to be remembered as Mr Bean by American audiences.

      But get this Amir. Did you know about the British ‘Hobart’s Funnies’ from WW2? Those US made tanks done over in all those wild ways? James did an awesome Extra Credits segment where he spoke with an expert on that history which I’d never even heard mention of till I saw this a few months ago. One of the ‘funnies’ was a Sherman tank turned into a horrific long distance flamethrower. What that thing did is definitely a topic for MWF.

      Thanks loads for all you do Amir and Grace!

  21. I’m from Minnesota could you please do spree killer Andrew Cunanan. Not sure if I spelled his last name right but you get the gist of it

  22. Awesome episode. I wouldn’t mind a Murderous History With Friends series. JK…I really really REALLY want that series.

  23. Really great campfire episode! Both world wars were brutal, as most war is. I think that there’s this need in media to romance it up, make it seem more daring and exciting, and even glorify it. Some of that is intentional, but some isn’t. I often think that if we all knew what that kind of war was like, what absolute suffering there is, that we would work harder on diplomacy. Unfortunately, even the truth won’t help when the leader of the free world is a malignant narcissist.

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