As a 44 year old violinist, Fritz Kreisler did not seem like the perfect candidate for the role of an officer in the Austrian army during the beginning of World War 1, but his ability to quickly adapt and respond to the unusual demands placed upon him during his time fighting was what helped him lead his platoon to victory against Russian forces in Galicia and ultimately get himself back into the arms of his wife. After reading Kreisler’s Four Weeks In The Trenches The War Story Of A Violinist, it is apparent that a majority of the experiences he had matched the experiences any soldier fighting in the war at that time would have. From the grand ovations he and his combatants received in Vienna as they were deployed out to war to the lengthy
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In the story of the antagonizing red-bearded Russian soldier, Kreisler writes about the comrardry and familiarity the Russian and Austrian forces developed with one another during what should have been a battle between enemy trenches. Kreisler writes, “It is astonishing how little actual hatred exists between fighting men. One fights fiercely and passionately, mass against mass, but as soon as the mass crystallizes itself into human individuals whose features one actually can recognize, hatred almost ceases” (Kreisler, III). Once the two sides actually noticed that they were more similar than different, the desire to fight one another ceased. When the Russian soldier boldly jumped out of his trench and was met by an even bolder Austrian soldier in the middle of no-man’s land, instead of fighting one another the two exchanged gifts. This type of behavior towards one’s enemy is abnormal to say the least. In Karl Aldag’s, a student of philosophy turned German soldier, letter to his parents dated January 3rd, 1915 he writes of a German and British truce on Christmas day. He writes of how the English soldiers brought gifts during to the German militia and how one English soldier said, “they didn’t want to shoot any more” (Wedd, 35). This type of behavior was very seldom seen in the early beginnings of World War I, and by Aldag’s account the German soldiers told the English that they had to go back in their trenches or they would open
In the story of the antagonizing red-bearded Russian soldier, Kreisler writes about the comrardry and familiarity the Russian and Austrian forces developed with one another during what should have been a battle between enemy trenches. Kreisler writes, “It is astonishing how little actual hatred exists between fighting men. One fights fiercely and passionately, mass against mass, but as soon as the mass crystallizes itself into human individuals whose features one actually can recognize, hatred almost ceases” (Kreisler, III). Once the two sides actually noticed that they were more similar than different, the desire to fight one another ceased. When the Russian soldier boldly jumped out of his trench and was met by an even bolder Austrian soldier in the middle of no-man’s land, instead of fighting one another the two exchanged gifts. This type of behavior towards one’s enemy is abnormal to say the least. In Karl Aldag’s, a student of philosophy turned German soldier, letter to his parents dated January 3rd, 1915 he writes of a German and British truce on Christmas day. He writes of how the English soldiers brought gifts during to the German militia and how one English soldier said, “they didn’t want to shoot any more” (Wedd, 35). This type of behavior was very seldom seen in the early beginnings of World War I, and by Aldag’s account the German soldiers told the English that they had to go back in their trenches or they would open