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. This war was massively destructive to the people involved in it. Despite the brutalities, many soldiers still agreed to enlist in the war due to the concept of nationalism. Nationalism There was a drastic change in Paul’s mindset when he came home for his break. For example, he lied to Franz’s mother about his death. He said he had a quick death, but in reality, Franz had a slow and painful death. As a result of the war many soldiers also gave up on their beliefs as well. An example of this is seen in the film when Josef Behm, one of the young men participating in the war, dreamt of becoming a reverend. However, even if he survived the war, the images of blood and murder would still appear vividly in his mind. These memories and experiences totally contradict the principles in which a reverend or minister would believe in or live by. Wilfred Owen was an individual who had similar experiences to Paul Baumer in the war. In his poem “Mental Cases”, he states “These are the men whose minds the Dead have ravished. Memory fingers in their hair of murders, multitudinous murders they once witnessed.” All of the brutal murders that these soldiers witnessed have shaped their minds for the rest of time. Physically, these individuals will eventually heal. However these painful memories of blood, agony, and cries will stay very graphic in the minds of the soldiers, as if they occurred the day before. Siegfried Sassoon is a former English soldier who is known for his angry and compassionate poems regarding the first world war. Sassoon’s poem “The Poet As Hero” describes the minds of the soldiers and what their opinion was on the war and the casualties. He states “But now I 've said good-bye to Galahad, and am no more the knight of dreams and show: for lust and senseless hatred make me glad, and my killed friends are with me where I go” In other words before he experienced all of the tragedies, he was a pure and loving individual. However, after he has gone through all of the sorrow and grief that
The soldiers forget about the past, with good food and rest. Paul contemplates why they forget things so quickly; he thinks that habit helps eradicate memory. When one good thing happens, everything else is forgotten. The men turn into “wags” and “loafers” while resting. They cannot burden themselves with the emotions from the consequences
As the history of the United States has progressed, the motivation for starting a war has varied over the years. Something that has been consistent throughout every war are the emotions behind the soldiers fighting it. This can be seen in the books Gone with the Wind and The Things They Carried, and the document Letter to Elmer J. Sutters.
1. The three components of the American System were establishing a new protective tariff, starting a new transportation system and restoring the national bank. Henry Clay thought that each of these components would strengthen and unify the nation because he thought the American system would unite the nation’s economic resources because the south would grow food and raise animals that the north would eat and in return the south would by the manufactured goods the north made. A new transportation system would allow trade between the north and the south. Now America could finally become independent economically. And the tariff would help because during the War of 1812 British merchants brought a great deal of products to the United States and sold them at much lower prices than American made goods, so the tariff would raise the prices of the British goods so the American merchants could sell their products at a lower price.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel that greatly helps in the understanding the effects war. The novel best shows the attitudes of the soldiers before the war and during the war. Before the war there are high morals and growing nationalist feelings. During the war however, the soldiers discover the trauma of war. They discover that it is a waste of time and their hopes and dreams of their life fly further and further away. The remains of Paul Baumer's company had moved behind the German front les for a short rest at the beginning of the novel. After Baumer became Paul's first dead schoolmate, Paul viewed the older generation bitterly, particularly Kantorek, the teacher who convinced Paul and his classmates to join the military. " While they taut that duty to one's country is the greatest thing, we already that death-throes are stronger.... And we saw that there was nothing of their world left. We were all at once terribly alone, and alone we must see it through."(P. 13) Paul felt completely betrayed. " We will make ourselves comfortable and sleep, and eat as much as we can stuff into our bellies, and drink and smoke so that hours are not wasted. Life is short." (P 139) Views of death and becoming more comfortable with their destiny in the r became more apparent throughout the novel. Paul loses faith in the war in each passing day. * Through out the novel it was evident that the war scarred the soldiers permanently mentally. Everyone was scared to go to war when it started.
The war scarred the soldiers permanently, if not physically then mentally. After the war the soldiers usually never recovered from the war. Two of the most common side affects of the war were shell shock and stir crazy. When suffering from shell shock a soldier’s brain doesn’t function properly and the man is a “vegetable”. This means the man is alive but he can’t do anything because he is in a state of shock because of the war. Stir crazy is a mental illness caused by the firing of so many bullets that when no bullets are heard by the victim he goes insane. Everyone was scared to go to war when it started. Young recruits were first sent because the veterans knew they were going to come back dead. "When we run out again, although I am very excited, I suddenly think: “where’s Himmelstoss?” Quickly I jump back into the dug-out and find him with a small scratch lying in a corner pretending to be wounded.” (P 131) Even the big men like Himmelstoss are scared to go fight. They too go through the mental illnesses like stir crazy and shell shock. “He is in a panic; he is new to it too.
Q6. Nationalism was both known as a unifying and a disunifying force, your opinion depended on your perspective and background knowledge of the topic. Nationalism could be seen as a uniting force by bringing those together who believed in a single "nationality," or ancestors. Those who believed that nationalism was a unifying force also refused to be loyal to a king or queen, but they did remain loyal to those whom shared a common bond. Naturally, there were other who had different beliefs towards the topic. There were people who believed of nationalism as a disunifying force die to the fact that it would disrupt their wants to restore the old order before the French Revolution.
Nationalism influenced people’s thoughts about war, twisting their minds to believe that their government and military was supreme and would win a war quickly. Because “most European countries, with the exception of France and Prussia, had not had any major wars within the 19th century, they stepped into the 20th century thinking that they were immune to defeat. This idea of immunity developed as countries forgot of their past wars and sufferings. The British were confident in their naval forces, the Germans in their arms and ships, and the Russians thought their land was protected by God. Citizens strongly believed that their country was the best and would do just about anything to help their country. It became a school boy’s duty to enlist in the army upon his graduation. As Erich Maria Remarque states in his book, All Quiet on the Western Front, the “young men of twenty... whom Kantorek calls the ‘Iron Youth,’” are the ones sent off to war in Germany. Their teachers drilled this message into their minds from a young age. The boys were told that it was their duty to their country to fight. Zara Steiner, British Historian, related that British teachers were told “to teach boys that success in w...
The First World War, also known as the Great War, began in about 1914 and went on until 1918. This brutal war was an extremely bloody time for Europe and the soldiers that fought in it. These men spent their days in trenches holding down bases and taking in attacks from all sides. The soldier's only free time was consumed with writing letters to those on the home front. The letters they wrote contain heart breaking stories of how their days were spent and the terrible signs of war. The War consumed them and many of them let out all their true feelings of war in their letters to loved ones. In The First World War: A brief History With Documents we can find some of these letters that help us understand what the First World War might have been like for these young and desperate soldiers.
The author's main theme centers not only on the loss of innocence experienced by Paul and his comrades, but the loss of an entire generation to the war. Paul may be a German, but he may just as easily be French, English, or American. The soldiers of all nations watched their co...
Blood, bodies, and bullets had littered trenches, making the land unusable for years to come. Eight million men never made it home to see their families, their souls rest where they have passed, the men’s dreams of freedom from a seemingly never ending war die along with them. Poppies bloom there in memorial, inspired by one of the first World War 1 poems, “In Flanders Field”. The poppy has become the iconic remembrance of the fallen men. The Great War had taken a toll on the environment, the French countryside left in ruins, miles and miles of holes dug in the ground left without intent to repair. Bodies left to rot, the men stuck in an eternal slumber. What was the cause of World War 1? Why did so many nations get involved, though original
The phrase, “generation of 1914,” does recognize that there was a universal suffering and sacrifice of those who experienced WWI. However, this overarching term fails to recognize individual and varying experiences of gender, class, and race. There are many similar experiences and common themes, but no one group or individual experienced or remembered the war in the same way. Men and women, middle and lower classes, and white and African soldiers each had distinctive and unique experiences. There are many more lenses one can use to study war experiences and memory in addition to gender, class, and race. Each lens paints a different and more complete picture of the war; differing accounts that cannot and should not be encapsulated by using such a general term as “the generation of 1914.”
Our world today is becoming increasingly nationalised, boiling each nation into distict individuals. Wiping out variety and diversity in a country. This is shown in the source as the speaker has a standpoint, by which a country should spread its beliefs upon all of its civilians forming them into one. They describe this from a crisis standpoint as they plead for uniformity of their nations spirit, even going as far to say that, if unchanged it could be the destruction of their entire race. It is evident that this standpoint is false, for the events in history miror the opposition of this statement. Nationalism has brought terror among civilizations, to the point of destruction. This statement supported by the genocide that Stalin and Hitler brought upon their people, furthermore nationalism is what started WW1 that lead into WW2. Yes nationalism can bring great pride and joy to a nation but on the back hand it can also lead to destruction and death.
The period in american history between the war of 1812 and the civil war saw growth in nationalism then in sectionalism. Nationalism shows pride in our county or nation, while sectionalism shows pride and loyalty to our region of the country.
Anything an empire or country expands passed its borders it may have to face new culture. During expansions, two contrasting culture often meet and is forced to combined into the other. When this happens countries not only the lose of a significant amount of culture but the lose of the ability to have their own leader. Being forced to lose some on its identify, oppressed, or generally weakened are among the greatest causes for the European nationalism seen from the 15th to the 20th century.
Nationalism and imperialism played a big role in Pre World War One, with every country priding themselves domestically. This caused controversy within countries, and it also created alliances, eventually leading up to WW1.