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I wouldnt say that the Boer War is forgotten. It has been written about extensively in recent scholarship about the origins of WWI and it is mentioned in just about every General history of WWI because of the way the fighting there showed the effectiveness of the magazine rifle and the emptiness of the modern battlefield.
The First World War is most certainly not forgotten in Europe. Every November the 11th here in the UK there is a 2 minute silence at 11.00 am to commemorate the moment the guns stopped. The Sunday afterwards is called Remembrance Sunday and is celebrated by parades and special church services. People wear red poppies to mark the occassion. If you go on twitter you will see a lot of avatars from people in Europe are currently sporting red poppies.I believe that if anything, it is remembered even more strongly in France.So no, not a forgotten war here by any means.
In some countries, e.g. in Belgium, November 11 is still an official day-off whereas May 8 isn't anymore.
In Poland 11th November is called Independence Day.I guess it was made long time ago to commemorate seizure of power by our "supreme leader" Iosef Pilsudski on 11th Nov 1918. He was released from German prison, get off a train in Warsaw and on 11th Nov seized power from local governments in German and Austrian occupation zone.
Little known factoid, speaking of Poland–Merriam C. Cooper, who produced King Kong, was a WWI flyer. After the war he flew for Poland with some other buddies in the Kosciusko (sp) Squadron in their war vs. the new Bolshevik govt. Sort of a payback for Thaddeus Kosciusko and Casimir Pulaski.
That's right. American volunteers in Kosciuszko Squadron played significant role in the war with Soviets.Merriam C. Cooper and Cedric Fauntleroy are most famous of them. One book I read says Polish infantrymen often called flying machines "fontleroy". There was even a movie made about Kosciuszko Squadron in the middle-war but it was lost during WWII.
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