cultural norms of a nation or region by a much “advanced” nation with access to superior weapons. The ideology of superiority can be seen in Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The White Man 's Burden, in which he called on the “white” European nations, and the United States, to educate and help those “sullen peoples [that were] half-devil and half-child” of the world, for it was their obligation to take on this “thankless” burden. For years, Europeans had believed that they were truly the superior being, civilizing the primitive people of the world. This way of thinking lulled them into a virtual reality where they could beat anyone and anything. Nationalism was another theme that could explain why people thought the way they did. Nationalism was the
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It was not this exotic adventure that took you to see different places. Once the terrible conditions and causalities at the front became known, “the scene [had] changed fundamentally… Gone [was] the euphoria,… the patriotic noise in the streets.” The use of poison gas, machine guns and trenches on the battlefield really took a psychological toll on the soldiers. Trench warfare, changed the way battles were fought and also had a tremendous effect on the soldiers. Trench warfare involved soldiers on both sides digging massive trenches in the ground resulting in a military stalemate. Soldiers would wait and when the chance presented itself, they would climb out of the trench to the opposing side. This was a suicide mission as “anyone who stands up is a target immediately struck down” by machine guns, marking the “shattered land, [the so called] no man’s land” impassable. The short war stretched into months, then years, hurting the soldiers, who lived in these pits, not so much physically but mentally. The extent of their mental ailments, however, were not well explored by this time, so it was not taken as serious as being shot. In a medical report by Senior Physician Oberartz and Battalion Physician Dr. Kaindl on Soldier Peter Hammerer, it stated that Hammerer was physically healthy, with no evidence of bodily illness or a weak nervous system; although …show more content…
As the war dragged on, people had wondered what they fought for, if nothing else but territory. People were naive. They did not realize that the destructive extent of nations going to war was not only on the physical landscape of Europe, but also to the psyche of the population. Prior to WWI, men rushed to fight for the motherland and defend it from the enemy. That all changed as people read about and heard soldiers experiences, like Chevallier, or had the misfortune of experiencing warfare right at their doorsteps. After WWI, people were less willing to go war, not taking the decision so lightly. Machine guns, artillery shells, and trenches changed modern warfare from a battle that can last a couple of months to it lasting years. People were instilled with the idea of nationalism and loving their Countries that they did not think of what carnage modern warfare would produce. The First World War was not the war to end all wars, but conceptualized war as being awful for all those involved. After WWI, war might be necessary but it would never again be
It was not this exotic adventure that took you to see different places. Once the terrible conditions and causalities at the front became known, “the scene [had] changed fundamentally… Gone [was] the euphoria,… the patriotic noise in the streets.” The use of poison gas, machine guns and trenches on the battlefield really took a psychological toll on the soldiers. Trench warfare, changed the way battles were fought and also had a tremendous effect on the soldiers. Trench warfare involved soldiers on both sides digging massive trenches in the ground resulting in a military stalemate. Soldiers would wait and when the chance presented itself, they would climb out of the trench to the opposing side. This was a suicide mission as “anyone who stands up is a target immediately struck down” by machine guns, marking the “shattered land, [the so called] no man’s land” impassable. The short war stretched into months, then years, hurting the soldiers, who lived in these pits, not so much physically but mentally. The extent of their mental ailments, however, were not well explored by this time, so it was not taken as serious as being shot. In a medical report by Senior Physician Oberartz and Battalion Physician Dr. Kaindl on Soldier Peter Hammerer, it stated that Hammerer was physically healthy, with no evidence of bodily illness or a weak nervous system; although …show more content…
As the war dragged on, people had wondered what they fought for, if nothing else but territory. People were naive. They did not realize that the destructive extent of nations going to war was not only on the physical landscape of Europe, but also to the psyche of the population. Prior to WWI, men rushed to fight for the motherland and defend it from the enemy. That all changed as people read about and heard soldiers experiences, like Chevallier, or had the misfortune of experiencing warfare right at their doorsteps. After WWI, people were less willing to go war, not taking the decision so lightly. Machine guns, artillery shells, and trenches changed modern warfare from a battle that can last a couple of months to it lasting years. People were instilled with the idea of nationalism and loving their Countries that they did not think of what carnage modern warfare would produce. The First World War was not the war to end all wars, but conceptualized war as being awful for all those involved. After WWI, war might be necessary but it would never again be