The Great War: The Lost Generation

Remembering a Forgotten war by Donald R. Hickey 2012, an academic journal, talks about the military history where by people were subjected to a difficult and different lifestyle than the one they were used too at that time.

In the book, America's Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the "isolationism" ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.

To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who

The Great War , or as it is known now, World War One was a global conflict fought between the Allied Powers ; Great Britain, France, Russia, and the United States along will other smaller nations and the Central Powers ; Germany, Austria – Hungary, Turkey/Ottoman Empire and other small nations from 1914 to 1918. World War One began from a series of tumultuous events, that in turn affected the balance of alliances that had been made between countries at that time in the world.

The war had changed people in so many ways, as their former character of being sincere, at peace, and loving was slowly changed to chaotic, indecisive and unhopeful lives. People began to forget who they really were all due to the war, “It

Everyone around the world knows how the Great War started, with Duke of Austria being assassinated. War was constantly gloried throughout the years, and this new war completely changed that; even though there are traces of old fighting styles, this war was the beginning of advanced wars yet to come. Authors Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker use their book, 14-18: Understanding the Great War, to summarize the war into three parts: the violence, the crusades and lastly how the world mourned. Violence within the war was outrageous, between what was going on from the battlefield to the homes of the civilians, showed a new outlook on how the war didn’t just affect the soldiers. One spike in violence was on the first of July 1916, twenty thousand men were

War causes death, poverty, diseases, destruction, and many more devastating and unavoidable consequences. The government drafted men into military service, giving them no choice but to separate them from their daily lives, friends, and families. Soldiers fight in wars while putting their lives on the line and are only rewarded with physical or psychological injuries. Countries wage war against one another in order to resolve disputes and disagreements between them. Individuals, such as nurses, soldiers, and civilians undergo traumatic events when they are caught in the middle of a war. Although some may argue that war does not impact the self the most, based on the informational text, “War Escalates” by Paul Boye, the short story, “Where

The beginning of the 20th century saw the most devastating war in human history. World War 1 cost ‘nine million lives and in the end no ground was gained’(O’Connor). Those who fought and lived through the war became known as the Lost Generation. They were cynical with society and “lost faith in traditional values like courage, patriotism, and masculinity’(O’Connor). The Short Story ‘Soldier’s Home’ is an example of a Lost Generation story.

We have all seen or read about the political and social upheavals caused by war. Some may have even experienced it first-hand. Throughout history war has had negative psychological implications on those effected. However, there is no greater negative impact of war than the psychological and emotional turmoil that it causes individual soldiers.

Throughout human history, we have watched many men and women storm into combat to sweat, bleed, and die for a cause that they believe in. War is no secret to mankind, we have seen it hundreds of times, and we are aware of the mental and physical damage it has the capability of causing. We’ve learned of the gruesome damage caused by the first world war, and the numerous amount of lives it claimed. We’ve read the vivid stories authors wrote, using literature as a means to communicate the horrors experienced in war. Even in present day, we’ve seen, or known veterans who have returned from war with mental damage due to the terrible things they witnessed or partook in. Whether or not it is the smartest or most responsible idea, the human race uses

Even though soldiers are able to distract themselves from the horrors that they witness on the front, war psychologically damages them and creates the “lost generation”. The young men find it increasingly difficult to think and act with the mindset of a civilian. In war, the men only experience despair, death, and fear, so their mind is enveloped by negative thoughts that

The wartime lives of the soldiers who fought in the war were in a state of mind of mixed feelings. Happiness and devastating are two adjectives that can describe the soldier’s feelings in the war because at one second they can be happy that they succeeded on a mission, but on the other hand, it can be very devastating because one of their own soldiers could have been killed during the war. Aside from physical danger losing one of your own soldiers or having your family worry about you every day and night are some negatives and unpleasant parts about fighting in a war. For example, soldiers loved ones worried each day, and hoped that they would not get a knock on their door by someone who was going to tell them that their fathers, husbands, sons, or brothers have died in the war.

These young men entered the war straight out of high school. Many of the soldiers didn’t even have the chance to finish school nevertheless live their lives. They died young in the war without having the opportunity to know what being an adult was, going to college, living beyond their youth, having a family, or other life experiences. The previous generation was older men who had family, experienced life, and developed survival skills that helped them during the war.

Similarly, Fussell is neutral throughout his book, which enables him to be cohesive and direct with his points and illustrations. In his introduction, he states that his book is about “the British experience on the Western Front…and some of the literary means by which it has been remembered, conventionalized, and mythologized” (ix). He quickly makes a disclaimer that his readers will find themselves reading mostly about British literature and the trench life of both British and France. While reading through The Great War and Modern Memory, it can be noted that Fussell generally leaves his opinions out from the narrative. His focus is to find the way “the dynamics and iconography of the Great War have proved crucial political, rhetorical, and artistic determinants on subsequent life” (ix). He does that by gathering his resources, studying them, and presenting them as they are. He wants history and the works of writers from the past to speak for themselves. Writing in such a way allows him to develop his point, on how literary elements that developed the minds of those living in the twentieth century, effectively and concisely. Perhaps this is why he states that if he were to subtitle his novel, it would be called “An Inquiry into the Curious Literariness of Real Life” (ix). He wants all of the examined “literary traditions [writings of soldiers] and real life to transect” so that he won’t have to twist any ideas provided by those who experienced the war. He wants to analyze

Siegfried Sasson in his poem Survivors, writes “these boys with old scared faces learning to walk”. Sasson brings to life the effect that the war had on the soldiers who spent years fighting in the trenches. He shows how the war controlled the soldiers even after the war had concluded by infiltrating their minds and emotional well being to the point where they need to learn to walk normally again. Learning to walk is a metaphor for re-establishing themselves in the world during peacetime. The soldiers are so emotionally unstable as a result of seeing their friends and comrades blown up and killed that they struggle to find themselves as a functioning part of society. The war crippled the men mentally who fought on the front lines and therefore ended up controlling them and dictating their lives in a path which destroys their sanity and human interaction. The effects of the war didn't just confine itself to controlling the men whom fought in it but would also go on to control the nations who were involved. The war left the nations of England, France, and Germany all war ridden and tired and found themselves in serious economic depressions, which led to famine and more death exemplifying the grip of control that WWI