During World War I, trench warfare was very common. It was a newer technique in battles as in wars prior to the Great World War, fighting was less invasive and men merely marched at each other from opposite ends of fields and fought until only one side remained standing or a white flag was hung high in surrender. In fact in older wars, the fighting was far less dangerous to the point where battles were often times viewed by locals who watched from side lines with really no threat of getting hurt. In World War I however, the fighting had upscaled to the most sadistic type the world had ever experienced. With the industrialist wave that had overcome us in the late 1800s into the early 1900s, many technological advancements made the war a lot harsher of a scenario. Mass weaponry was being created in factories all across Europe to use for the war, and so the “old wars,” of much less casualties and danger were in the past, and the “new war,” or first World War was at the present, with heavy war machinery and severe casualties. The picture in the Stearns text book on page 808 displays a group of soldiers during World War I in the trenches, their homes and in most cases-their death beds during combat.
In this picture it is clear to see that life in the trenches was dismal and uncomfortable. Trenches were basically dug out pieces of land that soldiers fought from and sought refuge in upon returning attacks. They were not fun places to live and consisted of numbers of men packed tightly together in constant fear of their lives being taken from them before they could ever return home to their families, if they were lucky enough to reach that day!
Through the expressions on these men’s faces in the picture, one can see that the trenches were very uncomfortable and unlively. The men look dirty and tired in their cave like surroundings. Disenchanted with the lives they led and the war they were there to fight, the soldiers do not look at ease or positive about their current situation. They sit cramped on the ground with no smiles or grins for the photographer of this picture. There is rubble all around them, somewhat signifying their lives as they miss their homes and families and watch their closest friends die or suffer from deadly battle wounds beside them.
Many soldiers who come back from the war need to express how they feel. Many do it in the way of writing. Many soldiers die in war, but the ones who come back are just as “dead.” Many cadets come back with shell shock, amputated arms and legs, and sometimes even their friends aren’t there with them. So during World War I, there was a burst of new art and writings come from the soldiers. Many express in the way of books, poems, short stories and art itself. Most soldiers are just trying to escape. A lot of these soldiers are trying to show what war is really like, and people respond. They finally might think war might not be the answer. This is why writers use imagery, irony and structure to protest war.
I felt this morbid and realistic presence of the soldiers and for a mere second felt the gloom and menace of the war they were in. I walked around the site to gather more information on what the memorial was dedicated to. I walked past the mural wall and as I did, I paid particular attention to the various images of people and equipment on the wall. All of the facial expressions of the people on the wall gave the memorial a very real presence to it. I continued walking down the granite walk
"Feature Articles - Life in the Trenches." Firstworldwar.com. First World War, n.d. Web. 05 Apr.
...be exaggerated to grab the media’s attention. The source A9 is helpful as it tells us how terrible the trenches were such as the diseases and hygiene problems that were present in the trenches.
Because All Quiet on the Western Front is about among soldiers fighting on the front lines of battle, one of its main focuses is the disastrous effect that war has on the soldiers who fight in it. These men and women are subject to constant physical danger, as they are well aware that they could literally be blown to pieces at any given moment. This intense, physical threat also serves as an unceasing attack on their nerves, forcing soldiers to handle difficult situations with initial, instinctive fear during every waking moment. Additionally, the soldiers are forced to live in deplorable conditions—in filthy ditches full of rats, decaying corpses and lice. They frequently go without food and sleep, decent c...
Life on the Western Front During World War One A dispassionate look at the numbers of the horrendous casualties sustained by the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers on the Western Front in WW1, clearly indicate that these casualties figures are far inferior to what might be anticipated if, indeed, total war had reigned in every location, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and along all the 475 miles of trenches that extended from the North Sea to Switzerland. A couple of simple examples will readily make the case. Imagine two front-line trenches separated by only 20 to 30 yards of ‘No Man’s Land’ (in some extraordinary situations, distances were even less). A determined and prolonged effort by a few hand-grenade bombers on either side could make any hope of a sustained tenancy quite impossible. Again, given the accuracy and rapidity which trench mortars could be deployed against routinely manned trenches (one battalion per 1,000 yards) and their associated dug-outs, a quite short, but determined, and mutually hostile, barrage could readily reduce both trench systems to total ruin.
Despite the horrors of trench warfare during World War I, reasons why soldiers continued to fight include being influenced by propaganda, enjoying the thrill of fighting, and having nothing else to live for. These motivations differed from the civilians at home because the latter group were not under the direct influence of a manipulative military or intense public pressure, nor did they experience the true nature of fighting on the battlefield. For the most part, these sentiments were shared by soldiers on both the Central Powers and the Allied sides, except for people who had little enthusiasm to fight since the beginning of the war, such as the Italians and minority groups.
Although he could have shown them to be joyful with their win, Branagh instead shows the war-weary, bloody, wet and muddy soldiers. It is raining and so the already miserable soldiers, wearing torn and ragged clothing are forced to bow their heads as they slowly make their way down the road in a way reminiscent of a death march, the sombre mood of the scene assisted by the music.
portrays them to be. The speaker chooses words such as “bent double, like old baggers” and “knock-kneed” (Owens 1-2) to expose the discomfort and effects that war has on young soldiers. The soldiers are discreetly compared to crippled old men which emphasizes just how badly war has affected their bodies, stripping them of their health, making them weak and helpless like “old beggars” (Owen 1). Furthermore, the speaker expresses his experience as a sold...
"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. .
With rainwater comes mud, which made it hard for soldiers to keep their legs and feet dry since they were basically submerged in around three meters of mud. Soldiers would easily get trench foot, which eventually made your foot rot off of your body. It is difficult to imagine just how bad these trenches smelt and how bad they were to live in.
" The dead all lay with their faces in the mud—or turned to the walls of the trench. This was the only way they could be told apart from the wounded. All were a uniform shade of grey." (Findley, 131)
World War 1 World War 1 was called “The Great War”, “The war to end all wars”, and “The first modern war”. It has many causes and a few repercussions and I will describe them in detail. The most widely known reason for the start of World War 1 was the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in the Serbian capital of Sarajevo. The ArchDuke was there to talk to the Serbian leaders about peace on the Balkan Peninsula. After a Serbian was arrested for the assassination, Austria-Hungary pulled out of the peace talks and declared war on Serbia.
...though people believe that, those on the home front have it just as a bad as the soldiers, because they have to deal with the responsibilities of their husbands, there is nothing that can compare to what these men have gone through. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope that they would soon return home, most men came to grips with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The biggest tragedy that follows the war is not the number of deaths and the damages done, it is the broken mindset derives from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the hardships of being out at war and the consequences, ideologies, and lifestyles that develop from it.
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...