'WWI in Color'- movie reflection

        The government put up posters all over the place with a person pointing at you and saying ‘We want YOU’. Next to the picture was written something like ‘All men aged 19 to 38 should join the army to fight for your country against the enemy’.  At nineteen you’re still a teenager, still a kid, and I know that people join the army at eighteen-ish today, but it’s not really like they go and fight in fierce battles after only a couple months training. And not to mention the conditions in which the soldiers live in when on the battle field. The trenches are absolutely revolting, rats everywhere, mud, deep puddles from the rain… Makes me sick just to think of it. And on top of that the soldiers slept in their uniforms, resulting in lice from their inability to change clothes. Soldiers often suffered from ‘shell-shock’ caused by the noise of exploding shells (grenades) at such proximity to them.

        The new technology definitely helped in killing more people, put aside the fact that no one could escape death as it was at that time. The machine guns were the cause of millions of deaths, and more and more of them were made because the war became more or less an artillery war. Tanks started being used but were very slow and often got hindered although they were able of crossing trenches, hedges and barbed wire. Poison gas was also something new to Europeans. It was used both by the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, and cause devastating injuries which could be avoided by wearing gas-masks. Fortunately gas-masks have improved over time, but they used to be bags which you pulled over your head and tied in a knot under your chin with just one little tube for your mouth to breathe out of, but you couldn’t breathe in with. The biggest novelty I think was the invention of aeroplanes. When they were first put in use, they were called ‘spotters’ because they were used to observe any enemy movement. Eventually, when it was thought reasonable to have them changed, the planes were developed so they could fire machine guns through the propeller. However, soldiers were put in aeroplanes without even knowing how to use them, so many of them crashed when trying to land.

        Overall, I think that the movie was a real eye- and mind-opener to everything regarding World War One. WWI changed the course of history, and so many lives were sacrificed in doing so. Life must’ve been tough at that time, and I have a lot of respect for the survivors, because it definitely takes gut to go to war, especially war like that. And one thing’s for sure; I’m never going to use the expression ‘to go over the top’ like I used to, because now I understand what it really means, that it has a much deeper meaning.