It is evident that WW1 soldiers were deeply impacted by the war. Historians have found numerous journals and diaries that tells personal experiences from soldiers. Especially since this was a war that had a lot of new inventions, these soldiers had a lot to write about. Trench warfare changed the war entirely. Generals had to come up with better fighting tactics to make advances during the war. Prior to WW1 battles were fought out in the open and with less protection. There was no barb wire or sandbags to protect these soldiers. Life in the trenches were rough with constant firing occurring every few seconds. This made it very difficult for them to rest. In the trench soldiers are active all day and have to be ready for combat at all times. The daily journal of Pvt. Donald Fraser gives great detail of what actually took place on the battlefield. The living arrangements were terrible and most of your time was spent inside of the trenches. Pvt. Fraser recounts his first night in the …show more content…
Pvt. Fraser goes into detail in his journal about the day they were under attack. Fraser felt like there was no escaping the bullets they were flying from all directions and bodies were dropping too. Men were trying to dig in hopes of finding shelter but, this was very difficult to do while being under fire. The saddest story was a Red Cross worker who was attempting to bandage his leg but he died before he could finish due to his wound. Another soldier as he was dying told his fellow mates to tell his parents he died like a soldier. Experiences like this are life changing many soldiers have to live with these images of war every day and I know mentally that it is difficult. Pvt. Fraser story is one of many a lot of soldiers kept journals in hope that it would get back to their family one day. Writing allowed them to express how they really felt about the war and give vital information about there
The novel All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the poem, “In Flanders Field,” by John McCrae and the film, Gallipoli, Demonstrates how war makes men feel unimportant and, forces soldiers to make hard decisions that no one should half to make. In war people were forced to fight for their lives. Men were forced to kill one another to get their opinion across to the opposing sides. When men went home to their families they were too scared to say what had happened to them in the war. Many people had a glorified thought about how war is, Soldiers didn't tell them what had truly happened to them.
"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.
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.
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.
In document thirteen, we encounter a letter written by a young English soldier fighting the Germans from the woods. He starts his letter by explaining how once again he was forced to be out in the trenches for forty-eight consecutive hours. The letter, addressed to his parents, illustrates how devastating it can be for a young man out at war. When he asked for time alone they told him to take a group of men with him and after a bit of difficulty they finally let him go off on his own. While he is out on a stroll he comes across a German trench and kills an officer, he does the same thing the next day. By the end of the letter he simply defines the experience as awful.
taken a shower so once again they had to put up with it. When it
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
What World War One soldiers faced during the war was unimaginable for anyone to go through. A lot of the fighting was trench warfare. The conditions of the trenches were horrible and disgusting. Trenches smelled like chemicals like creosol and chlorine that was used to keep diseases and infections from spreading. The smells of dead rotting flesh of men who died, men who had not showered in weeks or months, and the smell of sweat and sour feet odor was prevalent throughout the trenches. The stability of the trenches was not the greatest establishment for men to be living and fighting in because they could easily collapse due to rainfall. The thick mud that they would constantly have to stand in was causing many soldiers to develop trench foot..A constant battle they faced in the trenches were rats and mice. Rats would grow to sizes of cats and crawl across the chests of men when they were sleeping. Lice would never stop breeding; they would nest in the seams of clothing and they would never go away, they would cause the men to itch. In the western front during World War One, at least one third of allied deaths happened in the trenches. (Life in Trenches). The fighting and death they saw would be hard for anyone to see. In the article...
I first started to realize the emotional and physical torment soldiers go through when I watched the movie American Sniper. This film is the story of a decorated Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle, who comes home from Afghanistan with severe PTSD. This disorder changed his life forever. At one point he even attacked a family dog because it was playing too roughly with Kyle’s child, imagining it was a battle scenario. The story ends when an retired marine, also suffering from PTSD, kills Chris Kyle. This story, however, using the heroic view of battle, shows the effect the front line has on fighters who experience it. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and “Lights Out”, a poem by Edward Thomas, both illustrate the gruesome reality of
Most soldiers would spend anywhere from one day up to two weeks in the trenches at a time. They spent some time in the frontline trenches, time in the support trenches and also time resting. Even when they weren’t fighting, soldiers had to work to do – including repairing the trenches, moving supplies, cleaning weapons, undergoing inspections or guard duty.
World War I changed the definition of the word “war”; previously wars were fluid offensive operations with not a lot of defensive action. World War I was almost entirely different with the new strategy of trench warfare. Trench warfare was solely developed due to the use of machine guns and rapid fire that required a strong defense system. The development of trench warfare was a big shock to the major powers because it was new and different. Although it may have been effective, it came with horrific conditions, such as influenza outbreaks, trench fever and trench foot, along with the freezing temperatures and the lack of hygiene that made the lives of soldiers miserable. Trench warfare negatively impacted the French and British soldiers through,
Trench Warfare was used in World War one and it was very dangerous and deadly. Trench warfare was used because during the First Battle of the Marne September 1914 the Germans were pushed back by the Allied army. When they became stalemate the Allies began digging protective trenches because they couldn’t break through the German defense line. These trenches turned into one of the main features of the war for the next four years.
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...
The Development of the Trenches in Spring 1915 The spring of 1915 saw a new frontier develop: the trenches. Trench