Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker, authors of 14-18: Understanding the Great War, are directors of the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne, an international museum and research center near the Somme. Audoin-Rouzeau graduated from Jules Verne University of Picardy, and Becker graduated from the University of Paris, X-Nanterre. Both have completed a high volume of research and writings on World War I. Each has also published one book relating to World War I before writing 14-18: Understanding the Great War.
World War I is a commonly studied event in history. Many researchers have put considerable time and effort into researching and analyzing the causes, events, and effects of the war. There are countless books on the matter as well. Most of this is focused on the cause and effects of the war or the events of the war from a strategic and/or military standpoint. Stephane Audouin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker take a different approach in 14-18: Understanding the Great War. They offer a new way of understanding World War I with a focus on the three aspects of the war that they consider most often overlooked by other historians: the horrific violence of the war, the war as a crusade, and the overwhelming grief felt as a result of the war. They use these aspects to provide a complete understanding of the war and to show how it made subsequent conflicts possible. Their method of research and writing is different as well. They display an obvious awareness of over reliance on and lack of analysis of many primary sources used by historians. Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker not only use and analyze some of these primary sources in a in their context, but also provide some analysis and discussion of other historians writings as well.
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...olence seen in areas other than the front lines. These myths are often reinforced by historians. (46) The authors also use some primary sources to support their arguments such as their use of the scholars ‘Appeal to the Civilised World’ to show the Germans’ reaction to the accusations of barbarianism.
Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker describe World War I in great detail in 14-18: Understanding the Great War. They use three uncommonly analyzed aspects of the war to provide a clear understanding of the events of the war and the study of the war in the years since. They successfully prove their point demonstrating that other historians have often overlooked or misinterpreted areas that they cover in detail in their book. They strategically use primary and secondary sources that provide clear evidence. It is clear that their discussion is thoroughly researched and accurate.
Guy Sajer’s The Forgotten Soldier is a work notable not only for its vivid and uncompromising account of his experience as a member of the Wehrmacht in World War II, but also for its subtle and incisive commentary about the very nature of war itself. What is perhaps most intriguing about Sajer’s novel is his treatment of the supposedly “universal” virtues present within war such as professionalism, patriotism, camaraderie, and self-sacrifice. Sajer introduces a break between how war is thought about in the abstract and how it has actually been conducted historically.
Between the years of 1914 to 1918, the whole of Europe was locked in arms, not only for pride but mostly for survival. The years of war brought devastation upon all societies. Men were massacred in droves, food stuff dwindled, and at times an end seemed non-existent. The foundation of the first Great War, one can muse, began as a nationalistic race between rival nations. By the onset of 1914, once the Archduke Frendinad had been assassinated in Saravejo, the march for war became not just a nationalistic opinion, but now a frenzy to fight. In battle, unlike previous wars, new weaponry caused drastic alterations in strategy. No longer will armies stand to face their rivals on the plains. Now the war will be fought in trenches, hidden underground from the new, highly accurate artillery. In many respects, World War I was a war of artillery, gas, and mechanization. Except as new weapons were becoming essential for battle, the leaders, on all sides, appeared too inept to fight this new style of warfare. Generals, or any leader for that matter higher in the chain of command, sent their troops in massive assaults. Regardless of their losses there were no deviations from the main ideology of sending massive waves of men and shells to take a position. On an individual level, the scene of repeated assaults and mayhem of the front line did little to foster hope for their superiors or even for the naiveté of their fellow countrymen who were not fighting. I submit that in times of sheer madness and destitution, as during World War I, men banded together to form make-shift families for support and companionship when all seemed lost; as exemplified in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front.
The Battle of Somme is marked as one of the deadliest wars we had in world war 1. The article we were presented in source 8.1 is written by Phil Gibbs an English journalist who got to see the warhead on from the side of the French and British spectrum. The war consisted of the french and British armies take on the German empire. The war had over 60,000 casualties the first day with a mass number 1.5 million deaths at the end of the war. Seeing the inside of the war from Philip Gibbs perspective really gave us a more emotional connection to the story due to the vivid and graphic scene, he set up for us such as the ending when he quotes “They were silent, grave-eyed men who marched through the streets of French and Belgian towns to be entrained for the Somme front, for they had forebodings of the fate before them. (Excerpt From: “Sources of World History.” iBooks. ) . Next, in section 8.2 we transition into a perspective from the German side in the “All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) Erich Maria Remarque Excerpt From: “Sources of World History.” iBooks. This book is written from the perspective of someone that went to war and it showed the destruction of what happen with this man during his life and it goes through the story about his life
Sister Claire Evelyn Trestrail was the eldest of five being born on the 10th of December, 1877 in Clare, South Australia. Trestrail served in the First World War as a nurse following in her mother’s footsteps who was a trained nurse, Acting Matron of King Edward Hospital in Perth and also had involvement within the Red Cross and the Saint John’s Ambulance Services. Trestrail’s younger siblings also had involvement within the First World War with her two younger brothers; John Henry and Amarald Glen, serving in the royal Flying Corps and respectively, 1 Machine Battalion. Amarald was also presented with a Military Medal for Gallantry at Villaret. Sister Ella also served as a nurse, got married, but tragically returned as an amputee. It was only her youngest sister Amy who did not serve during the war.
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
To write this book the author, John Toland, had to devote 15 years researching different stories from all sides of the war. He studied war memoirs, interviewed war veterans, and read military documents. While doing this he focused on both the allied and axis forces to truly understand both sides of the story and be able to write such a descriptive and accurate piece of work. This research was used in the book to describe the unlikely victory of the Americans over the Germans during the “Battle of the Bulge”.
World War I, otherwise known as the Great War, began as a small battle that eventually developed into a prodigious uproar between several countries. An event that could have perhaps been avoided and prevented unnecessary deaths. WWI’s beginnings are controversial and historians throughout the world have several theories about the destructive event. Said to be one of the most disastrous and ruinous struggles between nations, The Great War lasted from July 1914 until November 1918. Referred to as a World War because of the global participation and the international unsettle; this war was exacerbated by 7 million casualties. World War I was primarily concerned with the struggle for mastery in Europe, but it was a global conflict that reached across five oceans and three continents. (Wilmott, 1) World War I introduced modern technologies including weaponry and nuclear machinery from opposing forces known as Central Powers against the Allied powers.
World War 1...what is it? Normally when you think about it you must be wondering how on earth am I still alive! World War 1 was also known as The Great War that took place from 1914-1918 within most parts of Europe. Within this informative essay I will be talking about the features, the results, the end, and how World War 1 changed the lives of the Europeans.
World War I, also known as “The Great War”, was a global war that revolved mainly around Europe. It took place from 1914 to 1918. This was a very brutal war that caused many casualties. The soldiers who survived experienced severe trauma and mental discomfort. This trauma was a direct result of the violence and agony they experienced during the war. Motivation for this war was the idea of nationalism and the pride in one’s country. This war was the cause of disillusionment among many of the soldiers that were involved in it.
At the beginning of WWI, the civilians and soldier’s initial expectations were expressed through various forms of propaganda, which instilled a sense of nationalism into the civilians and became a driving force to begin the war at all fronts (Maxwell “MAIN causes of WWI). One of many French propaganda, “Credit Lyonnais. Subscribe to the 4th National Loan,” depicted the battle between a French soldier and a hawk, in which the hawk represented Germany. The French soldier stabbed the hawk to symbolize the expectation of the war – win and be back home quickly. In addition, the French soldier pulled away the French flag from Germany, as if France regained their former cities: Alsace and Lorraine. The poster causes the spread of nationalism through the demonization of Germany and the expected rewards from the war. The possible rewards from the war encouraged and convinced civilians to buy war bonds. Each and every country viewed their side as good, and believed they were fighting a defensive war against other evil countries. The sense of nationalism helped arouse the general population, instigated them to take action, and become a part of this war (Maxwell “Propaganda”). At the time the war was believed to be the last war in a long time, so many ...
Voltaire once said “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities” (‘Questions sur les miracles’, 1765). In August 1914, Germany invaded neutral Belgium. The German armies killed over 6,500 civilians both in Belgium and northern France. These alleged ‘German atrocities’ soon became one of the defining propaganda conflicts of World War I, as evident through the 1915 ‘Report of the Committee on alleged German outrages’ otherwise known as ‘The Bryce Report’ (‘Report of the Committee on alleged German outrages’, 1915) ‘The Bryce Report’ proved the atrocities in Belgium were committed under German militarism through various statements and stories.
O’Neill, William L. World War II A Student Companion. 1 ed. William H. Chafe. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Grayzel, Susan R. The First World War: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. Print.
World War 1 (better known as The Great War), was caused by a great many elements, some long-term, some short-term and the spark. Together these reasons created a brutal war involving many countries across the globe and also killing a vast number of the world’s population. In this essay, I will thoroughly explain what started this war and which reasons made it start sooner.
If we define “Total War” as a type of warfare that affects and involves every part of a society, then World War I can be argued to be the first attempt by military and political leaders to engage in such a conflict. Modernity was at Europe’s door thus leading to the inventions and innovations that would allow for war on a scale, and of a scope, that had never before been considered. Yet, it was not the fact that these innovations and technologies existed, or that specific conflicts necessitated war, but rather that the political and military elite, coming out of an age of pompous militarism, made decisions based on previous experiences and not on future possibilities. These decisions had an adverse affect not only on the outcome of the war politically (as far as treaties and borders were concerned), but it affected individuals at a grassroots level creating a subsequent era of distrust, listlessness, and eventual aggressive feelings creating the perfect storm out of which Nazism could rise.