The Wipers Times Film Analysis

Improved Essays
On June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated creating a buildup of war. In the build up that occurred in the beginning of the First World War many men enlisted to join the military to fight for their country. Leaders on all sides believed that the war would be short and easy. With expecting the war to be short propaganda was used to persuade men to war as quickly as possible, the promise of home by Christmas was used to encourage men to join war, and when these promises failed the reality of war set in. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand there was a rush to war. The demand for soldiers was high and the use of propaganda was in full effect. Every country that was involved in the outbreak of the first world war …show more content…
One of the saying created to persuade men to join was "home by Christmas", but after war broke out and the trenches were dug they realized that they didn 't know what Christmas they would be home by. In the movie The Wipers Times the main character realizes the dilemma of not knowing by what Christmas the war will end. After the men settle in the trenches for a long war of attrition the glamour of war fades away and the grim reality of war sets in. The attitude of war changes from wanting to do their duty in fighting for their country to questioning why they are …show more content…
There were several difficulties facing the soldiers such as realizing that war is different than anticipated, the way they were trained didn 't reflect the war they were fighting, and their training didn 't provide them with defense against newly emerging technology. The soldiers believed that they would be fighting a face to face war that had swift victories, but the reality was digging trenches and fighting from great distances. The men were faced with the horrors of trench life with medical issues such as Gangrene also known as Trench Foot and the after effects of chemical warfare. The horrors of trench life were filled with death in or out of the trenches. The training provided at the beginning of the war was inadequate for the emerging technology at the beginning of the war. The soldiers were trained to ride on the battlefield on horses and charge the enemy with bayonets. The emerging technology in the First World War includes mechanized transport such as tank, chemical weapons like phosgene gas, and upgrades to current technology such as metal boats instead of wooden. The problem with the new technology is that neither side had the officers experienced in new technology to effectively train the soldiers to use it or defend against it. The soldiers in the First World War were fighting in a new kind of war that they had to adapt to as

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    1914 Dbq 1 Analysis

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In 1914, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. This was the start of the first World War. There were other contributing factors to the first World War like nationalism and such, which sent German, Russia, USA, Britain, Italy, Serbia, France,the Ottoman Empire and more into war. This damaged countries, politically, economically and socially.. This economically wrecked countries, like Germany, Britain and France, According to Document 6, Germany spent roughly 39 million dollars and on top of that at the end of the war Germany owed 20,000,000,000 gold marks due to the Treaty of Versailles, according to document 4, in reparations.…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    But it did not take them long to learn of the misfortunes that they would soon face. Many recruits died very quickly without the needed training, but the ones that survived were no longer the same men that entered the war. They too, in some ways, died. They were, “insensible, dead men, who through some trick…are still able to run and kill” (Remarque 116). All they knew anymore was to survive; it did…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Soldiers during WW1 were affected in many ways due to the different kinds of new technology that was used. One of the most important technologies would be trench warfare, in which the soldiers used the trenches in the forefront to protect themselves from the barrage of gunfire, while the trenches that were in the rear were used for storing items they might need such as medical supplies, as well as being used for getting rest. Trench life might have been a safe haven so to speak but was dreadful for soldiers. They were muddy and smelled awful, however the soldiers basically lived in them. Eating and sleeping in such conditions was terrible.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World War I was a significant and greatly corrosive war because it took everything away from the Germans, causing their economy to gradually decline, and eventually leading to the beginning of World War II. The immediate cause of World War I was the assassination of Austria-Hungary's Archduke, Franz Ferdinand. Austria-Hungary believed that the Serbians were the reprehensible group for committing this act because they knew Serbia was angered by the upcoming annexation of territories they believe should be theirs. After the assassination, chaos began to set in as countries allied together and, in a confusing sequence of events, declared war on other countries for their own personal reasons and benefits.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The war sparked in the Austria-Hungary empire, when the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Austria-Hungary ruled over Serbia and Serbia wanted freedom, the way to do that is to assassinate the heir but, that was not such a good idea. Then on July 18, 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, this is the start of World War 1. ("DBQ: What Were the Underlying ...", 2010, p. Doc 1)…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Life in the trenches was horrible. When people died they put the bodies in the bottom of the trenches. The smell was sickening. They tried to cover up the bodies with mud but that made the smell worse. Soldiers that survived said that walking on the bodies felt like walking on a mattress.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World War I is said to have been started because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28th, 1914. In referring to whether or not World War I could have been prevented if Gavrilo Princip had not assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, World War I could have been avoided. Before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, there were numerous assassinations of political and military leaders, and those assassinations did not result in a world war. The war had only begun because of the idea from the Austro-Hungarian army that they needed to declare war on Serbia to get revenge because Gavrilo Princip, who was a Bosnian Serb member assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, numerous European military and political leaders wanted to maintain peace.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They were experiencing life changing events. For example, the first traumatic event that happened to the soldiers was when they were in the trenches and were bombed. 80 soldiers out of the 150 they began with were killed in this incident. Another incident that occurred that changed their perspective on the war was when their friend Kemmerich got injured. Kemmerich had a wound to his leg and had to get his leg amputated, and eventually died from doctors not caring about enlisted men who were in the hospital.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Life in the trenches is horrendous, it consisted of mud, wetness, disease, stench, rats, lice, and a common belief that all were to perish in battle. A dreadful experience where the front line was under constant assault, soldiers who were wounded and traumatized, others were incapable in the survival to sustain in the injuries suffered, where men were rested on the floor and in torment as their time was finally at its end. Furthermore, diseases spread and healths deteriorated, sleep was uncommon due to explosions, rifles, and machine-gun fire, soldiers were unbathed and wore the exact pair of clothes for several months, and where ones sanity became difficult to preserve with the deaths of thousands and millions all around. The bodies of soldiers would rest in the trenches or in front of the trenches, where soldiers fought in enclosed spaces with other soldiers. However, soldiers experienced different types of trench terrain, where Germans constructed adequate trenches with electricity, whereas the British and French were without electricity and often had mud with a worse conditions than the Germans, since countries believed in a short war and not one that was as extensive.…

    • 1760 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trench Diary

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Since there were so many people, we all suffered from diseases. I suffered from malnutrition because we had a lack of nutritious and food. Most of the time we ate bully beef and biscuits, and one time we had rice and peas. I was always very tired from being malnourished, and the food was always contaminated from rats. I would get very sick from the dirty conditions in the trenches.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World War 1 World War 1 the first war to involve multiple countries in a war, newspapers called it the war to end all wars. Countries gathering up millions of young men to go into battle, and kill each other, generations of young men killed. World War 1 caused Germany to become bankrupt, in making guns and large weapons to kill. The main cause of World War 1 was the assassination of one man called Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Setting off a chain of events leading up to World War 1 that would end with millions dead and wounded for life.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After years in trenches with little movement, the soldiers on both the Central and Allied Powers were not only tired of war, but hopeless it would ever end. One on the only things bringing new soldiers to the battlefield were citizens’ sense of nationalism. Many propaganda posters tapped into young men’s inner pride for their country and enticed them to join the war and fight. In April of 1917 America would join the war and with them a new sense of high morales washed over the soldiers fighting for the Allies. American soldiers joined the war for many reasons.…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World War I was the worst conflict in human history with regards to personal experiences in war due to the unique circumstances surrounding the fight. The struggle signaled a shift from war being seen as a chance for glory to something that should be avoided at all costs. Why was World War I a major turning point for how the people of Great Britain perceived war? Due to the growth of literacy rates in the 19th century, the true realities of war were revealed to mankind for the first time.…

    • 1844 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ww1 Causes

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Causes of WW1 Many believe that the sole cause of the First World War was nationalism. A common thought about the cause of the war is that “The growth and outpouring of nationalism in Europe in the 1800’s and early 1900’s is the overall cause of the First World War. It impacted most, if not all, of the other causes of the war.” However, when returning to the beginning of the series of events that led to the war, it’s quite obvious that nationalism played a role in the commencement of the war, however the very first incident was not caused by nationalism, but rather assassination.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The death of Franz Ferdinand was known as one of the main causes of the start of World War…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays