WW1 is something almost everyone in the world knows about, but how much of what they know is accurate? In this essay, I'm going to quickly summarise some major points in the war, compare a traditionalist and revisionist point of view, and look behind some popular misconceptions or myths about the war.
The four years of war are considered to have been 4 major points of change. 1914: The year it all began
1915: Stalemate begins
1916: Year of Attrition
1917: Year of Change
1918: Germany's Last Push
Over these 4 years, many changes occurred such as the fighting tactics: the stalemate of '15 saw the invention of gas, which caused psychological damage but wasn't really a killer, whereas '16 saw creeping barrages become popular and the attrition battles such as the Somme and the Verdun caused a huge rise in casualties. In 1917, Russia leaving the war and the USA joining the Allies was a huge game changer, leading to Germany's …show more content…
This view can be unpopular because in a way it adds insult to injury: telling a weeping widow, or a mother mourning her son, that 9 out of every 10 soldiers that fought in the trenches survived, and that her husband or son was just extremely unlucky isn't going to help, and just make her loss more bitter. 88% of soldiers returned home safe and sound, but that's not important. The truth is harsh, and that's why the facts were manipulated for literary purposes- the country had just suffered through a major ordeal, and poems and stories about young soldiers' bravery is better consolation than statistics which make the brave deaths seem relatively insignificant. It was immensely important to bring spirits up, and that's why the traditionalist view is given the spotlight: it confines to the public's expectations of a brutal and bloody
The four years of war are considered to have been 4 major points of change. 1914: The year it all began
1915: Stalemate begins
1916: Year of Attrition
1917: Year of Change
1918: Germany's Last Push
Over these 4 years, many changes occurred such as the fighting tactics: the stalemate of '15 saw the invention of gas, which caused psychological damage but wasn't really a killer, whereas '16 saw creeping barrages become popular and the attrition battles such as the Somme and the Verdun caused a huge rise in casualties. In 1917, Russia leaving the war and the USA joining the Allies was a huge game changer, leading to Germany's …show more content…
This view can be unpopular because in a way it adds insult to injury: telling a weeping widow, or a mother mourning her son, that 9 out of every 10 soldiers that fought in the trenches survived, and that her husband or son was just extremely unlucky isn't going to help, and just make her loss more bitter. 88% of soldiers returned home safe and sound, but that's not important. The truth is harsh, and that's why the facts were manipulated for literary purposes- the country had just suffered through a major ordeal, and poems and stories about young soldiers' bravery is better consolation than statistics which make the brave deaths seem relatively insignificant. It was immensely important to bring spirits up, and that's why the traditionalist view is given the spotlight: it confines to the public's expectations of a brutal and bloody