The Great War And Modern Memory By Paul Fussell

Gen.   John J. Pershing   , a veteran of the Spanish-American War, commanded the AEF. The U.S. was far from prepared to send an army to the European front

In the book, America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the “isolationism” ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.

“Tomorrow When The War Began” by John Marsden, is a novel of survival, friendship, love and war. He uses many language techniques (e.g. simile, metaphor, personification, oxymoron, irony, symbol, allusion etc.) to get across to the reader the importance of each of the themes discussed. He also uses these techniques to set the mood in each chapter and to help emphasise each major point in the novel. “We’ve learnt a lot and had to figure out what’s important- what matters, what really matters.”- Ellie

The Great War , or as it is known now, World War One was a global conflict fought between the Allied Powers ; Great Britain, France, Russia, and the United States along will other smaller nations and the Central Powers ; Germany, Austria – Hungary, Turkey/Ottoman Empire and other small nations from 1914 to 1918. World War One began from a series of tumultuous events, that in turn affected the balance of alliances that had been made between countries at that time in the world.

In the book, America's Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the "isolationism" ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.

The excerpt The Ending the War: The Push for National Reconciliation by David Blight, edited by Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs, Edward Blum and Jon Gjerde, in Major Problems in American History: Documents and Essays (Wadsworth, Cengage Leaning 2012) Blight argues historical memory that holds more importance than that of the Civil War. Like the Revolution, the memory of the Civil War played a role after the conflict. The concurrent issues in American society after the Civil War and against legislation to increase not decrease the racial problem in the South. Newly freed African Americans struggling to assimilate to society and be accepted as equal citizens in the reconstruction of the Union. This excerpt is rhetorically effective with statements on

Memoirs of war often reflect the positive or negative experiences endured throughout battle. Considered by many to be one of the best memoirs of World War I, Hervey Allen’s “Toward the Flame”, recalls his own experiences of battle. His recollection of events shows that he had a negative image of war and that there was nothing glorious about it. What started out looking like a man’s greatest adventure turned into a shell-shocking reality that war is actually horrible and trying. Allen’s experiences with consistent hunger, mustard gas, and artillery shellings led to his disillusionment with war, and left him with a permanent hatred of battle.

The Great War, also known as World War I, is a defining moment in Europe’s history. Its aftermath consists of the demolition of Germany’s economy, the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the loss of an entire generation of young men who were sent into combat. All Quiet on the Western Front chronicles the experiences of Paul Baumer, a 19-year old student who volunteers for the military during World War I along with his classmates Muller and Kropp. They are compelled to enlist by Kantorek, their fiercely patriotic but misguided schoolmaster. Paul’s life in the military is told in short entries that reveal the reality of war: horrifying battles, violence, alienation, emotional indifference. His accounts of war are personal and emotional, and the bleak tone

Many wars have happened through out our history. From the B.C to the 21st century. But some people believe some of these war should be forgotten or not learned about. To be specific, the War of 1812 and this is major issue. The issue on this is that some believe that it should be taken out of history books. This is because the ink prices have sky rocketed and not putting this in would save them money.Others believe that keeping it would be better. This is because many great accomplishments came out of this war. My opinion is that the War of 1812 should be left in the history books.

Remembering a Forgotten war by Donald R. Hickey 2012, an academic journal, talks about the military history where by people were subjected to a difficult and different lifestyle than the one they were used too at that time.

What I believe to be the most important historical inaccuracy to bring to light in Fussell’s book is in relation to his use of statistics about British casualties. Fussell writes, “even in the quietest times, some 7000 British men and officers were killed and wounded daily.” As Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson point out in their article Paul Fussell at War, points out that if Fussell’s statement about 7000 British men and officers being killed and wounded daily were true then over the course of the war there would be ten million British casualties. As the article goes on to explain, only five million men fought for the British army throughout the entire war, therefore Fussell’s initial statistic cannot be true. For the average reader this inaccuracy

When it comes to the result after a serious war, plenty of us have a tendency to assume that the result after a war has always a negative impact on the society of the country, instead of looking at the positive impact it had on the country. In this case, if we observe the result after the Blitz war, we can clearly see that the war had negative, positive and as well as short-term and long-term effect on the development of British society.

As time has progressed since the first World War, a certain clarity has grown that allows for individuals to appreciate the importance of the population’s acknowledgement of the human experience in war. This progression can be perceptible in written works that incorporate some sort of personal account of the first World War – seen, for the sake of this argument, specifically in All Quiet on the Western Front, The Great War and the shaping of the 20th Century, and Women and the First World War – allow for one to acquire a more comprehensive insight from the escalation to the aftermath of the war. The aforementioned clarity is found as one moves away from the personal accounts from members of the aristocracy towards the accounts of a certain

Sometimes referred to as “the greatest war novel of all time”, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque tells of the experiences of a group of German soldiers on the front lines of World War I. The chronicles of these soldiers are not only bloody and gruesome, but also extremely realistic in terms of the horrors of the actual war. This viewpoints of this novel help to partially strength one side of Niall Ferguson’s argument in The Pity of War which insists that the men on the battlefield will do anything they can to fight to survive, but weakens Ferguson’s second proposition that war is fun and some men fight for the adrenaline and the thrill. In Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory, he asserts that war is ironic because

David Kennedy’s Over Here: The First World War and American Society gives the reader an in depth description of American history during Americas involvement in World War I. The book covers from President Wilson’s war message to Congress on April 2, 1917 to the Armistice on November 11, 1918 pointing out major dilemmas within the country, whether they are political, social, or cultural. Kennedy starts the book out with a prologue that sets the scene. After the prologue, Kennedy jumps into explaining the war and the thoughts of the American people about the war that was carried into the battlefield. During this time, Wilson had just won his re-election of 1916, which was won by promising to keep America out of the war. So it was not hard to