The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 1

Armageddon

Wars have been an intrinsic part of the history of mankind. As much as we progress in

creating life and making our place on Earth ever more comfortable – although not

necessarily happier – we have excelled in killing ever more people over an increasingly

shorter period of time.

During the six weeks of the campaign, the German casualty rate was 156,400 (killed

27,000; wounded 111,000; missing 18,400). In contrast, the French were estimated to have

suffered 2,090,000 casualties (killed 90,000; wounded 200,000; missing/prisoners

1,800,000). Britain endured overall 68,000, Belgium 23,400 and The Netherlands 9,800

killed, wounded or missing.

German Wehrmacht in front of killed soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). (Kutsch, n.d.)

Those who were not physically wounded were psychologically affected in the mayhem of

battle and the horror of modern warfare. And this was only the beginning. The following

years saw technology and human ingenuity elevate the process of killing to an

unprecedented scale. Most of those who suffered, though, were civilians.

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