In 1914 the First World War broke out and thousands of young men signed up. At the start many men were enthusiastic towards the idea of signing up for the army.
This is because of the attitude the propaganda portrayed and the pressure to do your duty. This attitude changed dramatically because the truth and horror of war became more and more obvious which caused the number of recruits to drop and ended in all able men being forced to sign up. Propaganda is a form of communication, which steers people’s views and ideas in the same direction.In the First World War, the Propaganda being produced was the idea that war was the idea that war was an adventure. One idea of propaganda is the phrase commonly used in the First World War; ‘dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’. The phrase is Latin and means ‘It is sweet and glorious to die for your country’.
It was used to recruit soldiers for the army. One famous image used on a propaganda poster is Lord Kitchener and the phrase ‘your country needs you’.In the poster the way that Lord Kitcheners eyes follow you wherever you go evokes the feeling that he is actually talking to you and makes the poster more personal. Many young men would have been easily persuaded by this poster because if they feel that their country needs them they would want to step up to the challenge. The poster is clever because at the time of the First World War, Lord Kitchener was very respected against young men and would have affected them.
The second poster says ‘Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War? ’ The image itself shows a father and his children after the Great War.The son is playing with toy soldiers, which creates the idea that he aspires to become a soldier; this idea plays in the gender stereotype that men should fight in war and women should take part in more passive activities. The daughter is reading a history book and asking her father what he did in the war. The father cannot look into the face of his daughter, which makes the viewer think he did not fight.
The father’s position is one in deep thought, which shows he is trying to think of what to say. If a young man saw the poster he would put himself in the place of the father.It would make him feel guilty and probably make him sign up. This poster also reinforces the idea that going to war will make your family proud of you.
Jessie Pope was an English poet, writer and journalist best known for her patriotic, motivational poems published in The Daily Mail during World War I to encourage Army recruitment. One of Jessie pope’s famous recruitment poems is ‘who’s for the game? ’ The poem looks at war in a favourable light. Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played? The red crashing game of a fight? Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?And who thinks he’d rather sit tight? The poem gives the idea that war is a game and something to enjoy. The poem has a very even and biuncy rhythm which makes the mood of the poem cheery.
At the beginning many people in the country where very patriotic and Jessie pope demonstrates this in ‘who’s for the game? ’ Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘exposure’ is about how both meaning of the word exposure affected the soldiers in he First World War. In the first part Owe presents how the soldiers are exposed to the more obvious side of war and how conflict is dangerous.The second part explores exposure to the elements and how this is just as dangerous. The language Owen uses in the poem is deeply disturbing and provides horrifying images of the soldiers. Something I noticed straight away is how Owen uses almost rhymes. Each stanza almost fits into an ABBAC rhyme scheme; e.
g. silent and salient, these words don’t sound right together and add to the feeling of broken soldiers. In the second line Owen uses alliteration with a W ‘worried we keep awake’. W is quite a soft sounding letter on its Owen and creates a contrast between the literary devices being used and the language.This is like the view of the soldiers and the people who had never fought in a war.
In the first stanza the language creates a sense of the calm before the storm; much like the soldiers waiting in the trenches before having to go ‘over the top’. ‘Mad gusts tugging n the wire. Like twitching agonies of men’ in this stanza Owen is describing how the wind makes a sound that reminds him of other soldiers dying. It also mentions the idea that two battles are going on – the battle of conflict and the battle to survive.
At the start of the third stanza Owen talks to how ‘the poignant misery of dawn begins to grow.This is an effective use of language because dawn is normally associated with a new beginning and happiness, where as in the poem Owen uses the word ‘misery’ which highlights the fact that it is just another day of fighting to survive for the soldiers. In the 4th stanza the tempo of the poem increases and implies that conflict has begun. ‘Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence’. When Owen is describing the bullets firing over the trenches he uses sibilance, which makes the reader imagine the sound of bullets whizzing over their heads.
The second line introduces the idea that the elements are more dangerous than conflict. The second part of the poem talks about a snowstorm and how the soldiers climb into their bunkers and dream of home. The soldiers begin to believe that they are actually dying. The last stanza observes that God’s frost will freeze the mud in which the soldiers find themselves, and it will freeze their hands, foreheads, and, finally, their eyes in their final act of dying. The next morning, burial parties with “shovels in their shaking grasp” will half recognize their comrades, who died of exposure while nothing in particular was happening in the war.
They were felled by wind, snow, mud, and the seeming indifference of God rather than by wounds caused by bullets and bayonets. The feeling in ‘exposure’ is very different to ‘who’s for the game’. The tempo, rhyme scheme and length create two very different moods. While Pope’s poem is patriotic, brief and bouncy where as Owen’s poem is depressing, long and clumsy. This highlights the fact that the people who had to experienced conflict and those who hadn’t had an extremely different view on The First World War,Siegfried Sassoon is known for his anti-war poems. He was a soldier in The First World War and put his experiences into satirical poems.
Satirical writing is a way of using humour to explain a serious problem or event. ‘The General” is one of Siegfried Sassoon's anti-war poems. After the death of one of his close friends he started questioning the validity of the war. He praised the war heroes, but damned those in charge. In WWI, many men died, because of the incompetence of those in charge and Sassoon highlights that here, in this poem.Good-morning; good-morning! ' the General said.
’ The General appears to be very chipper, which is the polar opposite of how the soldiers felt. The General most likely did not spend any time at the front line and did not see all the death and misery that happened there; so he is not as sad and depressed as his men. ‘When we met him last week on out way to the line… Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,’ the soldiers are dying on the front line and the General does not seem to care; he doesn't even seem to notice that some men are missing.He seems to have a blase attitude about the soldiers; he does not care if they die as long as he does not have to see them die. He tries to remain unattached to his soldiers because he knows that statistically many will die and it is easier to not get invested.
‘And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine. ’ It is the orders given by the General and his staff that are getting these men killed. The General, not ever going to the front line, has no real idea what is going on there and he is giving orders that are not in the soldier's best interest. 'He's a cherry old card,' grunted Harry to Jack. As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. ’They are returning to the front line; following the orders of incompetent men.
These lines celebrate the heroism of these men; even though they know that it is a futile mission they still go to the front line to defend their country. Arras is a city in northern France. This city was where the front line was located throughout much of WWI. The British's attack on the Western Front was known as the Battle of Arras, which occurred on April 9, 1917. But he did for them both by his plan of attack.
’ This line is the most bitterly ironic of the poem.Harry and Jack went back to the front line and were killed all because they followed the General's orders. Blackadder Goes forth is a satirical comedy based on General Blackadder, a fictional character in the First World War. The two producers of Blackadder Goes Forth, Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, use humour to expose the folly of war. One example of satire used in the program is when Baldrick announces that he thinks the war started because somebody shot “franks ostrich”.This is very clever because it’s a funny way of showing Baldrick’s ignorance to the war; this highlights that many of the soldiers had no idea why they were fighting.
Another good use of satire in Blackadder Goes Forth is when the soldiers are talking about how all they had to do was practise fighting on sacks of straw. This is an example of how badly the soldiers had been prepared for the conflict of war. At the beginning of the final episode when Captain Blackadder is talking on the phone to General Melchett, at the end of their conversation he says “see ya later”, this is ironic because he knows that he won’t.Right up until the end of the programme the majority of the soldiers all act extremely patriotic and overly excited at the idea of conflict.
Towards the end the soldiers say, “I don’t want to die” and admit they don’t want to go into conflict and that they are scared. This is how many of the soldiers felt and it demonstrates that the soldiers would be seen as weak if they admitted to being scared. It also shows that the soldiers know they are going to die because otherwise they would never confide in each other like they do.I think that Blackadder goes forth is very well written because it is a way of showing how serious and awful world war one was but saying it in a comical way. Even though Blackadder Goes Forth is a form of drama it is very different to other serious films such as ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’; All Quiet on the Western Front was made into a novel and a Film. The movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a World War I movie, meant to depict the German viewpoint of the war.
This movie showed that both sides of the war suffered great losses during the war and in the end there were also several philosophical questions about war addressed.The movie starts out when there were problems between Serbia and Austria-Hungary over an assassination of an Austria-Hungarian important historical figure by a young Slavic man. World War broke out. This is the beginning setting of the movie, "All Quiet on the Western Front. " The main character of this story is Paul Baumer.
He is first seen in, "All Quiet on the Western Front" as a young student who daydreams about war. The first setting is of Germany in the beginning of the war. Schools were spreading propaganda, hoping to recruit young soldiers to fight the war, "for father Germany.The professor with glasses that taught Paul's class was very enthusiastic in his lectures of serving the nation. He said things like "your nation has served you well; now it is time for you to serve your nation! " Things like this inspired the schoolboys to become soldiers in the new German army.
While the professor talked about how courageous heroes they could be if they joined the army, the young boys went off daydreaming about being victorious heroes in the war. It would be unfortunately otherwise after they start fighting in the war.One theme of the story in "All Quiet on the Western Front" is that reality is different from fantasy. The professor did such a good job glorifying the German Army and their cause that the entire class went out to the recruiting office to sign up to fight while singing the German national anthem.
There was much commotion out in the streets and people were parading with the soldiers. The young boys were enthusiastic even when they were in boot camp. But, the drill sergeant made them into soldiers eventually. In the end, the boys became men and soldiers.
Himmelstoss was also a main character in this part of the movie. He was one of the Germans there. When the new recruits landed on the front lines they were hit with a sudden reality check. Now that they were there, they found that it was a hard life they were going to live. They found out soon enough that living conditions were hard and that food was scarce.
They weren't as well supplied as they had fantasized. They saw each other die on the battlefield. Many were shell shocked. However, they found comfort as some experienced soldiers shared their wisdom with them.
One soldier that helped them a lot and was a good leader was Kat. But, as the years went by, more and more of their friends died off. They were fighting with trench warfare and thus they were cooped in trenches all the time. One of the friends went crazy and ran out and got shot. In consequence he injured his legs.
He was sent to the hospital. Paul saw his friend die. His friends tried to get the nice boots of the dead friend because "it wouldn't be of any use to him now. " In the end, Paul got the shoes but felt awfully guilty about it.As the years passed, they became experienced soldiers too.
The boots were lost eventually, but were recycled as the wearers were killed and other people picked them up. Paul and his friends got military leave every once in a while to go eat and sleep and rest. Trench warfare was very hard on the young men. In one episode his friends were served two servings of food because one party did not make it back. World War I was a mechanized war and the new war technologies massacred human flesh and thus there were great casualties on all sides. Many people were killed everyday.
People fought and camped out in trenches, but every once in a while people charged the trenches to try to advance. Each charge brought about of course many casualties. In one charge, Paul met the drill sergeant again. The drill sergeant was not used to battle and panicked, but Paul helped him. Later in the rush, Paul passed out and found himself stuck in a trench.
The French then tried to advance on the German post, and one French commander fell into the same trench as Paul's. Paul stabbed him in defense. Later on, as he was wounded, Paul tried to help the Frenchman.This meant that Paul didn't really want to kill anyone. He didn't believe that killing should be necessary if it could be avoided.
This showed that Paul was really a nice guy inside. Afterwards he contemplated the purpose of war and thought it was bad and pointless. In the end the Frenchman died and Paul returned to the German lines. In the end of the movie, Paul returns back to his home during his leave after he got injured and was resuscitated. He goes to meet his mom, who now has cancer.
He also goes to see his sister. Too bad that would be the last time he saw his family.He also went to go visit his old school, the one where years before he was attending. He found the same professor there trying to brainwash new recruits to join the German army.
Paul gave a speech to the class that war was a terrible thing. At first he couldn't bring himself to say anything good. All he could say that it was horrible and his professor was a liar who didn't know what he was talking about, glorifying war and all that. In the end, he went back to war early and didn't take all his time on leave. Paul didn't feel comfortable in his past home. Paul had been in the trenches so long he forgot how to live a civilian life.
He went back to war, his friend Kat was killed by airplane, which was a new technology at the time, and then he was shot by a sniper while seeking solace from a nearby butterfly. In the end of the movie, all the marching soldiers were shown with their graves. This was before they had started off into the war, which turned out to be a horrendous experience. Then the title "All Quiet on the Western Front" showed to say that all the friends had died in this war. In analysis of this movie, it can be learned that war is nothing to be glorified.
In truth, it is really a bad thing.Many people lose their lives to war. The movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" tries to illustrate this point and it does so very well. Friends went into war with high hopes but in the end were killed off one by one by the horrific war. They also discussed philosophical questions such as why there had to be war. It can be concluded that many soldiers don't understand the real purpose for war and such human sacrifice.
As seen in the German soldiers and friends of Paul, many didn't really want to fight in such conditions where there was no food and they had to live in crowded trenches for months at a time.World War I was truly a devastating historical event. That is what "All Quiet on the Western Front" was trying to say. War is a seemingly meaningless conflict and can be done without. Studying these texts has given me an insight on how World War One really was and has showed me how horrific war actually was.
I understand how the attitude towards war changed. In 1914 young men signed up to fight for the country because they thought it would bring them respect and an adventure. Then they arrived at the trenches and where faced with the true horror of what war was actually like.By 1918 men were being forced to go to war because more and more young men were dying and the older men did not want to go to war. There are still many books and films being created that highlight the events surrounding World War One, for example; The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, War Horse and Private Peaceful. Novels and films like this are a constant reminder of how lucky we are.
Even though there is a war going on in Iraq it hasn’t affected the entire country like the Great War did.
