Robert Graves author of Good-Bye to All That, wrote about his life, particularly his time fighting in World War One. In his narrative one can see the experiences of the war and the influence that it had on him. He bore witness to and was victim to the advancements in military technology, like gas, machine guns, and tanks. He would write about his experiences in his trenches, as well as the cultural and social aspects that he saw in the military units and the areas he visited. However when comparing his narrative to the works of Jeremy Black, author of Warfare in the Western World 1882-1975 one can see the changes in warfare brought on by World War One.
One of the more interesting descriptions that Graves provides about his experiences of war
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When focusing on the positives of the uses of trenches one can say they provided protection to the soldiers. With the use of heavy artillery and machine guns, trenches provided an area where men would be shielded from enemy fire. Black stated that trenches were also used to provide shelter for “reserve troops.” However, the trenches did not provide much comfort for the men living in them. Robert Graves relates in his narrative that the trenches were made from bricks, ammunition boxes, and corpses. Graves, later in his narrative also states that life in the trenches depended on the battalion and the moral of those living in them. Some trenches were not unbearable whereas others were encompassed with depression. Black states that trench life was often atrocious. In many cases soldiers were exposed to wet conditions that attracted vermin and frostbite. As well as, according to Graves, “trench feet” a condition soldiers got if they slept through the night without warming their feet in their wet boots. However, life in trenches also posed another …show more content…
It included changes to weapons, such as advancements on firearms, the machine gun, use of airplanes, tanks, and gas. Many men, like Graves, would enter in a battle and be subject to a war that was much different than previously seen wars. Graves fought alongside men who had traveled the world in the name of the English Crown to fight and defend imperial territories but were not prepared for the slaughter of men that World War One created. As stated before both England and the United States had armies that had combat experience but neither were prepared for what the enemy had in store. In his narrative about his life, Graves connects his own personal thoughts and feelings to the events that occurred around him providing readers a clear image of what it was like to fight in World War One. Not only were the men subjected to firing of new and advanced weaponry, they were also subjected to trench warfare. The men would be trapped inside the trenches subjected to illness and extreme weather conditions and in some cases with no relief. According to Graves the men needed to keep a positive moral during this time or else they could become subject to the depression that encompassed the trench. However, after the Great War ended many felt as if it was time to heal and move forward from the events. Graves himself continued his education and his writing as he traveled through Europe and Africa. Many
"Feature Articles - Life in the Trenches." Firstworldwar.com. First World War, n.d. Web. 05 Apr.
The First World War saw a new form of warfare known as Trench warfare which involved trenches which were deep long dugouts made by the soldiers that lived in these trenches. The trenches proved useful as they protected the soldiers from artillery and bomb fire and were most likely situated in the eastern and western fronts of Europe. However the conditions of the trenches were far from exuberant but were in fact severely terrible. There was bad hygiene throughout the trenches, for example soldiers bathed probably only once a month and as such were prone to diseases such as trenches fever (which were due to the lice attracted by the bad hygiene). The weather was no exception as well, in the summer it would be too hot and in the winter it would be too cold and due to the nature of the trenches, when it rained the trenches would be filled with water, and due to such conditions welcomed the disease known as trench foot which was due to prolonged exposure to water and claimed the foots of many soldiers. There was also the constant danger of bomb fire and snipers would always be on the lookout for any movement. Latrines, which were toilets used in the trenches also sprouted fear as the enemy could see them in this area of the trenches and therefore were in constant danger of death. Soldiers also had to follow a strict code of conduct which was known as trench etiquette which ordered them to respect higher officers and they would have to be punished if the trench etiquette was ignored.
In the book All Quiet on the Western Front, author Erich Maria Remarque reveals a dimmer sense of the cost of war. The main character in the book, German soldier, Paul Baumer, embodies the cost of war before he reaches his ultimate fate. The tactics and weapons used in World War 1 were more advanced compared to the past as a result of the industrial revolution. Germany was forced to fight a two-front war and this intensified the losses suffered by soldiers like Paul and the other men in the Second Company (Gomez 2016, German Strategy for a Two-Front War – Modern Weapons: War and the Industrial Revolution). Remarque’s observations that he shares with readers are not to World War 1 because it portrayed not only the physical but mental consequences of combat. Regardless of what era of war soldiers were involved in they were the ones who paid the price for facing so much death.
Comparing the Ways Michael Herr in Dispatches and Pat Barker in Regeneration Show the Effects of War
“Goodbye to all that” is a captivating story of young women and the journey she takes to identify who she is. Through the expressive writing by Joan Didion, the emotions in this text are truly tangible. Didion writes from her own experience as a young writer living her dream of being in New York City. Throughout her story there is miscommunication and through each obstacle, she grows as a person, learns what priorities are important, and overall she finds herself. I find this very appealing because everyone can relate to a life changing experience and reflect on how it changed you.
Life in the trenches during the First World War was simply a blood bath. It was the last thing the hundreds and thousands of soldiers expected when they enlisted.
Who or what is a soldier’s true enemy? Is it the appalling conditions he must endure? Figures of authority abusing their power? Or is it perhaps even the fear of death itself? These are the questions raised in Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front as he voices his own experiences as a soldier fighting for the Germans in World War One through his narrator Paul Baumer.
The trenches were very dirty as they were scattered with bodies of fallen soldiers, rats, used ammunition and rubbish. One of the main causes of death in the war was diseases from living in the trenches, diseases included trench foot; a disease obviously based around your feet where your feet would turn rotten from the wet and swell up making the foot numb. Some soldiers state sticking a bayonet through their foot and not being able to feel it. Another disadvantage of being in trenches was that I cold areas soldiers could easily get frost bite on their lose body parts like toes, feet, fingers, hands, noses and in some cases, ears. The rats would also bring a number of illnesses into the trenches also making the soldiers sick and cause death in some cases. When it rained the trenches would fill up with water and make slushy mud down on the floor of the trenches also causing sickness for the
War, is one of the most sickening, terrifying and downright gruesome events that have happened throughout history. One of the most devastating wars of all time would be that of the First World War. Trench Warfare became the main method of fighting and basically became a living hell for those who fought. The grime, dead bodies piling up, rats that thrived in the pits, disease, malnutrition, and just unbearable conditions, the trenches basically became hell on Earth. The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, provides almost a journal into the center of these conditions, exploring just how dark and depressing they were.
Ernst Jünger and Erich Maria Remarque offer two descriptive, but different perspectives of the life of a German soldier fighting in the trenches during the First World War. Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” tells the story of Paul Bäumer, a nineteen-year-old German who enlisted with his school friends after the outbreak of the war. While it is a work of fiction and written in the format of a novel, Remarque’s experiences and anti-war perspective are still shown through the way in which he describes the events. Jünger, on the other hand, tells his experiences of fighting in the trenches on the Western front through his memoir, “Storm of Steel”, which would become the most popular German book of its time. A true adventure-seeker, he
The horror and brutality of war, the importance of camaraderie, and the loss of innocence are predominantly described in Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. World War I was a war that cost the world a great deal. The memory of World War I’s events must be sustained so future generations can learn. Another world war is bound to happen, so if the future leaders of this world are educated, they can know how to take a stand to stop it. People need to learn about past events so history does not repeat itself. Reading war novels such as All Quiet on the Western Front is one way to educate about such history.
War is a constant struggle to survive; it is unfortunately a part of our human history. Something that has a major effect on the mentality of soldiers, something that takes away lives and something that shouldn’t be forgotten. The Wars written by Timothy Findley is a historiographical metafiction, which is told in the 1970's examining the protagonist Robert Ross's journey in World War 1. In the novel, the narrator provides information about his findings about the lives of the characters. Robert Ross a nineteen year old, enlists in the Canadian Army to escape the guilt and psychological baggage he carries over his older sisters (Rowena) death. Robert and many other characters within the text face countless obstacles and encounter many challenges
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...
“[B]oth sides had seen, in a sad scrawl of broken earth and murdered men, the answer to the question….Neither race had won, nor could win, the War. The War had won, and would go on winning.”1 These are the words of Edmund Blunden, a British soldier who survived the Battle of the Somme, who came to the realization that nobody could claim victory in the twentieth-century mass warfare, because both winners and losers paid a high price. The new type of warfare launched in the twentieth-century had a great impact on the modern world that went beyond the immediate cost of casualties.2 The psychological, social, economic and technological effect these wars had on those who survived earned this type of conflict a new name: total war, which encompassed all aspects of life. Before 1914, Western society believed in progress, peace, prosperity, reason, and the rights of the individual. During that time, people believed in the Enlightenment, and industrial developments and scientific breakthroughs were a daily reality apparent in the rising standard of living. But World War I crushed all hopes and dreams. It plunged society in an age of anxiety and uncertainty in almost every area of human life. The social impact of total war was also profound. The role of women changed dramatically as the war greatly expanded their activities and changed attitudes towards them. This change was brought about by the total national readjustment and the mobilization of the home front. In order to wage unrestrained warfare, belligerents had to intervene in the economies, diverting production from peacetime goods to the manufacture of munitions and military equipment. Technological advances also took place, which increased the number of “mechanical contrivances”3 such as heavy artilleries, tanks, submarines, and airplanes, which made war an “untrammeled, absolute manifestation of violence”4 as Carl von Causewitz so eloquently put it.
War for the soldiers during the time of the book Suicide in the Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon is very harsh and most people do not enjoy it. He shows a very sad side to war which might not be the same for everyone. The book shows how war might seem much different for the people who do not actually have to participate in it, because of the many different things they are involved in that they were never informed about before they left.