The True Victor Of The First World War

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 is perhaps best known for being a war fought in trenches, ditches dug out of the ground to give troops protection from enemy artillery and machine-gun fire. The trenches spread from the East to the West. By the end of 1914, trenches stretched all along the 475 miles front between the Swiss border and the Channel coast.

One of the reasons the fighting was so horrible is that the British trenches were not as developed as the Germans. The British trench was more constructed to maintain readiness, rather than being prepared for different elements. Also, many toes were amputated because of being exposed to cold water. This is more commonly known as “trench foot”.

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.

In trench warfare, the two sides fighting each other dig trenches in a battlefield to stop the enemy from advancing. According to Document 4, one difficulty faced by soldiers serving in the trenches during World War I was that the soldiers would get trench foot. The illustration on Document 4 shows a couple of soldiers being inspected for any signs of Trench Foot. Trench foot is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary, and cold conditions. The soldiers got this condition because the men had stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove their wet socks and shoes/boots. During the first World War this was the most common to happen to the

These endless zigzag trails were the soldiers’ home for as long as they were assigned duty to them. The trenches were often infested with “rats and lice… ‘There are millions! Some are huge fellows, nearly as big as cats…’ The soldiers often went weeks without washing or changing clothes, and most were infested with body lice” (Newman 141). Conditions were so wet and dirty and the men had to live with it. As a result of the wet and dirty conditions, many soldiers got ‘trench foot’. “Their feet swelled up to two or three times their normal size and went numb…but when the swelling went down, the pain was agonizing.

Disease was the number one cause of death during the war. Lack of proper medical knowledge also lead to many deaths. Finally, surgery was so risky and dangerous it too lead to much loss of life.

The military technological advancements of trench warfare, poison gas, and tanks were just a few of the many important military innovations in the First World War. In WWI, the advent (no—trench warfare had existed since the American Civil War) of trench warfare slowed battles to vicious, bloody scraps over a few meters of ground, often lasting months and even years. Be sure you have a clear introduction on the AP exam. This is critical. Warfare in the nineteenth-century demanded the concentration of large masses of troops over open ground to compensate for the extremely inaccurate musket.

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,

Disease is a medical term, used to describe the presence of some clinical pathology, which is utilized to therapy and diagnosed by a clinician. Illness is a lay concept used to describe when a person experiences biological alteration in the body. It is an individual response to physiological and psychological stimuli. There are people who have abnormalities in the body and don’t feel any illness, or people whose tissues don’t experience changes but they don’t function well. I believe they can exist in the absence of others, if you are ill it doesn’t necessarily mean you are fighting a disease. While, you could have a disease but don’t experience illness. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2080455/)

Medical care was as scarce as clean water. Basic medical care was rudimentary. Describing the situations as “incredibly unhygienic” would be an understatement. War fatalities were the immediate effects of the Great War and the incredible spread of a disease was a later one. As a matter of fact, more people died from the Great Influenza Pandemic than from World War One (Tauenberger1).

There are multiple definitions of disease. Christopher Boorse’s definition of disease is “Deviations from the natural functional organization of a typical member of a species.” George Engel’s definition of disease is “Disease can be influenced by psychological, environmental and social factors. Genes, viruses, illnesses, and other physiological pathologies cannot explain all disease.” (Freaks and the Medical Body PowerPoint, slides 5 & 6) The construction of disease is related to the concept of “freak.” It is related to the term freak because we often feel like those that have some sort of disease are “not like us” which makes them stand out in society. People also feel as if they cannot relate to them, which also gives them a “freakish”

Merriam Webster medical dictionary states that disease is, “an impairment of the normal state of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions, is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms, and is a response to environmental factors (as malnutrition, industrial hazards, or climate), to specific infective agents (as worms, bacteria, or viruses), to inherent defects of the organism (as genetic anomalies), or to combinations of these factors.” Science see disease as an interruption of regular body functions. There seems to be little in the way of moral judgment- the person with the disease is not blamed or questioned. The disease doesn’t define them or their character. Thus, when alcoholism was called a disease it required a different lens with which to view it. Suddenly it wasn’t a

A disease is a particular quality, habit, or disposition regarded as adversely affecting a person or group of people. And let me tell you, there is a disease that plagues our nation. One that has yet to be cured, one that possibly has not even been attempted to be cured. Now, this disease which ails us all- for it does not discriminate- is not one with bodily symptoms. It does not manifest itself in fever, fatigue, vomiting, or loose stools. Instead it is a subtle affliction. So subtle in fact, that one may not even realize they are suffering from it.