The Warfare Mentality Went From A War Of Mobility, To A

The men and women who served in the First World War endured some of the most brutal forms of warfare ever known. Millions were sent to fight away from home for months, even years at a time, and underwent a series of terrible physical and emotional experiences. The new technologies available to First World War armies combined with the huge number of men mobilized made the battlefields of 1914-18 horrific, deadly and terrifying places.

To narrow down the scope of these psychological effects, I have chosen to focus on the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was, in my opinion, the first war that really allowed Americans to become aware of the psychological effects of war. While for many of us the Vietnam War has long been forgotten, our soldiers risked their lives in the jungles of South East Asia for a cause that made no sense politically, militarily and economically. They continue to relive the horrors of this war through flashbacks, nightmares and other symptoms.

During World War I, trench warfare was very common. It was a newer technique in battles as in wars prior to the Great World War, fighting was less invasive and men merely marched at each other from opposite ends of fields and fought until only one side remained standing or a white flag was hung high in surrender. In fact in older wars, the fighting was far less dangerous to the point where battles were often times viewed by locals who watched from side lines with really no threat of getting hurt. In World War I however, the fighting had upscaled to the most sadistic type the world had ever experienced. With the industrialist wave that had overcome us in the late 1800s into

Warfare methods had been the altered in regards of weaponry. During World War I, soldiers would fight from trenches and would use artillery, machine guns, early airplanes, and poisonous gas . There was little mobility during that time period. On the contrary, World War II fought using nuclear power and missiles . During this time period, many special operations were put into affect. An example of a special operation would be Operation Foxley, where the British military planned to assassinate Adolf Hitler (which was not really put into affect). In addition, submarines and tanks were also more heavily used and secret communication, or “code,” became more difficult to figure out, which benefitted them so that others would not understand their plan of attack, their location, etc. Radios were invented which were heavily used during WWII, while there were only landline phones in WWI .

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.

The tactics used in World War I were radically different than that of previous wars. The majority of the war was fought in the trenches, and the war itself seemed to have no end. Due to this, the psychological impact of the war was unlike anything that had been seen before. During the early days of the war, the soldiers, on both sides, seemed to lack the dedication that would have been necessary to exterminate their enemy. However, as the war progressed, the desire to avenge their fallen comrades overcame their ethics and they began to kill their enemy indiscriminately. Surviving soldiers experienced a phenomenon that was, at that time, referred to as shell shock. Today we refer to this phenomenon as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. At this time, this psychological condition was misunderstood and the doctors lacked the training necessary to effectively treat this condition.

The improvements in others shortcomings would involve into a holistically method of thought. In some cases, major battles gained little to no effect yet morals were tested and a brotherhood of soldiers would reflect a type of intimacy in the face of death. These new devastating realities caused PTSD, and confusion and/or abandonment caused improper due process. Many of men (and often women such as nurses) suffered the effects of the trench realities. Of course, men had no choice but to feel the effects through their bodies uniquely from earth shattering vibrations felt

The first world war was one of the most brutal and remorseless events in history; ‘the global conflict that defined a century’. Over nine million soldiers and a large amount of innocent civilians lost their lives. Empires crumbled, revolution engulfed Russia and America rose to become a dominant world power. Huge armies deployed new weapons of devastating effect from rifles and pistols to torpedoes and flame throwers. These weapons were used not only in the trenches but by tanks too. This was an advantage to those who were able to access such machinery as they could easily launch bullets and missiles at nearby enemy bases. The downfall of the tank was the fact it was unable to cross the trenches. Tanks were not the only pieces of equipment that could access this machinery but U boats and planes too. The British carried ‘bolt action rifles’ in which fired 15 rounds per minute at a minimum range of 1,400 metres away. This allowed the British to take out foes at a far greater range. By using machinery in which rules out the need for getting up close to the enemy was a great advantage during world war one. Soldiers ran from trench to trench attacking with all that they had. This resulted in a massacre as the soldiers running toward the trenches were shot down. Machinery such as machine guns and heavy artillery were the weapons used in the trenches. In modern day society, machine guns are the main weapons used by soldiers. This wasn’t the case around the 1914s. They took four

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 World War 1, there were many new tactics that war has never seen before. Trench warfare was one of the new tactics that they used in World War 1. They used the trenches for many things. In World War 1 and All Quiet on the Western Front. They are an accurate portrayal of each other because of the way they fought while in cover, built them, and the way they put all their resources in them.

​War takes a toll on those who fight, or are affected by it, this is undeniable. Over the course of the 20th Century, within the U.S. Military and Psychiatric Community the way that this effect is identified and treated has changed many times based on the conflict and the mindset of the American public. The purpose of this report is to discuss the history of the mental effect of the trauma created by US involvement in wars within the 20th Century and the steps that were taken in those eras to predict, prepare and treat for those effects.

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.

With World War I being the first modern war, armies could do nothing more than dig trenches in defense. What made World War I the first modern war is all the new technologies that came with it. Technologies like gas masks, powered flight, and U-boats affected the war in a major way. During the war, both sides used poison gas against their enemies. The gas could destroy organs, cause blisters, or even kill the soldiers. Gas masks filtered the air to help keep soldiers protected from the gas. At first, aircrafts were used for spotting enemy positions, however, as the war went on they became used for bombing and fighting. Lastly, German submarines called U-boats were used to sink supply ships and later used to sink Allied and neutral ships.

were anxious to help out in a way they can. World War I was the first major war fought between several different countries. Unlike other wars this was a war between major populous countries fighting against other countries. The war brought new tactics and weaponry that were never seen before such as trench warfare, the use of airplanes and machine guns used in battle.

When a soldier enlists into the military forces they know they are going in to fight for their country and freedom for everyone. They spend months training and preparing for the war and what to come. They learn to fight, shoot, and kill enemies, but what they do not learn is how to cope with the after math of the war. Soldiers in war every year come home with many post traumatic effects from what they had witnessed. During world war two this was known as shell shock; however what can be concluded is that world war two impacted the soldiers emotionally and physiologically from the time they entered to post war.