There are many reasons for the casualties on the western front during World War I, such as the length of the war, the weapons involved, strategy and tactics, and the conditions. The total number of casualties in World War I, both military and civilian, was about 37 million: 16 million deaths and 21 million wounded. Throughout this essay, I will explain how each of these things affected the number of people who died on the Western Front.
World War 1 has been a famous war throughout history. Many films have been made surrounding it, sometimes realistic and sometimes not so much. Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front were two such movies that depicted the Great War. Each movie is unique in their own sense and although no movie will completely convey the harsh reality of the war some movies are better than others. Depending on when and what year the war would have looked vastly different to different soldiers. Some would only know the reality of the trench while others would recognize “tanks” rolling over the ground which were impenetrable to normal gun fire. Which side of the war one was on would have also lead to different views, as in when one side is winning the other is losing, and when morale is up on one side normally morale is down on the other.
Soldiers did not die only from warfare casualties,especially the war atmosphere in the trenches brought health issues and diseases which caused most of the death during WW1.Some of this diseases were caused because of weather change , lack of hygiene and the filthy environment.Many of this diseases were insignificant colds but others were deadly as Shell Shock or Trench Foot.
World War I was known for its very slow-paced battle and the stage of stalemate. After advancing from Germany on France, battle turned into trench warfare. Trench Warfare is a defensive strategy in a field where the army stays in rows of trenches that were placed along the Western Front during the war. The use of trenches during the Great War was a very significant tactic during battle, by making soldiers hidden but exposed just enough to be able to attack the enemy. On a daily basis, life in the trenches was very scary and filled with horror. Death was upon the soldiers even if there was nobody attacking them. There was a continuous shell fire that would randomly take the lives of many. Some men died on their first day in the trenches, and very few were lucky to make it out unharmed. Shell fire was not the only issue in the trenches. There were plenty of diseases and infections spreading around like a wildfire. Many soldiers got infections and diseases that could not be treated such as Trench Foot or Trench Fever. Although trench warfare acts as a great defensive and offensive measure, it became very dangerous because of the many different causes of death including shell fire, diseases, and infections.
World War I was known for its very slow-paced battle and the stage of stalemate. After advancing from Germany on France, battle turned into trench warfare. Trench Warfare is a defensive strategy in a field where the army stays in rows of trenches that were placed along the Western Front during the war. The use of trenches during the Great War was a very significant tactic during battle, by making soldiers hidden but exposed just enough to be able to attack the enemy. On a daily basis, life in the trenches was very scary and filled with horror. Death was upon the soldiers even if there was nobody attacking them. There was a continuous shell fire that would randomly take the lives of many. Some men died on their first day in the trenches, and very few were lucky to make it out unharmed. Shell fire was not the only issue in the trenches. There were plenty of diseases and infections spreading around like a wildfire. Many soldiers got infections and diseases that could not be treated such as Trench Foot or Trench Fever. Although trench warfare acts as a great defensive and offensive measure, it became very dangerous because of the many different causes of death including shell fire, diseases, and infections.
World War I was a ghastly experience for the soldiers due to what they experienced during the war. Many of the Soldiers that were drafted in the war were young and fresh out of high-school. These young soldiers left their home, away from family and friends, to fight a war not knowing if they were going to return home. These young soldiers hardly had any training before being forced to fight a war and many had lost their lives. These young soldiers were finding themselves losing their youth and innocence during the war. For those who returned from the war they came back a different person. While the outside world was living carefree lives; these soldiers were living in monstrous horror.
World War I, also called First World War or the Great War, was the first global conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918. Some of the people who suffered the most on WW1 were the soldiers and people who lived in the Home Front. Soldiers didn’t live a normal life, they lived in horrible conditions. It was dirty, that’s why there were many animals like rats, frogs, insects etc., that eat the soldier’s food and contaminated it, by eating contaminated food soldiers got sick that’s was one of the main reasons why soldiers died.
World War I had affected the health of many soldiers coming back from the war. To begin with many soldiers came home with tuberculosis. The disease spread rapidly in 1920 due to the unsanitary, urbanized conditions of the cities which was similar to that of the trenches. “The close proximity of people in wartime conditions meant diseases such as tuberculosis could easily spread” (Science Museum). In addition, many soldiers that returned home had lost limbs in the war due to trench foot. “Some conditions such as trench foot, an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet, and unsanitary conditions” (Science Museum). Trench foot affected soldiers who wished to go back to work, because most jobs wouldn’t allow handicapped workers to work; however,
William T Sherman, a union General during the American civil war,is quoted as saying “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry allowed for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell”. A Timeless saying, that reflects the toll of war. He describes the trauma that the War inflicted on him. WW1 was certainly no exception in regards to it’s cost. Trench conditions were severely damaging to the psychological well being of alliance and entente soldiers alike. Soldiers could not predict if they would be the next man to die, even while safe in the trenches.Some soldiers decided to walk into enemy fire rather than continue to serve. Many of the Soldiers relied heavily on
World War I, otherwise known as The Great War, is considered by many as the first modern war. Poison gas, heavy artillery, armored tanks, mortars, ground breaking military guns, advancement in war machinery, and shell bombardments were all newly utilized weapons that caused mass destruction that was never seen before at the time. However, a lot of deaths and conflict occurred in the man-made trenches. Both strenuous and unproductive, living and fighting in the trenches cost soldiers who endured them both severe physical and psychological injuries. Most soldiers were not even lucky enough to make it out of the trenches alive. All Quiet on the Western Front portrays an accurate picture of trench warfare and how gruesome it was.
When we think of World War I, what comes to mind is the huge number of casualties, the destruction, and large scale chaos and
World War 1 changed the world around it. More men fought than one could comprehend. World War 1 almost destroyed an entire generation of men. The battlefield for Australians were lined with trenches filled with disease, pests and the fallen where they had medical aid. They experienced traumas not yet known commonly at all. The war was not embellished for its inhumanity in its time but as we see now the men and women who helped with the war effort lived with fear of death, disease and infection.
The warfare of WWI affected society by causing crucial pain to many soldiers.Many soldiers came home limping and blind.When soldiers came home wives and children were distraught to see them in this condition. Everyone did not have hope in the United States winning this war anymore. One reason the soldiers came home blind was because of poisonous gas. The gas would slowly asphyxiate the soldiers, and the wind will blow the gas towards the villages where the civilians lived. So since the gas would spread to the villages the civilians would suffer for no reason. But, this is sort of the soldiers fault because they used this gas but it is not really their fault for the wind blowing the gas.
From a medical perspective, the Great War was a miserable and bloody affair. World War 1 made thousands of casualties in terms or physical, emotional, and mental state. Wounded soldiers were carried away from the battlefield by the use of stretchers. The medics used dogs to locate the wounded soldier.
The human cost of World War I was enormous. The war was the worst war in the history of the world. It certainly was the worst for the fighting men, the men existed for four years in unthinkable conditions. Millions of troupes lived in trenches and holes in the ground only as wide as their wingspan. Millions of men died horrible deaths and many millions more were wounded physically, mentally and spiritually to which it was almost impossible to recover. Casualties in a single day of fighting often rose to tens of thousands. In France, where the worst of the war was fought, they never have fully recovered from the conflict. The French lost half a generation of young men, and memories of the conflict, along with WW2, are still deeply rooted