Source Questions - World War One

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Adam Painter

Coursework - Source Questions

) Both Sources paint a picture to describe how the war, however there is one significant difference, Source B is a primary source, and Source E is a tertiary source. Source B is a contemporary picture of German soldiers 'going over the top'. It shows the trench, men who have gone over the top and men in position, waiting to go over the top. Source E is a painting from the 1970's showing men waiting to go over the top.

Source B shows a scene from a battle, in which German soldiers are going over the top. The battlefield does not contain an accurate representation of what the battlefields looked like at the time. The scene looks empty and quite barren and this was not what it was like. The fields of the Somme for example, were filled with corpses, shrapnel and mounds of barbed wire. In this picture there is no barbed wire to be seen, very unlikely for a scene taken at the trenches. The trench seems to be unusually dry and uncluttered, with troops rising from it with ease. Whereas the real trenches were extremely wet and often rat invested.

In the photo, the troops are carrying shovels - something that would be pointless if they are in the front line as there would be no time to use it. The soldiers are grouped together and look strangely calm as they go over the top into No-Mans-Land. Overall, the scene looks too 'easy' and gives the impression of a calm straightforward battle that would be over quickly. This photograph is very likely to be a reconstruction, probably to be used for propaganda purposes, in order to get more recruits. To make it look like the German soldiers were finding it easy in war.

Source E - a painting of a battle scene made in the 1970's by an English historian - sets a more realistic impression of what trench life was like. Explosions, mud, puddles and barbed wire are included as well as troops and their natural reactions. One soldier clutches his injured leg while another instructs fellow men.
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Source E's representation of German troops is more reliable and shows more reliable evidence than Source B's. Bias is almost eliminated from Source E as the artist is not trying to create propaganda or hide any important issues. Source B however was intended for propaganda and lacks integrity, although this does not make it totally useless.

2) Source D is a letter written by General Haig to boost morale within the British Army. It is entitled 'Backs to the Wall.' Paragraph one tells us about the German attacks that occurred on a fifty mile front, whilst the ...

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