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Stories of veteran service and sacrifice straight from the people driving today’s most important veterans causes and veterans organizations around the world. The show shines a spotlight on their inspiring projects making a real difference for veterans and their families, and along the way we'll hear the stories that drive them to do their best every day as they work to support veterans and their memory.
00:00:06:01 - 00:00:28:06
Speaker 1
Welcome to Story Behind the Stone, a show where we talk service, sacrifice and story. I'm joined today by my co-host Ryan Mullins and by our esteemed guest, Mr. Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy. Attila, it's wonderful to meet you. You are a author, a photographer, and a historian, and you've come out with two novels that have spanned over the course of years a passion project with an incredible scope.
00:00:28:08 - 00:00:32:19
Speaker 1
Where are you tuning in from today, and what got you all started? Working on this incredible project.
00:00:32:19 - 00:01:08:20
Speaker 2
I'm located in Budapest, Hungary, which was heavily involved in the first door. And, it came out as the biggest loser of the First World War. I think none of the nations suffered that much as Hungary, proportionately saying that because we've not only lost a tremendous amount of soldiers on the battlefields from 1914 till 1918, and Hungary was the nation that was fighting on four different fronts on the Russian front the Romanian, the Serbian and the Italian fronts.
00:01:08:20 - 00:01:35:06
Speaker 2
But the worst came after the guns silenced, when the peace negotiations started in Paris. The Treaty of Trianon was a very, very harsh punishment on Hungary, which after death lost two thirds of its population and its territory to neighboring countries. So we paid a very, very, very heavy price for being involved on the wrong side in the First Great War.
00:01:35:07 - 00:01:42:01
Speaker 1
It's fascinating the the sheer scope that you have covered with the novels. How does one get started with such a big project?
00:01:42:02 - 00:02:10:17
Speaker 2
It started where it started to 100 years earlier, precisely in Sarajevo, in Bosnia, where the assassination took place in 19 1428, some June. I went there for this reason, to see what's going on on this particular day, thanks to my work, I covered the entire central Eastern Europe 25 years before that. So I'm quite familiar with all the countries and the nations in central Eastern Europe.
00:02:10:19 - 00:02:35:15
Speaker 2
I love Bosnia and I love to go to Sarajevo, so I was I needed a good excuse to go back there. It's a lovely city. It has such a rich history and not just because of the First World War. So I went there and, I was kind of disappointed that really not much was happening. It was very, very minimum style, commemoration.
00:02:35:15 - 00:03:17:12
Speaker 2
No politicians, no official representation from Austria-Hungary or Serbia. What's more, the Serbs, they even come to Sarajevo. They have their obvious issues, within, within Bosnia. So a few local, attempts to local re-enactors and mostly tourists gathered around the corner where Franz Ferdinand, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. So it was very amateurish commemoration, especially if if this saint how important that the event was, for for human history.
00:03:17:12 - 00:03:44:09
Speaker 2
And then obviously I was interested in the Western from starting from August and there's a rich culture of commemorations, reenactments and so on. So I went there and started to discover the Western Front. And at that time I thought, I'm going to take a few photos of the most important battlefields. And then by 2016, I will have a nice commemorative album.
00:03:44:09 - 00:04:21:11
Speaker 2
But as I was traveling across the Western Front, it really captured my imagination. And, Sagami and I wanted to explore its entirety. It's a beautiful countryside. Anyhow, both in France and in Belgium. So I as as I went forward with the centenary, I became more and more interested. I always had my camera with me because, I'm a keen travel photographer, but at that time I didn't think about really having a huge book, which I ended up with by, by 2024.
00:04:21:12 - 00:04:56:19
Speaker 2
Probably the turning point was, December 2014. It just happened that I could be in Belgium for Christmas, and I thought, I need to be deeper, and I want to check out if there are some really fanatic people about this topic. And they commemorate on Christmas morning the Christmas truce of 1914. And I wasn't wrong. There are people dressed in German and British uniform, and they had the football with them, and it was amazing experience.
00:04:56:19 - 00:05:23:07
Speaker 2
On a cold morning of 25th December 2014. And that was actually when I realized that there are re-enactors who can be put on my photos, so I will not only have landscapes, cemeteries, because that might be on one. I'm not telling the story in a way I would like to. You need to have people on the photos to make it more interesting.
00:05:23:07 - 00:05:59:07
Speaker 2
That's when I realized that why don't we follow very precisely. And, and continuously the commemorations as it unfolded 100 years ago. So from then on, I was working on a time schedule, really putting everything, on a, on an an Excel sheet. What is when, where, how I could best combine travel links in a way. Obviously keeping in mind that time and money is precious and limited, but be there at the biggest events, at least.
00:05:59:09 - 00:06:26:20
Speaker 2
So the next one was 2000, 15th March 18th, when the British and French naval forces ended up in a bitter situation with, Turkish guns at the Dardanelles. So they went down. And then Churchill decided that they better make a landing on the Gallipoli peninsula. So I had to go there twice, because 18th of March is really for the Turkish to commemorate.
00:06:26:20 - 00:06:57:13
Speaker 2
They're very proud about it. 25th of April is for the Australians, the New Zealanders and the British. And then it was quite obvious for me that if I want to do this, this will be a huge project, huge book. It cannot be limited to the Hungarian market. So it has to be an international book. Then I have to write it in English, and then I have to cover all the nations involved in equal way, proportionately.
00:06:57:13 - 00:07:24:07
Speaker 2
And I have to do this in a way so the readers will have no idea what is the nationality of the author. And because I am not a professional historian, I did not do researches on my own. I was reading a lot of books, tons of books probably. I have the biggest World War one library, at least in Hungary, because I had to dig in and learn Africa, Asia.
00:07:24:09 - 00:07:49:07
Speaker 2
And you know, everything outside Europe is mostly unknown for most people who at least not interested in the World War one. And I had to get the literature and all those literatures were not available in my country. Mostly I could get it from London because they pretty much covered the entire world. Always. But especially during the First World War.
00:07:49:09 - 00:08:16:22
Speaker 2
So it was a progressively advancing project, getting bigger and bigger and, and eventually by, by, 2015, it was obvious that it has to be an international project. And the only way I it it is worse for me to invest into this project. If I can come up with a book that is different from any of those books that so far been published in the world, because there's tens of thousands of books.
00:08:17:00 - 00:08:21:19
Speaker 2
So why would anyone buy and other book from an unknown Hungarian author?
00:08:21:19 - 00:08:49:18
Speaker 3
I love how the book evolved from going down to see the assassination of arch, Duke Ferdinand to going out and exploring these battlefields, taking pictures and finding individuals that are actually very passionate about that. As you've gone through this experience of taking these pictures, is there any particular place or experience that really stands out for you as a favorite memory or a favorite place to go?
00:08:49:18 - 00:09:13:00
Speaker 2
The Middle East was probably the most exciting, the most risky, you know, when I went to Belgium and France, I met a lot of photographers who were focused on the Western Front and on the First World War, and they really knew inside out that area. I learned a lot from them, and I, I asked them, they supported me.
00:09:13:00 - 00:09:40:19
Speaker 2
They had the weird look why somebody from Hungary is so much into the Western Front. So I knew that if I would just do the same what they do, I would not be interesting for anyone. I really have to do things which those guys can't or don't want to do. And obviously this made me very focused on the frontier theaters of the First World War, where nobody really else is going to people.
00:09:40:19 - 00:10:05:15
Speaker 2
I saw some books covering some photos, but but to that extent, the way I covered these battlefields, I can honestly, confidently say that nobody did this ever before. The beauty and the unique about this book is that nobody ever will be able to repeat this, because you will not see the world anymore as you saw it between 2014 and 18.
00:10:05:15 - 00:10:33:20
Speaker 2
The centenary was a fantastic period which will never be repeated because you will not see head of States, kings, queens going to the races. I don't think ever again. Anyway, back to to the frontier areas or theaters. This is why I became so focused on exploring and demonstrating to the readers, how was Africa middle East? And you have some rough places there.
00:10:33:22 - 00:10:59:00
Speaker 2
So just to go through the list, I had to go into Gaza. The difficulty is not just getting there, but to get to the right place and get the authorizations to make sure your you will be okay. I mean, getting into Gaza, took some time to get first the permission from the Israeli government because only professional journalists are allowed to go in.
00:10:59:02 - 00:11:34:02
Speaker 2
And obviously I was not a journalist. I was not there to report about the events there. So that was the first challenge. And then secondly, to get anyone who could put me in contact with Hamas because those guys had to escort me to the common war, gave commissions were the War one cemetery in Gaza, I have to mention, because probably not everyone is aware that in the First World War there were not one, but three battle at Gaza as the British were pushing the Ottomans back from the Suez Canal towards to the Turkey.
00:11:34:02 - 00:12:09:13
Speaker 2
The biggest resistance of the Ottoman Empire took place between Gaza and Beersheba. That line was their main line of defense and breaking that line for General Allenby was a challenge and took some time from 1916 till 1917. So Gaza played a very, very important role in the Middle East campaign. So that was one challenge. The second challenge was, obviously getting into Syria, especially for me, as a Hungarian, where there's not even a Syrian embassy where I could apply for a visa.
00:12:09:18 - 00:12:54:13
Speaker 2
So getting the right people who got me the visa inside Syria and then take me and then I had to go to Aleppo, which was bombarded by the Turkish army, deserved a very big challenge, was probably the biggest one was the Suez Canal. I saw the book in advance. It was already ready in my head, and I knew I need great photos from the Suez Canal that will tell the story of, the siege in early 1915, when the the German officers leading the Ottoman army is seizing the Suez Canal in order to stop the British from bringing an Australian, New Zealander and Indian forces to the Western Front.
00:12:54:13 - 00:13:24:06
Speaker 2
So it was a very smart, move from the Germans to ask the Ottomans to seize the Suez Canal, which was eventually defended. And there is this very beautiful monument which nobody can see seat other than cruise on the ships that pass the Suez Canal. That's not many people. And, you it is there. And, for example, I haven't seen this monument in any books regarding World War One, so I you I need to get there.
00:13:24:06 - 00:13:50:22
Speaker 2
But the challenge was that this monument is located in the middle of an Egyptian military camp, getting into a, a military headquarter. Imagine that for over a year of hard work to get finally. And approval from Cairo, that I can go there. And then when I had the approval from the Ministry of Defense, it took me two days to clear myself through the different gates of this military camp.
00:13:50:22 - 00:14:26:15
Speaker 2
And eventually I had to get there, and I had just five minutes, a window of time. Take the debate. But not only because I had three Egyptian soldiers standing behind my back with machine guns, checking every move I made and every photo I took. I had to show them to make sure that there's nothing else on the photo other than the monument, but because the monument is constructed and located in a very particular way, only in the very early sunrise, it is getting the right to light anything.
00:14:26:15 - 00:14:52:12
Speaker 2
After, 630. The front side is in shade and it's not coming out very well. That was probably the most challenging photo work I did. And, and obviously then I can talk about getting to the Pacific Ocean, that probably even fewer people know that there's chink tower in China, which served as the port of the Germans. Pacific Fleet.
00:14:52:14 - 00:14:59:20
Speaker 2
There's Samoa, there's Papua New Guinea. So play their their part and and you don't have literature about it.
00:14:59:20 - 00:15:18:06
Speaker 3
So this wasn't about convenience. This project. You wanted to go to the places that were hard to get to, that weren't photographed. You have a picture of one of the cannons up in an Italian mountain that's 11,000ft up. You had to walk up. There wasn't a boat getting the convenient pictures. This was getting hard pictures, wasn't it?
00:15:18:07 - 00:15:39:15
Speaker 2
In order to tell the story, you have to get to places which are hard for me, that, you know, that was always the holiday part of this project, going to Belgium and France and being on the beautiful fields. And you have all the signs, all the literature. The only risk I always had is the French and the Belgian police.
00:15:39:16 - 00:16:03:22
Speaker 2
You drive there and you have these speeding, problems all the time. And, that was there the biggest risk you could face. But anyone could do that. And once you've been done with photo work like you got, you captured the photo of the the cannon on the mountaintop, or you captured the photo of this, monument at the Suez Canal and how much you had to work for that.
00:16:03:22 - 00:16:34:15
Speaker 2
And eventually you have also, you only have one single photo in the book, and that felt so good. Probably collecting the scarves, the trophies. These are the biggest trophies. And, yes, it feels good. And then you know that you will be able to show something to the readers who will buy this book and will have the reason to say, okay, it was worth to buy this book and not the other ones, because I learned something that I could not learn from other books.
00:16:34:17 - 00:17:00:09
Speaker 2
I equally enjoyed all of these challenging locations, but on the other hand, I also very much enjoyed on the Western Front and I have to say, if there was one, particular commemoration which I not only enjoyed, but after I came home several times, I watched it on YouTube. That's the Canadian commemoration at bay. Marriage. The top, top, top experience.
00:17:00:11 - 00:17:22:16
Speaker 3
Obviously has a close place to madness. Heart, you know, an important part of Canadian identity. And I think that's why Canadians often will go there, because this war shaped us. Looking at your history, you have connections. You have a great great grandfather and a cousin that connect you back to this war. And obviously it's shaped who Hungary is today.
00:17:22:18 - 00:17:27:09
Speaker 3
So when it comes to that connection, what does that mean for you and how does that show up in your work?
00:17:27:09 - 00:18:06:12
Speaker 2
In my work, not really. Obviously. I dedicated to to Baylor Bears of Etsy, who is my great great grandfather's cousin, who was a very prominent officer because he fought from, day one until the very last day. So started on the Russian front in August 1914 and ended up in Italy at Vittorio Veneto. When we capitulated, he was leading cavalry, mostly on the battlefields, and after the war he was appointed to rebuild the Hungarian army as the chief of staff of the Hungarian New Hungarian Army.
00:18:06:14 - 00:18:35:02
Speaker 2
So this gave me a kind of spiritual support that there was somebody important who survived the war, having the same name as me and obviously being a relative. This project was not about to follow my ancestors or find out more about them. I wanted to know the whole story, and the more I was involved, the more interested I became about each of the nations, because it was so exciting to learn.
00:18:35:02 - 00:19:25:03
Speaker 2
What's particular about my book is that it is taking us through, the history of each of the nations, because you have to understand each of those nations where they come from, before you can actually appreciate what they represented in the war. Why they were fighting. So when the chapter is about the eastern uprising, which is in Ireland, then the chapter starts with a thousand years before you have to understand the Irish history with what they had with the British, the Celts, how they progressed in their history before they got to 1916, where they had this very important revolution which the British could see it as a stab in their back where they were fighting
00:19:25:03 - 00:19:50:00
Speaker 2
on the zone. And then the Irish are using this opportunity to uprise. This is one story, but you can also understand better the Russian story. You can better understand the the Canadian and the Australian story, because I did know that the First World War played such an important role in becoming a nation for Canada and Australia and New Zealand.
00:19:50:02 - 00:20:20:07
Speaker 2
So only when I was really, in understanding and capturing the details of this whole global conflict, then I realized that, okay, it was important for Canada. It distinguished you within the British Empire, and eventually it led to your independence. But the second very important thing I learned about you, that you had one of the best Army military force, because capturing we may rage was one hell of an achievement.
00:20:20:10 - 00:20:51:20
Speaker 2
But capturing or taking Passchendaele, that was also an amazing, deed, which neither the British and the French for successful but served probably the less known, but I think equally very big achievement was the crossing of the canal, the Nord, which was a huge obstacle on the Western Front in the advance in 1918 after the Battle of Army, and Canadians had to scale this huge artificial canal.
00:20:51:20 - 00:20:57:04
Speaker 2
That was your last big clash with the Germans before ending the war months.
00:20:57:05 - 00:21:17:09
Speaker 3
I'm really excited to get my hands on your book because you've captured re-enactors in the moment. You've gone to these difficult places. But like you said, this wasn't about you following in the footsteps of family member. This was you creating the big picture and the understanding of it. All of which is why it evolved to two volumes.
00:21:17:10 - 00:21:19:17
Speaker 2
You want to know why I did this, right?
00:21:19:17 - 00:21:23:16
Speaker 3
You put so much effort into it, you must have a big why behind it.
00:21:23:17 - 00:21:45:01
Speaker 2
I'm still answering this question to myself because, now looking back when I'm holding the book in my hand, I also tell to myself, I can't believe I did this. I can't believe I invested the one sheets of my life into this project. And obviously people say, well, probably you were fighting in the First World War in your previous life.
00:21:45:01 - 00:22:26:10
Speaker 2
So there is action. The more realistic response is that I'm an economist, not a story, and I'm an economist who is very much in history and especially in, military history. But in order to better understand the world, you really need to understand, the history of the most important nations who shaped the world. And just as 1914 was an important and interesting year, 2014 happened to be, because it was not only a centennial of the start of the First World War, it brought to a striking experience on the table for everyone.
00:22:26:12 - 00:22:59:06
Speaker 2
The first started in February when the Russian army invaded Ukraine out of nowhere. Suddenly they captured Crimea. That was without a fight, but that opened a new chapter and it was clear for myself. I am obviously not an oracle and I don't want to say I. I saw everything in advance, but because I was frequently traveling to Russia and Ukraine from the 90s, and I was very much fascinated, especially with Russia, because, you know, they were the they were the bad guys.
00:22:59:06 - 00:23:33:09
Speaker 2
Even if Hungary was part of the Warsaw Pact countries, the communist bloc, for us, the Soviets were still the bad guys. We knew when the Iron Curtain fell and I could travel to Russia frequently in a free Russia. That was really an amazing experience. It captured my imagination. So I love to travel there, but I know very much the Russian history and I didn't have question marks in my head that taking Crimea will probably not the end for that story.
00:23:33:09 - 00:24:06:08
Speaker 2
But if we are again moving border lines in a unilateral way and we are starting wars in Europe, that sounds like we've been in this story before. The second, thing that happened in 2014 was also, equally shocking is the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq with their barbaric atrocities, executions. And because I grew up in the Middle East, thanks to my parents, I went to school.
00:24:06:08 - 00:24:26:00
Speaker 2
And that's how I learned the English language, because I went to school in Kuwait. So the Middle East and I'd been to Iraq because it was the neighboring country. So for me, the Middle East is kind of, a natural place for me. And I'm interested always about what's happening there. And I always wanted to understand better their history.
00:24:26:02 - 00:25:02:08
Speaker 2
But the rise of the Islamic State for something I didn't see coming yet it was so brutal that along with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this gave me the feeling that the world is turning bad again. Unbelievable that on the centenary of the First World War we are again in some evil period. And then later on I started to digest this and, and, and started to understand why we may be in very, in a very similar situation than our predecessors were, in the early 1900s.
00:25:02:08 - 00:25:37:00
Speaker 2
So the First World War didn't just happen because Gavrilo Princip assassinated, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The whole story started 100 years earlier. It's basically started after the Napoleonic Wars and most importantly, with the Industrial Revolution. That changed Europe, that changed societies in a way, and that led to the golden age of colonization, which led to an arms race which led to two military camps to be established, which eventually led to Sarajevo and the First World War.
00:25:37:00 - 00:26:15:10
Speaker 2
And I realized that we are again in something similar situation where there are shifting forces, maybe taking us down the same road. Now we don't have the Industrial revolution. We have the technological revolution, the digitalization. We have AI changing our lives like the state machine changed it before and now again, on one side you have the democratic countries covering NATO, and there are the autocratic nations on the other side, challenging the Anglo-Saxon led democratic side of the word Europe and North America.
00:26:15:12 - 00:26:40:06
Speaker 2
And, if you go through First World War, Second World War, Cold War, and now the recipe is the same, the Anglo-Saxon led, Western world is facing a challenge from and from authoritarian countries. Who wants to challenge and and, change the world order? It was imperial Germany than Nazi Germany, than the Soviet Union. And now we have China, Russia, North Korea.
00:26:40:06 - 00:26:41:00
Speaker 2
I read.
00:26:41:00 - 00:26:52:11
Speaker 1
Your book. It's available globally, including the national World War One memorial in the United States. What are you hoping that international audiences are taking away from your book when they pick it up?
00:26:52:11 - 00:27:16:14
Speaker 2
Most importantly, I would love if people would be more interested in World War one, because I think it's the most important period of the past 200 years for me. There's time before Jesus Christ and after Jesus Christ, and there's time before the First World War and after first to our door. We all live in the world. Created by the First World War.
00:27:16:16 - 00:27:38:22
Speaker 2
The Second World War was bigger in terms of human loss of life, in terms of destruction. But it wasn't so impactful as the First World War. It did change the world that much. The First World War changed entirely. Second World War tried to make corrections, failed, and that life went on, which was created by the First World War.
00:27:39:02 - 00:27:54:02
Speaker 2
So I think it is important that people understand that the First World War is not about black and white photos and some muddy trenches in France, Belgium. It is our cradle of our life.
00:27:54:03 - 00:28:11:02
Speaker 1
I get the sense that you feel it is really part of your legacy, I guess, that are bringing this book to people and to the next generation. Have you had any comments back from the Next Generation? Any folks that have written in to say this book helped me have a new perspective on things? So what are people saying about the book?
00:28:11:02 - 00:28:32:07
Speaker 2
The feedback I get unanimously is that I didn't know it was really a I thought it was really just the Western Front. That really shows me how little we learn about the First World War in schools, and generally everywhere. I mean, there's difference because at least in, Western Europe and in North America, this is for you, a victory.
00:28:32:07 - 00:29:02:19
Speaker 2
This is part of the history. So you are, commemorating, obviously, your heroes and the freedom and liberty that you achieved here in Europe. But, for example, you go to Germany and Austria. I've been living in Austria for many years, and they have no idea. No idea. So between Kaiser Franz Joseph's pub supporting empire and losing of the Second World War, like the first World Board, history is totally erased from collective memory in Eastern Europe.
00:29:02:21 - 00:29:31:15
Speaker 2
That's a bit different because the Czechs, the Polish, they became liberated from imperialist forces from Russia, Austria, Serbia and Romania. They're ending the war on the victorious side. And especially Serbia was liberated. So at least the Romanians and the Serbians have something to commemorate and, be happy about. But for the Polish, the war was about Russians and Germans fighting for their territory.
00:29:31:16 - 00:29:55:16
Speaker 2
For the Czechs, it was really about getting rid of the Austrians. But on the territories of today's Czech Republic, there were no fighting at all. Same, true for Hungary. And then there's the Balkans, which was suffering a lot, that there were a lot of fighting taking place there. And already before the war they had the two Balkan Wars fought against each other, against the Ottoman Empire.
00:29:55:18 - 00:30:24:19
Speaker 2
So it's very versatile, the central Eastern European region, how they commemorate them, to what extent? So it's very, very different when you go to Western Europe or you go to Eastern Europe. A plus one thing is important to know. In 1917, the Bolsheviks took over the control of the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union regarded the First World War as a terrorist war, a bad war for them, the Second World War, the Great Patriotic War, the Good War.
00:30:24:21 - 00:30:52:21
Speaker 2
So they remember the Second World War as the absolute, part of their DNA. The first word of us, completely erased from the memory of everyone. Military cemeteries ceased to exist and so on. And they were expecting this from their satellite countries as well. So under the communists, between 1945 to 1990, First World War goes dead. It does not exist in central Eastern Europe.
00:30:52:22 - 00:31:16:07
Speaker 1
It's fascinating to think about how countries approach commemoration and memory. I want to turn the lens, if I could, to the future and to your recent trip to North America. I understand that you have a new book underway, and the you were actually within Canada, very, very recently. Can you tell us a little bit why you were there and, how this, this next vision of yours is unfolding.
00:31:16:08 - 00:31:47:15
Speaker 2
Thanks to the book launch and I had in Washington, DC, last year, I got some encouragement to do the American Revolutionary War, which has its 250th anniversary, started this year, this April, with the Battle of Lexington and Concord. I was thinking about it that, yeah, that's interesting. Or so Hungary has really, we have something to do with because we have, who's our captain who went to serve in the army of George Washington.
00:31:47:15 - 00:32:14:11
Speaker 2
And actually, he established the US cavalry. So we have someone at least, who is linking Hungary today to this period of war. But other than that, we were at that time part of the Austrian Empire and had little to do with what's going on in North America. But obviously, now, knowing the details of the First World War, you want to better understand how we got there.
00:32:14:11 - 00:32:43:08
Speaker 2
It's obviously got me more interested in the Seven Years War, which was the first real global conflict and which resulted in the British Empire taking its shape and making the British the rulers of the world by 1763. And then obviously, it became very interesting why the Americans, who were basically British, people at that time mostly wanted to get rid of the British crown.
00:32:43:08 - 00:33:12:14
Speaker 2
So the revolutionary board that started in 1775 was the first action in human history, which was attempting to get rid of the old system of monarchs, that one single person and ruling the entire nation until that moment. That was the way every nation, every country operated. And the Americans opened a new chapter, the 13 Colonies. So it's a very exciting period of time.
00:33:12:14 - 00:33:41:13
Speaker 2
And again, it's once in a lifetime. It's 250th anniversary. So I was saying when I was to photograph the events and discovered the details of the Revolutionary War, then on a very, very particular anniversary. And what is different that after that so much gray khaki colors and mud. You know, the American Revolutionary War is very fancy. Colorful soldiers are dressed in amazing uniforms.
00:33:41:13 - 00:34:04:12
Speaker 2
So it's a very different. But still, the book is obviously still looking for financing. I started to work on it, but this is another huge project because it the last until 2031. The Revolutionary War officially ended in 1783, so that would be 2033. But the last two years were not really action. For two years it was about the peace in Paris.
00:34:04:12 - 00:34:27:14
Speaker 2
So it's a six year project. I'm hoping this will go through and, this will be another book. If it will be the case, then it will be absolutely the same design, same structure as the First World War book. That's what I can say at this stage. And obviously, you ask me, I'd be why I've been to Canada, because now it's the 250th anniversary of the invasion of Canada.
00:34:27:14 - 00:34:42:01
Speaker 2
So this is when the Americans were taking a Montréal, and then they were heading to Quebec to push back the British or push the British out from for entirely from North America and hoping that the Canadians were joined the revolution.
00:34:42:02 - 00:34:50:20
Speaker 1
I wanted to ask a little bit about the first two volumes of The Great War. Where is it available? Where can people go to find out more and how to purchase it?
00:34:50:21 - 00:35:20:22
Speaker 2
It is difficult to buy it physically because in the US you can buy it at the national World War one museums bookshop in Kansas City and in Europe. You can buy it in the bookshops of the different museum, said the Western Front. But because this is a big and heavy and expensive book, this is not something we could put on, a full network of bookshop chains so people can order it on, a special website that was created just for this book.
00:35:21:00 - 00:35:27:00
Speaker 2
Title is very easy. It's, w ww Great War bookworm.
00:35:27:00 - 00:35:31:07
Speaker 1
How can folks listen and support your work? You know, we really want to stay on this journey with you.
00:35:31:08 - 00:35:56:23
Speaker 2
Well, on Facebook, the book has its own page, the In the Centennial Footsteps of the Great War. That's how you can find it. And the website of the book, The Great War Boots.com is pretty much updated now. Last because the project is closed, but on my personal Facebook page and on the book's Facebook page, I will be always updating, people with my different military history projects so that I did.
00:35:56:23 - 00:36:12:09
Speaker 2
This was really a pleasure for me to be with you here, guys, and, talk to Canadian and American audience. Thank you very much for this great opportunity.
00:36:12:11 - 00:36:31:18
Speaker 1
Thanks so much for tuning in. Story. Behind the Stone is available on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and on the Rise Across America Radio Network on iHeartRadio. Audacity and tune in to search for wreath. We air every Thursday at 10 a.m. eastern on the Red Cross Radio Network. Thank you for tuning in.