The Change in Attitudes of Soldiers and Women Between 1914 and 1918

The Change in Attitudes of Soldiers and Women Between 1914 and 1918

The attitudes towards the war and the enemy changed drastically from

the start of the war in July 1914 and towards the end in 1918. From

the start of the war the Germans were seen as evil and the war as a

great way to crush the evil Kaiser, especially as everyone believed

the war was going to be over by Christmas. But as the reality of war

became apparent not just in the trenches but at home in Britain too,

peoples attitudes started to change for worse.

When Britain joined the war in early August 1914 men rushed to join

the army as they saw the war as an opportunity for an adventure, women

too pushed the men they knew too join the army as they believed it was

not a dangerous thing and would be over by Christmas. The propaganda

spread about was very effective as portraying the Germans as a

merciless enemy who wanted to take over the world.

Many soldiers believed that when they arrived at the western front

they would be treated as heroes, they thought it would be over by

Christmas. When they got bogged down in trenches they realised that it

was a static war, neither side gaining any land or losing. The

soldiers were not prepared for the onslaught that awaited them - new

inventions such as the machine gun which could fire up to 600 bullets

per minute cut down swathes of people when they went over the top. The

trenches they quickly became waterlogged, in many cases people were up

to their knees in filthy muddy water which caused the vile trench foot

in which peoples feet would swell two or three times their original

size and went numb and if the swelling did stop then the pain is

intolerable and in many cases legs were amputated. The smell added to

the horrible atmosphere, dead bodied rotted. This really brought

attitudes to the war down as many people became disillusioned about

what they were fighting for as all they could see around them was