The War On The Front Lines

Men were living outside for days or weeks on end, with limited shelter from cold, wind, rain and snow in the winter or from the heat and sun in summer. Artillery destroyed the familiar landscape, reducing trees and buildings to desolate rubble and churning up endless mud in some areas. The incredible noise of artillery and machine gun fire, both enemy and friendly, was often incessant. Yet soldiers spent a great deal of time waiting around, and in some quiet sectors there was little real fighting and a kind of informal truce could develop between the two sides. Even in more active parts of the front, battle was rarely continuous and boredom was common among troops, with little of the heroism and excitement many had imagined before the war. The Italian infantry officer Emilio Lussu wrote that life in the trenches was ‘grim and monotonous’ and that ‘if there were no attacks, there was no war, only hard work’.[1] The order to attack – or news of an enemy assault – changed

Between the years of 1914 to 1918, the whole of Europe was locked in arms, not only for pride but mostly for survival. The years of war brought devastation upon all societies. Men were massacred in droves, food stuff dwindled, and at times an end seemed non-existent. The foundation of the first Great War, one can muse, began as a nationalistic race between rival nations. By the onset of 1914, once the Archduke Frendinad had been assassinated in Saravejo, the march for war became not just a nationalistic opinion, but now a frenzy to fight. In battle, unlike previous wars, new weaponry caused drastic alterations in strategy. No longer will armies stand to face their rivals on the plains. Now the war will be fought in trenches, hidden

Foremost, it is imperative to note that many soldiers fighting in WWI were around the age of 20 if not younger. This is crucial when the fact that many studies have shown the human brain does not fully develop until the age of 25 is considered. This means that many of the soldiers were still immature and gravely unprepared for the horrors of war. Being thrown into the war requires them to mature quickly and leave their youth behind. Remarque depicts this in his piece where he states, “We are youth not youth any longer…The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in war” (Remarque 46). Nonetheless, the only thing they believed in betrayed them in the end. With the innovation of new forms of weaponry in warfare such as mustard gas, tanks, planes, machine guns, etc. and

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque, is a classic anti-war novel about the personal struggles and experiences encountered by a group of young German soldiers as they fight to survive the horrors of World War One. Remarque demonstrates, through the eyes of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier, how the war destroyed an entire generation of men by making them incapable of reintegrating into society because they could no longer relate to older generations, only to fellow soldiers.

The 1920’s book “All Quiet on The Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque depicts war through the eyes of a young German soldier, Paul Baumer. As told through a collection of stories, Baumer recounts his arrival on the Western Front and his daily battle for survival amid treacherous living conditions inside the trenches. Remarque’s book reveals the harsh realities of war for both the allies and the central powers of Germany and Austria Hungary. The idea of a modernized warfront was a revolutionary idea in the face of a war. 20th century warfare now favored fighting on the defensive side, thus leading to the use of machine guns, tanks and chemical laced weaponry. All of this technology was mounted at the forefront and stretched for miles

During the early 1900s, soldiers who fought did not have any say in their actions. They were told what to do, where to go, and who to take up arms against. These actions led to multiple complications and controversies among different World War 1 historians. Soldiers were taught to comply with all orders of their commander and disobeying such commands was rewarded by harsh punishments. Over time however, the soldiers began to see the situation from a different vantage point, As a result, they began to formulate escape plans, and they began to reject orders more frequently, and began to voice disapproval. This behavior infuriated their commanders, so as time progressed the soldiers attitudes changed.

A war is a historical event that has the ability to change a person 's life both positively and negatively. Ironically, during the months preceding both World War One and World War Two, for many men the opportunity of going overseas to prove themselves worthy as men was rarely refused. However, many of the soldiers who were involved in either the First or Second World Wars quickly realized that war was not only a brand new experience; it was a new lifestyle. In both novels, Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose and The Wars by Timothy Findley, the soldiers share a common bond with one another. Soldiers learn how to become one unit, fighting for the same cause. However, although they are one unit, not

Wars aren’t fought in a vacuum, and those who study the Civil War should know this. While the Confederacy lost the war on the battlefield, a failure to exam the social and political climate before the first shot fired on Fort Sumter and the furling of the CSS Shenandoah’s Confederate Navy Ensign— the war’s final surrender— does not capture the war’s impact on the nation. Certainly, one can’t discuss a war and never mention a battle. The field’s foundation is in traditional military history, but I feel more comfortable discussing social history topics. When I began the semester, I felt I was staunchly in the social history camp. I wanted nothing to do with regiments, charges, and invasion routes. When I wrote the first paper on this same

Despite this ominous picture, attitudes of civilians, including the large numbers who were to enlist as soldiers, remained buoyant. Instead of making the people realize the stupidity of untamed patriotism, the dark situation of Christmas 1914 actually bolstered the determination of the people to fight.

War on the home front was not a shaped many Canadian negatively in WWI. The Wartime Elections Act had an effect on Canadians politically. The great influenza affected Canada socially. Lastly, propaganda and victory bonds caused Canada to fall economically. Canada’s home front during WWI had a negative impact on the Canadian people politically, socially and economically.

The dying and killing was the factor that changed the individuals the most during the war. People would see friends and comrades die at the hands of their own countrymen. Most would prepare before battle as if it would be the last thing they were going to do because for most of them it would be. Even though they prepared sometimes it wasn’t enough they would just be taken from this world and it

This situation degenerated the discipline and permeated among the entire group. Personal problems and emotions can increase during war times; however, if a fighting force unit loses the focus on the mission, the consequences for the entire

World War I has cultivated a mythology around itself, and that mythology, although it drew from real experiences, has distorted the truth into an exaggerated and generalized story of the war. This collective narrative can be loosely defined as a generation of young, idealistic, innocent men, who took up arms in the defence of democracy. Relying on concepts like honour, glory and duty as justifications for war, they were routinely slaughtered in unnecessary, unsuccessful battles by incompetent, moronic, generals. Veterans of this conflict were disillusioned by the war and saw their real enemies as the old men who had sent them to die in this pointless conflict. Returning home they rejected the old society, separating themselves from the past and their cultural

These officers claimed that the German’s would subjugate France to a similar punishment that Russia received in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The soldiers concurred with their officers and agreed to return to the front lines (Smith 190). The French High Command, however, did not value the treatment of enlisted men as equals and order the executions of a number of the mutineers. The French Command, also, decided that the prudent decision to stop impending mutinies would be the ending of “on any new large-scale offensive” (Smith 195). With the comprehension that moral could collapse further the Allies turned to a handful of new tactics to minimize the number of deaths that occurred.

Throughout history, many individuals would have never thought a horrific war would occur, which was World War 1 (The Great War). Many men was picked to fight during this war, they thought that it was going to be an easy journey. However it did not end up going in the right direction, so it took a left turn based on seeing fellow soldiers die before your eyes, the weather was always wet and muddy, and multiple firearms always pointing at each other. Before the men began their journey into booby-traps of the war, many individuals encouraged them that fighting in the war was fun. However, it was far from fun: many soldiers fought in trenches, many became shell shock, and many saw the world in a much more horrific view when returning back home.