Comparison of World War I Articles

This essay compares two articles about World War I in Europe and focuses on the amount of death and destruction caused by the war. The first article provides accurate data and information, while the second article presents vivid images of the destruction. The comparison reveals that both articles are similar in discussing the effects of the war, but differ in their presentation methods.

Running head: HISTORICAL TOPIC COMPARISON
Historical Topic Comparison
Name of the Topic
Name of the University
Author Note

1HISTORICAL TOPIC COMPARISON
History is full of various incidents. Whether it is wars or inventions or discoveries, all
events fall within the categories of history itself. Europe is a continent with a large historical
background. Europe has been witness to many historical events since the past to the present
day. All these events make up the historical background of a continent that is well-known for
its wars as well as revolutions. The topic that has been chosen for discussion in this essay is
The World War I which ranged from 1914 – 1919.
The thesis of this essay is to compare two articles about World War I in the
history of European continent.
The aspect of the World War I that is being discussed and compared in this essay
itself is the amount of death and destruction that is being caused by the war itself. The article
is by John Graham Royde-Smith and it gives the readers an estimation of the deaths and
destruction that has been caused during World War I. The second article is by Simon
Tomlinson, and it also describes about the death and the destruction caused by the World War
I. The aim is to compare the two articles to find the major differences between them.
In the first article the author describes about the destruction by the Germans during
the World War I and the amount of death and destruction that it has caused by providing
accurate information. It is being said that more than 8,500,000 soldiers had died during the
first World War. Apart from that it even produced casualties even when nothing much
important was happening anywhere during the times of the war.
“The heaviest loss of life for a single day occurred on July 1, 1916, during the Battle of
the Somme, when the British Army suffered 57,470 casualties.”
It is from this quote itself that proves that the author has conducted meticulous
research in stating the information that he himself has presented in this article. Throughout

2HISTORICAL TOPIC COMPARISON
the rest of the article, the author goes on to state about the other kind of damages and
destruction that was caused by the first World War in Europe.
In the second article written by Simon Tomlinson does not present any facts as such
but it provides vivid images of the destruction and rampage caused at this period which can
be viewed in the images of the death and destruction of the Belgian city of Ypres. It does not
have any written data in it but the images presented is itself enough to tell the readers about
the destruction of the war. This is because it is said that the pictures speak thousand words.
Through the pictures, itself, the author has presented the scariness of the World War I to his
readers.
“A once-thriving city reduced to mere rubble, a 700-year-old cathedral barely left
standing, trees that proudly lined an idyllic avenue torn to shreds.”
Statements such as the above followed by the images of the devastation all around are
what is presented in the article by Sam Tomlinson. These images tells the readers the entire
story by themselves without presenting any data to them. That is what makes the articles very
different from each other which makes them easier to compare and find out the differences
between the two.
When comparing between the two articles, it is found that although the articles are
accurate information, the mode in which they are presented is what the makes the articles
different from each other. While the first article presents accurate data and information
presented to the audience, the second article has images. While it can be argued that the first
article is better than the second as it present accurate data and information, at the same time,
it can also be argued that the second article has images which is good at visually representing
the images to the audience. Thus, from the articles, it can be said that the both the articles are
similar yet different in many ways. But it is article two that looks better in a lot of ways than

3HISTORICAL TOPIC COMPARISON
the first article. This is because the article manages to convey the information only with the
help of the pictures presented to the audience. While it is true that the first article has no
pictures, and presents accurate information to the readers, the data and the numbers presented
in the article might appear to be too much for certain readers. That is why the second article
is preferred by many as it tells the entire story through the medium of images and pictures.
Seeing the damaged and destroyed, cities, music halls and homes can make many readers feel
the horror of the World War I and the effect that it had on the continent of Europe itself.
Since the saying goes that a picture speaks a thousand words, therefore it can be said the
second article is more informative in terms of presenting the details of the war to its readers.
In the same way, there are many similarities between the articles also. This is because
both the articles speaks about the World War I and the effects that it had on the lives of the
civilians in the countries across Europe. They also state about the death as well as destruction
caused in the war and the lives lost in it. In this way, both the articles prove to be similar to
each other.
Thus, from the above discussion and the comparison of the articles, it can be said that
that in spite of the differences between the articles, the fact remains that World War I had
caused a lot of death and destruction to many major cities in the continent of Europe itself. It
has resulted in the deaths of a lot of people. This destruction and devastation caused by the
war is what makes it an important part of the history of a particular country.

4HISTORICAL TOPIC COMPARISON
Reference List
Tomlinson, Sam. 2019. "The World War One wasteland: Haunting rare images show
apocalyptic destruction on the Western Front". Mail Online.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2282108/World-War-One-wasteland-Haunting-
rare-images-apocalyptic-destruction-Western-Front.html.
Royd - Smith, John. 2019. "World War I - Killed, wounded, and missing". Encyclopedia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I/Killed-wounded-and-missing.