Untitled Essay, Research Paper

History WWI-Comparison of German+French Soldiers experiences The first World War was a atrocious experience for all sides involved. No 1 was immune to the effects of this planetary struggle and each state was affected in assorted ways. However, one country of comparative comparing can be noted in the experiences of the Gallic and German soldiers. In deriving a better apprehension of the Gallic experience, Wilfred Owen & # 8217 ; s Dulce et Decorum Est was peculiarly utile. Sing the German soldier & # 8217 ; s experience, assorted choices from Erice Maria Remarque & # 8217 ; s All Quiet on the Western Front proved to be a valuable beginning of penetration. A analysis of the above mentioned beginnings, one can observe assorted similarities between the German and Gallic ground forcess during World War I in the countries of trench warfare, doomed military personnels, and military engineering. Trench warfare was wholly indifferent. The trench did non know apart between civilizations. This & # 8220 ; new warfare & # 8221 ; was unlike anything the universe had seen earlier, 1000000s of people died during a war that was supposed to be over in clip for the vacations. Each side entrenched themselves in stopgap sand traps that attempted to supply protection from the entrance shells and brave soldiers. After having an order to catch the enemies sand trap, soldiers trounced their manner through the land between the opposing ground forcess that was referred to as & # 8220 ; no adult male & # 8217 ; s land. & # 8221 ; The direness of the war was exemplified in a citation taken from Remarque & # 8217 ; s All Quiet on the Western Front, & # 8220 ; Attacks alternate with counter-attacks and easy the dead heap up in the field of craters between the trenches. We are able to convey in most of the hurt that do non lie excessively far off. But many have long to wait and we listen to them dying. & # 8221 ; ( 382 ) After old ages of this trench warfare, cadavers of both German and Gallic soldiers began to stack up and soldiers and civilians began to recognize the futility of trench warfare. However, it was many old ages before any major pushs were made along the Western forepart. As soldiers past off, recruits were ushered to the forepart to refill the dead and crippled. These recruits were typically non good prepared for the asperities of war and were really frequently mowed down due to their stupidity. Both the Gallic and Germans were guilty of directing ill-prepared young persons to the forepart under the pretense that & # 8220 ; It is sweet and suiting to di

e for one’s country.” (380) Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est is a prime example of this “false optimism” created by the military machine in France to recruit eager new troops to die a hero’s death on the front lines. Remarque also alluded to the fact incompetent young recruits were sentence to death. In reference to the young recruits Remarque stated, “It brings a lump into the throat to see how they go over, and run and fall. A man would like to spank them, they are so stupid, and to take them by the arm and lead them away from here where they have no business to be.” (383) Millions of French and German soldiers, both young and old lost their lives during this world-wide struggle for survival. It is not necessary for one to go through an intense amount of abstraction in order to note similarities in the weaponry each side employed during the first World War. “Bombardment, barrage, curtain-fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand grenades” were all weapons that served the same purpose. (383) It did not matter if these weapons were in the hands of German or French soldiers, they all indiscriminately dealt death to the opposition. Gas was a particularly horrid creation. It would seeming spring out of the ground without much notice and if one did not seek the security of a gas mask, dreams would be smothered “under a green sea” and as one solider stated (in reference to those who were caught up in the pungent clouds of death) “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” (380) Typical sights for soldiers on any given day were “men without mouths, without jaws, without faces; we find one man who has held the artery of his arm in his teeth for two hours in order not to bleed to death. (384) The destructive weapons of war contributed to the massive amount of death neither the French nor German army could escape. Both the accounts looked at in this inquiry unveil a mass of similarities between German and French soldiers during the First World War. Based on Remarque’s firsthand encounters with trench warfare in World War I and Owen’s vivid descriptions of the French soldiers experiences it is unduly apparent that many perished along the Western front. All of this death rarely yielded more than a few hundred yards for the “victor.” However, regarding trench warfare, one could argue that there were no victors, only losers in a hopeless battle for territorial supremacy.