Secondly, with war breaking out many men joined the army hoping to explore new land and come back being treated as heroes. This was not the case for either side. Many men died before even getting to the frontline by shells or by disease. Among the Allies alone 5,525,000 soldiers died, 4,121,000 were missing in action and 12,831,500 were injured. Less members of the Central Power died as there were fewer of them but the death toll grew too high and the price of war was getting too much for each side. Britain alone spent about $35,334,012,000 on WW1, Germany spent $37,775,000,000 repairing their damages which left them in severe debt which played a significant part in Adolf Hitler’s reasons to start WW2. However not all men died at the hands of an enemy’s weapon. Many where plagued by diseases which would gradually wear them down eventually killing them. These diseases were found in the frontline and some of them were Trench fever, Influenza, Trench Foot and Typhoid. Influenza led to death of 40 million people worldwide. It was transmitted by bacteria in the air and had the symptoms of a normal flu however people affected began developing a loss of appetite and blood poisoning. Once infected the chances of survival was nil and the people who were infected would die in roughly 3 days. Those suffering from Typhoid suffered a similar doomed fate. The unlucky victim would encounter high temperature, severe headaches and they would eventually lose the ability to eat or drink, leaving them to die dehydrated.
In addition to that, Trench fever and trench foot came from the place where soldiers lived in while serving on the frontline. Trenches. One third of Ally soldiers fighting on the western front were killed in trenches alone. Many of these were caused by the disease that inundated the narrow confined trenches. Trench Fever was caused by lice which gave soldiers acute pain and high fever. On the other hand, Trench Foot was caused by a fungal infection on the foot which would turn gangrenous and would have to be amputated. Disease was not the only factor which led many to die in the trenches, whenever a particularly explosive shell was launched at a trench, soil would be flung in all directions sometimes burying men alive. Another way men could die was by ‘looking over the top’. Soldiers just deployed to the frontline were advised not to peer over the edge of the trench but many did and were killed by an efficient enemy sniper. Many soldiers were also disturbed by the sight of ferocious rats hiding in the nook and crannies of the tunnel. Black and Brown Rats became a pain for soldiers and many resorted to shooting them or beating them to a pulp with a club. Brown rats were treated with even more caution as they would even eat dead humans encouraging the presence of flies. Men also reflected a lot about their lives in trenches, many would question their future and the lucky few would get postcards from their families.
For a few men skilled in the art of poetry trenches were a home away from home. They sat on empty boxes of rations and wrote about the horrors of war, the life in trenches or even the nature which enveloped them whenever they moved into jungles for cover. Wilfred Owen was one such man; he was a war poet who served for England in the Manchester Regiment. He fell into a shell hole once on his perambulation and suffered a concussion. He was catapulted high in the sky by a trench mortar and spent a few days lying in pain until he was found and rescued. He was later diagnosed with neurasthenia and was taken to Craiglockhart War Hospital, it was there he formed a strong bond with fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon. This was an encounter which changed his life. Sassoon introduced to him the art of poetry and Wilfred Owen took to it immediately. Wilfred Owen focused his poems primarily on the trepidation of trenches and gas attack. However his early works before the war were inspired by romantic poems with the likes of Keith and Shelly. His genres later changed as he became more and more influenced by Sassoon. Wilfred’s works are regarded higher than his mentor but a lot of his writing styles were instilled into him by Sassoon. Wilfred used a lot of assonance (which is the repetition of a vowel sound to create a sense of internal rhyming) and pararhyme ( this is a half-rhyme with a vowel variation but there is a same constant pattern). What makes Wilfred Owen unique is his ability to use these techniques extensively. He demonstrates this in his poem, Strange Meeting, where he uses pararhyme on every line.
The fourth thing is, Wilfred Owen talks about death and other execrable topics but have you ever wondered ‘What monster has the capability to kill so many people and still have no remorse?’ The answer is GUNS. During WW1 guns were produced like how paper is made today. They were cheap, deadly to the environment and mass produced. A machine gun could fire more than 200 bullets a minute. One bullet was lethal, imagine the fact that thousands of men could be cut down by less than 10 deadly Machine Guns. Machine guns were stocky and heavy and were normally stationary weapons, this however did not deter anyone. Pistols, Rifles, Grenades even Flamethrowers were used by soldiers. Pistols were often tucked into the pants of a soldier for secondary use. Many used the small but mighty Webley Revolver. They packed a punch for such a small gun firing 20 times a minute and having a range of 50 yards. As a primary weapon the Lee-Enfield was a standard weapon for all British troops. This was a hardy rifle, bliss for the soldier pulling the trigger, hell for someone in its firing line. It had a good range of 550 yards and weighed a reasonable 4 kilograms. Not all weapons could be carried such as tank guns, infantry firepower and anti-aircraft guns. A common Anti-Aircraft gun among the Allies was the big, mighty and effectual QF 1 pounder. It weighed 186 kilograms and had a range of 4500 yards. Enemy aircrafts had a reason to be afraid. The Allies were not the only side which came up with ingenious weapons. The Germans had their very own standard issue rifle named the Gewher 98. It was a bolt action rifle weighing 4.09 kilograms and had an effective range of 500metres.
Guns needed ammunition to work and without men to make them and not enough technological advances, Who did? The solution was women. They were highly under-rated and were always thought to be weak and made to do house work such as cleaning, knitting and cooking. However things changed during WW1, women were willing to help and men were gradually accepting the fact that women were needed. Close to 70% of women played a part in WW1 from sewing bandages to fighting on the frontline with the Royal Women Air Force. Women also were nurses, factory workers, shipyard workers and even spies. They were eventually allowed to vote thanks to the protests of Emmeline Pankhurst and her company of Suffragettes. They pressed for equal rights for women and eventually after a tough few years they succeeded. Many women also went to graves to pray for their dead husbands. The way people remembered the dead during WW1 was a very special uncommon way. Poppies were used to honour the dead. They were blood red flowers which grew over battlefields. No after flower could however poppies did, this is why they were so popular among mourners.
In conclusion, I fell that WW1 was a bloody unnecessary war which tore people and families apart. It forced people to think and reflect about what happened. It made its instigators ask themselves ‘Was it worth it?’ and then people began to think ‘If it happened once it could happen again.’ Sure enough it did in WW2 but it was even more depraved taking many more people with it.
