World War 1: Changing attitudes to war in Britain and Germany focusing on four key times. 1)Outbreak, 2)Christmas 1914, 3)After the Battle of the Somme and 4) Mid 1918

"...no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both."

Although there were a few scholarly communities that denounced war and the general enthusiasm seemingly shared by the public, the majority stood behind the government’s actions of enlisting men and continuing violent engagements. Propaganda leapt from the page and into rest life in cinemas across Britain, ensuring that civilians witnessed the true atrocities of the front in the safety of their homes. However, soldiers who experienced films such as the infamous “The Battle of the Somme” now grappled with a new personalized war on the home front. Though they indeed saw gruesome realities, no man or woman could truly fathom what involvement in the war could do to a soldier’s psyche. A rift of misunderstanding rather than ignorance prompted Siegfried

The war that was to end all wars broke out in the summer of 1914, after the assassination of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire’s Archduke. World War One was so violent and so many men died; one could compare the war to the slaughtering of cattle at a butcher’s shop. The war opened the eyes of man to a new era of warfare. No longer would soldiers be worried about lining up in front of the enemy and engage in the age old traditions of European conflict. Now soldiers would have to face the age of machine guns, barbed wire fences, and gas attacks. The public would also be introduced into a new era of media coverage of the war. Unlike in wars past, pictures could now be taken and published in the newspaper and sold on the stands. The gruesome images of the

On the Right of the British Line is a book written by Captain Gilbert Nobbs that shows his real-life experience in World War One. He describes his whole journey from departure to return. During his departure on the train, Lieutenant Collins complained and hoped to get a blighted wound in a months’ time (P.g 21). Just from that attitude we can see how Lieutenant Collins did not like the ideal of going to war. Nobbs said “If everyone felt the same way, who do you think is going to carry on the war?” (P.g 21). Nobbs is missing the key word “everyone”. Even Germany wanted the war

World War 1 was like nothing that had ever happened in the world before. Although it was inevitable, the horrific loss of life was pointless. Almost no-one except the politicians ruling agreed with it, which has been proven by soldier's diaries, and most famously the football match between the British and the Germans on Christmas Day 1914. All-in-all, World War 1 resulted in a revolution in infantry tactics which fundamentally altered how wars were fought. The armies which clashed in August 1914 operated on essentially 19th century doctrines, large units of riflemen were screened by cavalry and supported by artillery. Commanders were expecting decisive engagements to settle the war rapidly. The British, French, Germans, and

World War I, also known as the Great War, represented an international conflict that embroiled most European nations in addition to Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other regions. The experience of the Western democracies in this war was disheartening and disillusioning. So-called “civilized” countries declared war on each other for uncertain reasons, had fought to a stalemate in brutal trench warfare conditions, and had then negotiated a peace settlement that neither settled the underlying causes of tension nor truly brought peace. By the end of the war, the sense of nationalism that had encouraged many to enlist in the war effort had been killed along with the 18 million soldiers and civilians over the span of 4 years.

The Germans’ purpose for fighting was to attain the status of world power. They were not satisfied with simply to preserving Germany (Howard 9). “They claimed for Germany the status, not only of a Great Power, but of a World Power, Weltmacht” (Howard 10). Such a great ambition drove them to make rationally wrong decisions during the war. “There was certainly no logic in the decision by the German General Staff that, in order to support the Austrians in a conflict with Russia over Spain, Germany should attack France and do so by invading Belgium”(Howard 23). It was certainly a mistake to attack Belgium who was promised protection by the Germans themselves. Immediately after the invasion of Belgium, previously neutral Britain was provoked into joining the war, spreading the war zone to the west. This decision increased the damage to each county as well as the number of countries affected. As bigger and more powerful countries entered the war, the battlefield expanded and so did the number of those who died. Perhaps the unprecedented catastrophic events were due to the fact that several more poor decisions were made by the German commanders in addition to the one above.

For those trying to rouse a nation to war this type of psychological pressure was systematic and deliberate. It was to be repeated and reinforced many times by peers, parents and even children. A well known poster of the time showed children questioning a man why he was not going to war — after all it was ‘common knowledge’ that German soldiers delighted in killing children and raping women! Stories ‘exposing’ these atrocities had little basis in fact, but some of the most outrageous were seized upon and circulated in an attempt to maintain this ‘frenzy for war.’ For some weeks Belgium had been depicted as a violated maiden and the hysteria darkened to hatred of all things German. Stories spread that German troops had tied Belgian nuns to

Germany also rushed into war as a way to prove them as a capable new entity on the European map. It glorified war to its youth as being a speedy rite of passage for young men where they would be able to get shipped off to war so as to gain manhood, and return to their families in a matter of a few weeks. However this was incredibly unrealistic in every sense once the war started heating up; many would be gone for long periods of time and possibly not return at all. Going to war was glorified to such an extreme extent in Germany and was the cause for the greatest loss of life in history in what is now called the ‘Lost Generation’. While Germany thought its antagonistic actions in war were justified in supporting their modern views and ideas, old-fashioned Britain felt their behavior was warranted in that they were trying to defend the old regime that had dominated Western Europe for centuries.

In 1914, the Age of Innovation was in full swing, and life was constantly changing. New inventions were being created to ease everyday life, and to kill. On July 28th, 1914, the First World War broke out. Including Canada, the British Empire, was at war as an ally of France, Russia, and Serbia against Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empires. For the soldiers in the First World War, fighting was an exceptional circumstance, rather than the norm. It is impossible to be certain of the events a soldier in World War One encountered, and even harder to imagine all the horrors a soldier had to deal with. However, with the great sacrifices made, it is surely important that with given information to piece together a story of their

Early on war was depicted as glorified heroism. Before World War I, the Edwardian press “depicted war as distant and safe; beneficial and desirable and even as some kind of sport or game.” . It put emphasis on war's positive sides while using understatement and metaphor to distance the public from the unpleasant realities.” The soldiers who went into the fight with the idea it was an outsized hunting trip quickly realized that the reality of war was very different from the descriptions they grew up with. The Great War revealed a society blind to the useless waste and suffering of war.

The German individuals were in dismay that their nation had consented to be pronounced a washout in the Incomparable War. Germany had made extraordinary steps in mechanical creation and felt it was not just picking up on Awesome England's status as an incredible force, yet very nearly surpassing it. The German individuals felt their mechanical advances brought about envy in different nations and that the reason for the Bargain was to attempt to keep Germany away from turning into the world pioneer it felt it ought to be. Since no Partnered compels really attacked, the German individuals themselves were for the most part ignorant of a noteworthy clash really going on or its genuine causes. Germans volunteered for military administration on the stage of

The beginning of the twentieth was a very nationalistic and optimistic time period. This of course helps to explain the attitudes of the leaders of the Great Powers at the beginning of the war. Of course these opinions contrast sharply with those of the soldiers who actually fought in the war. The preliminary attitudes towards the war contrasted with poems written by the soldiers who fought in them by their difference of opinion about whether this was a divinely sanctioned war and their difference of opinion on whether the war was just.

After reading thoroughly, readers may find it is a well-made and thoroughly thought out book. This text clarifies Britain’s feelings about going into what would be known as today, as “The Great War” or “World War I”. Moreover, the text is heavily detailed, noting Britain’s internal politics and their relationship with other nations before the idea of going to war with a nation came into view.

War is a complex part of human nature, throughout history there has been many different reactions to the declaration of war. Such as the Vietnam War or the wars in the middle east which saw mixed to negative reactions from the public. While World War One was seen with much excitement and a time of patriotism in countries such as France and Germany. This begs the question of what causes a society to become excited and euphoric over an event that caused millions to perish. While some such as the middle and higher class were euphoric and excited for war, the reality set in for the lower class who knew that this war would result in death and destruction for Europe. While some images showed that the public was in a type of war fever, it didn’t show the reality of those watching their loved ones leave for a war that, while some thought would be quick and decisive, ended in over four years of fighting and 50 million dead.