France, Eastern Front July 31, 1914 Dearest Mother, It's been three days since the Austrian-Hungarian empire launched an attack on Serbia . Now, we British soldiers are preparing for what is going to be the battle of Life and Death. My veins are pumping so much of excitement, and anxiety, but most importantly, of pride for the motherland Great Britain. You can hear the cries of the soldiers, "All hail, England!" Ah it feels good being a British soldier! Those damn Germans will pay for this and anyone who is standing in the way of the Allied Powers. I wish you were here to see this. It is very different from past wars we have discussed at home. We soldiers live in trenches. They are dug-out locations, about 6-8 ft deep where we rest or get prepared to head out towards the Western Front. I have to quite say they are quite disgusting. Rats the size of my arm roam around these holes. I guess now we are taking control of their territory. There are many parts of the trenches. The first part is where the soldiers are and they fire from here in case if any incoming enemies. The second trench, the cover trench, is in case the enemy passed the first one. It was more of a back-up trench, if you quite say. The third trench is where we rest when we are off-duty. It's not the cleanest or the nicest, but we try to make ourselves comfortable. The fourth trench has all our supplies: ammunition, food, you name it. In front of the first trench is barbed wire and in front of that is the infamous No Man's Land . It's a scary, rotten place where once you're in, you don't get out. But you know me, mama, I am a strong boy. I'm not scared of these things. Oh I forgot to mention! You know Andrew, the boy whose father owns the bakery we always go to... ... middle of paper ... ...ant to go home to you, mama. I am ashamed to be a part of this so-called wonderful country of England. The trenches are disgusting, filled with rats and falling bodies. The smell of death is near and we fear it. Brandon is now shell-shocked. He has lost his brother. Life will not be the same. This may be my last time writing to you. I don't know if I will live tomorrow. I'll probably just get shot and have my body lay on the hard ground. You'll probably get a report from the General saying I have died in war. I'm sorry, mama. I don't mean to frighten. I just want you to know I love with all my heart. You are the only one I got. Dad's not here anymore and it's just you and me now. I don't want to lose you. I don't want to see you live a life without me. I don't know what to do. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't care whether we win or lose the war. I just want to go home.
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.
"First World War.com - Feature Articles - Life in the Trenches." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. .
As countries adapted to trench warfare, new techniques and tactics emerged. For instance, the countries made trenches in a zigzag pattern and surrounded them with barbed wire so the enemy could not bomb them in a straight...
Son, after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I gave up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to...
This excerpt not only give the reader a clear idea of what is physically happening in the trenches, but the language used and in particular, the incoherent shouting in the first line also implies the confusion of the situation, as if the author can recall no more than a blur of it.
I miss you very much. Since the last I wrote to you, it was awful. I hate it here. The trench we are currently in is old and worse than the one we were placed in before. The aroma here is very unpleasant. At times I feel as if I will become deafened by the constant sound of shells, being fired back and forth. It's always dark here, the sky is always filled with big black clouds. I miss it back home where the sky was blue and the clouds were white. Last time we left the trenches we marched 15 miles with not a lot of water, no food and the weather was very bad.Things are hard to describe but even harder to deal with. I haven't experienced anything as awful as this before. Life at home was so peaceful before this whole tragedy happened. We barely
In movies, a soldier's homecoming is depicted as one of honor and courage. Hollywood tends to glamorize war and not show the true effects of the mentality of a woman or man who have just returned home after the war. In the poem, "Homespace", by Anthony Grooms, the psychological state of the soldier's return home is displayed more true to that of Hollywood's. The boy returns home and is embraced by his mother. The family has a barbeque for the boy's homecoming. Even though he is at home, where he should feel safe and secure, the boy remains in war-like state of mind. He isolates himself from everyone else, "I made myself busy with the fire/ So I wouldn't have to talk," (Line 7-8). The young man, "heard screams" (Line 9), when fuel was added to the coals. Men and women of war are tormented by the images they seen and heard. No one person at this gathering seemed to take notice of the impression that the war left on this boy, mentally. It seems as though, because the boy was home and no physical evidence appeared on his body, they assumed everything was in good condition. Not noticing the boy's problem, "Women and children laughed from the porch/ Men sat under the elms" (Line 11-12). All the while these ignorant people sat enjoying themselves, the boy, "watched the sky for the enemy" (Line 13). This last line adequately describes the mind frame of the boy and in all probability many of men and women who fight in wars for their countries.
Kitchener's New Army; it makes me angry that cowards should be able to duck out
In the years after the Great War, America rose to become a global power, symbolic of wealth and everything that came with it. Frivolous spending was a common thing to expect in the years between World War 1 and the Great Depression. Luxury was no longer a commodity solely for the upper-class during the roaring 1920's. All throughout, the United States was booming. The return of the veterans from Europe was of course celebrated by all, but there was a certain coterie that were troubled in discovering tranquility in a country that was still commemorating it's upset over the Central Powers. The very men that had fought for their country to propel it to a state of economic prowess were slowly becoming alienated by the society of post war America. A term coined by Gertrude Stein, friend and mentor of Ernest Hemingway, the “Lost Generation” found that their lives in the states would be altered perilously by Allied victory in Europe. The epoch of this conglomerate of young men was brought to life through the style of its writers. The Lost Generation is an allocation of young men, generally American writers, who built themselves during the 1920's based on a sense of aimlessness and loss of moral compass, showed how their learned values no longer applied in post war society through their written works and was made commonplace in the vocabulary of today through the writing of Ernest Hemingway.
The air was warm, the beams of sunlight shined on my skin, and the sweet laughter of my daughter came as she ran about. I could hear the bark of the neighbor’s dog in the distance, the scraping sound of a jogger's sneakers on the gravel sidewalk and I could smell the sweet aroma of the ripening peaches coming from the tree in our backyard. It was a brilliant summer day just like any other. My husband, Matthew, pulled in. Our daughter ran to him as he walked up the drive, “Daddy, Daddy,” she shouted as she wrapped her arms around him, embracing him with love. My husband sat beside me and began to speak. My heart began to beat slowly and erratically at first, my eyes began to burn in their sockets and a lump rose in my throat. The hair on my arms stood on end as my eyes began to fill with tears. “I got orders babe, I’m going to be shipped out in eight days.” These words my husband spoke would be the begging of a whole new life, a whole new fear. This day my life changed forever. On this day I learned my husband was going to be deployed.
When the United States Returning soldiers came home from World War One, it had a big impact on everyone. Overall thousands of once normal men who had families of their own would go off to war and experience trauma they would never forget and would be coming home disabled, both mentally and physically, and having no treatments to help them. Additionally, World War One brought new medical advancements that helped them return to the life they had before, and these advancements are ones we still use today.
Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open (Ellison 430).
I miss you very much, but I guess I will see you soon, after all with Hitler in charge, this war with England should be over very soon. It was only very bad luck that got us shot down. We were in one of the first waves of bombers to attack Britain. The searchlights caught our plane and we were unable to shake them off. I have to admit that the Englander gunners were quick and accurate. I was lucky to get out and get far enough away, some of the crew didn’t have time to jump before the bomb load exploded. I landed okay, right in a field of potatoes, but unfortunately, the local farmer was waiting for me and I had no chance to escape the shotgun pointed at me. I was hauled ignobly off to the local prison until the army people could get me.
The First World War introduced a new type of warfare. New weapons were combined with old strategies and tactics. Needless to say, the results were horrific. However, a new type of warfare was introduced: trench warfare. In the movie War Horse, the character that owned the horse originally while he worked on his farm, Albert Narracott, finally was old enough to join the army. His first sight of battle was the Battle of Somme which took place in France near the Somme River. During this battle, the British troops start out in trenches, which were pretty much tunnels dug strategically to avoid gunfire. The soldiers would wait until they were told to advance, and they would run from one trench to the next. Trenches and the area between trenches were muddy and the trenches themselves were poorly conditioned (http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/ch1_trench.html). Many of the soldiers who fought in trenches succumbed to a foot disease called trench foot and if not treated immediately, gangrene could infect the foot and an amputation would be necessary for survival. Commanding officers ordered one or t...
A big "celebration" dinner was planned for John's going away. All of his family and close friends came to enjoy good food and fellowship before leaving in the morning. His parents were to drive him to the airport where he would fly to the army base. The same base his father trained at many years ago. John's father was proud of his son, but also a little concerned, for he realized the seriousness of this war.