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Soldier's attitudes (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter mery1911
- Start date
Hey There, This is what Ive come up with: I'll divide it into German and British to make it easier for you:
British: Early Response:
Feelings of Euphorasm and delight at the outbreak of war; a chance to serve for their king and country
Britons had gone as far as romanticising over war because of the ignorance of its people (Britain had not been involved with wars for over a hundred years, illiteracy was also a contribution to this train of thought); Believed it would be over by christmas.
Propaganda also added to the already happy atmosphere (through posters, atrocities e.t.c) and gave the british aim; to wipe out the germans and decpit them as evil, savage, also fealt obligatory to commit to the war, as the threat of losing belgium to germany would trigger an immediate response to help them because of the 1839 treaty, therefore the government forced guilt upon the naive society, strengthening their focus on the war even higher,
Women supported it, gave them a chance of employment.
Changing Attitudes and war weariness: Everything that encouraged the British to fight was now lost-the experience of trench warfare, senless killing affected troop morale. The Battle of the Somme was the real turning point in the overall attitude to the war. Soldiers now saw values and attitudes such as mateship as great importance, as the battle was to now stay alive. The Lack of compassion and knowledge from higher ranked soldiers such as Haig and Joffre made the common soldier feel betrayed and abandoned by their country. They Therefore had nothing to fight for except their lives and family. This common attitude to methods of conscription being introuced in 1916. Desertion and Munities were often a common result of years of expericencing the pain and horrors of war. Soldiers would be affected mentally from the sounds of Artillery, gunfire, bombs e.t.c and would feel a constant fear of danger from the likes of Gas attacks and unexpected invasions.
Germany:
Had already had an understanding of what war would involve, due to compulsory conscription that had already been present in the laws of the country. The response was the same as Europe; Happyness, saw the British as the enemy, had a cause to fight for Patriotism, honour e.t.c. but they had a little more trouble in reasoning with the German people because in Hindsight, the Germans were in the wrong eh? Therefore the main focus of the war was one of Defense not Offensive and aggression like Britain and France had Depicted it as.
Change in Attitude: Generally the same ideas as the British, disillusionment, munities were higher however, because of the closeness of the war to a soldiers homeland (whereas a British soldier would find it hard to flee home). Germans also felt the added impact of the war on the homefront, Germany becoming in a state of starvation due to the naval blockades. This attitude eventually led to german forcing to sign the armstice in 1918.
Hope this helped, was off the top of my head as I have an exam on this on Monday.
Check out the resources section also.
British: Early Response:
Feelings of Euphorasm and delight at the outbreak of war; a chance to serve for their king and country
Britons had gone as far as romanticising over war because of the ignorance of its people (Britain had not been involved with wars for over a hundred years, illiteracy was also a contribution to this train of thought); Believed it would be over by christmas.
Propaganda also added to the already happy atmosphere (through posters, atrocities e.t.c) and gave the british aim; to wipe out the germans and decpit them as evil, savage, also fealt obligatory to commit to the war, as the threat of losing belgium to germany would trigger an immediate response to help them because of the 1839 treaty, therefore the government forced guilt upon the naive society, strengthening their focus on the war even higher,
Women supported it, gave them a chance of employment.
Changing Attitudes and war weariness: Everything that encouraged the British to fight was now lost-the experience of trench warfare, senless killing affected troop morale. The Battle of the Somme was the real turning point in the overall attitude to the war. Soldiers now saw values and attitudes such as mateship as great importance, as the battle was to now stay alive. The Lack of compassion and knowledge from higher ranked soldiers such as Haig and Joffre made the common soldier feel betrayed and abandoned by their country. They Therefore had nothing to fight for except their lives and family. This common attitude to methods of conscription being introuced in 1916. Desertion and Munities were often a common result of years of expericencing the pain and horrors of war. Soldiers would be affected mentally from the sounds of Artillery, gunfire, bombs e.t.c and would feel a constant fear of danger from the likes of Gas attacks and unexpected invasions.
Germany:
Had already had an understanding of what war would involve, due to compulsory conscription that had already been present in the laws of the country. The response was the same as Europe; Happyness, saw the British as the enemy, had a cause to fight for Patriotism, honour e.t.c. but they had a little more trouble in reasoning with the German people because in Hindsight, the Germans were in the wrong eh? Therefore the main focus of the war was one of Defense not Offensive and aggression like Britain and France had Depicted it as.
Change in Attitude: Generally the same ideas as the British, disillusionment, munities were higher however, because of the closeness of the war to a soldiers homeland (whereas a British soldier would find it hard to flee home). Germans also felt the added impact of the war on the homefront, Germany becoming in a state of starvation due to the naval blockades. This attitude eventually led to german forcing to sign the armstice in 1918.
Hope this helped, was off the top of my head as I have an exam on this on Monday.
Check out the resources section also.
Britain had been involved in many wars in the 19th Century - Crimea, Boer, Zulu, North-West Frontier, Sudan etc. To say that they hadn't been involved in any wars for a century is just plain wrong. They were constantly fighting wars but most were in the colonies rather than in western Europe. Crimea was in eastern Europe in the 1850s.Sew2289 said:Hey There, This is what Ive come up with: I'll divide it into German and British to make it easier for you:
British: Early Response:
Feelings of Euphorasm and delight at the outbreak of war; a chance to serve for their king and country
Britons had gone as far as romanticising over war because of the ignorance of its people (Britain had not been involved with wars for over a hundred years, illiteracy was also a contribution to this train of thought); Believed it would be over by christmas.
Propaganda also added to the already happy atmosphere (through posters, atrocities e.t.c) and gave the british aim; to wipe out the germans and decpit them as evil, savage, also fealt obligatory to commit to the war, as the threat of losing belgium to germany would trigger an immediate response to help them because of the 1839 treaty, therefore the government forced guilt upon the naive society, strengthening their focus on the war even higher,
Women supported it, gave them a chance of employment.
Changing Attitudes and war weariness: Everything that encouraged the British to fight was now lost-the experience of trench warfare, senless killing affected troop morale. The Battle of the Somme was the real turning point in the overall attitude to the war. Soldiers now saw values and attitudes such as mateship as great importance, as the battle was to now stay alive. The Lack of compassion and knowledge from higher ranked soldiers such as Haig and Joffre made the common soldier feel betrayed and abandoned by their country. They Therefore had nothing to fight for except their lives and family. This common attitude to methods of conscription being introuced in 1916. Desertion and Munities were often a common result of years of expericencing the pain and horrors of war. Soldiers would be affected mentally from the sounds of Artillery, gunfire, bombs e.t.c and would feel a constant fear of danger from the likes of Gas attacks and unexpected invasions.
Germany:
Had already had an understanding of what war would involve, due to compulsory conscription that had already been present in the laws of the country. The response was the same as Europe; Happyness, saw the British as the enemy, had a cause to fight for Patriotism, honour e.t.c. but they had a little more trouble in reasoning with the German people because in Hindsight, the Germans were in the wrong eh? Therefore the main focus of the war was one of Defense not Offensive and aggression like Britain and France had Depicted it as.
Change in Attitude: Generally the same ideas as the British, disillusionment, munities were higher however, because of the closeness of the war to a soldiers homeland (whereas a British soldier would find it hard to flee home). Germans also felt the added impact of the war on the homefront, Germany becoming in a state of starvation due to the naval blockades. This attitude eventually led to german forcing to sign the armstice in 1918.
Hope this helped, was off the top of my head as I have an exam on this on Monday.
Check out the resources section also.