Musings on the First World War (Part Four of Five)

David Kennedy, Over Here

Why was Wilson reluctant to declare war on Germany?

Wilson’s reluctance was based on a few key motivations. First, he felt that war against Germany was to be a very deliberate course of action due to the fact that, in 1917, the United States was undergoing drastic political and social changes. Second, the internal reforms which were a part of those changes would be threatened by the prospect of war and further disruption to American politics.[1] Finally, to declare war when Wilson had campaigned against Republican candidate Charles Hughes with explicit promises to keep America out of the war in Europe would counter all that Wilson stood for, politically.[2]

What were the disagreements between Pershing and his fellow Allied commanders?

Pershing’s contention between fellow Allied commanders stemmed from foundational issues he had with the American involvement in the First World War. Pershing actively resisted incorporation of American troops into European commands due to his overall distrust of British and French leadership to prevent extensive American casualties through the continuation of efforts which, up to 1917, had resulted in stagnant front lines and excessive casualties on the Allied sides. Pershing felt that allowing American soldiers to essentially become “placeholders” to allow for Allied troops to be redeployed at the whim of the British and French commanders would minimize American efforts at the expense of the successes of the British and French leaders.[3] Most importantly, though, Pershing viewed the use of fresh American troops as potentially being more decisive against the worn German forces in an aggressive manner which he felt he was able to do without the restrictions imposed by meticulous cooperation with Allied commands.[4]

Horace Baker, Argonne Days in World War I:

One of the advantages of an autobiographical account is the little details of life in the military and in combat. What details jumped out at you that maybe you’d never considered before about life in wartime?

The descriptions of how Baker described events such as beginning movement at 3am and the overall casual feel of his narration when it came to retelling even the smallest details of the environment, terrain, and daily routine of his experiences and conversations with his immediate supervisor.[5]

Does Baker think the war was worthwhile from the American perspective?

Baker’s recollection of the announcement of the Armistice is similar to the mood of many soldiers in the conflicts following the First World War when peace seemed incomplete due to the political decisions against marching into the capitals of defeated combatant nations. Baker felt that the American loss of life warranted continuing the war and completely destroying Germany. More than anything, however, Baker’s desire reflecting “what we wanted most of all was silence”[6] denotes that even though American soldiers has been in direct combat against Germany for a comparatively shorter time than their British and French counterparts, the experiences of warfare were enough to simply want the chaos to cease.

“What did you think of his [Baker] sharing of his experience?”

Memoirs and collections such as Baker’s are extremely valuable in appreciating and understanding the human element of otherwise dull historic facts when it comes to warfare. It is one thing to study the First World War in the dry academic sense of reading the causes, actions, and effects this war had (and still has) on the global scale. Reading about the artillery barrage at the battle of the Somme in 1916,[7] but it is distinctly different from Baker’s recollection of a single artillery barrage while in camp in 1918,[8] and even more so when one begins to study the long-term effects these barrages had on the individuals who sought rudimentary treatment from doctors scrambling to understand the mental devastation caused by prolonged exposure to such bombardments.[9]

There are times when I regret not being more proactive in recording my own experiences in both Afghanistan and Iraq, however, the moments I did manage to record reflect a thought process and attitude even I have a hard time believing how we dealt with the uncertainty of survival and the certainty of loss. The parallels I can see between the memoirs of the past and the blog posts of the present are important in both capture the language and the personality of conflict. The language of the average solider in the First World War has probably been greatly diluted throughout the passage of time, but it would not be too much of a leap to suggest that the words and profanity of 1916 is essentially the same as those of 1944 and today. This, by itself, will remain a priceless snapshot of man in warfare.

“Could you explain the puzzle of WWI….what is the differences between TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and based on the research of WWI soldiers, how does the military decide what condition a current soldier may suffer from?”

The Department of Defense has classified TBI as: “a traumatically induced structural injury and/or physiological disruption of brain function as a result of an external force.”[10] PTSD, on the other hand, is a much broader definition according to the Department of Defense: “consists of a spectrum of traumatic stress disorders… from Acute Stress Reaction, to Acute Stress Disorder, Acute PTSD, and Chronic PTSD.”[11] Essentially, TBI is a physical injury, where PTSD is a psychological one, though the symptoms of each manifest themselves in similar ways. Research from the First World War assisted current efforts to understand the correlation between proteins and the causes of TBI.[12]

“How does understanding medical conditions that occur in war affect the history perspective of the war?”

This is somewhat of a subjective question in that the appreciation of medicine is relative to the application and results of the treatment efforts. The medicine of the First World War, in some ways was rudimentary in comparison to our own standards, but as Alexander points out, the manner in which caregivers approached and administered care has proven to be much more effective and advanced than historic reflection would suggest. Previous care for the casualties of war is generally assumed to have consisted of rough patchwork without proper regards to cleanliness or follow-up, however, with Alexander’s article, this perspective is directly challenged in light of contemporary efforts to treat what are essentially the same physical and mental wounds.

Part Five follows…

Bibliography

Alexander, Caroline. “The Shock of War.” smithsonianmag.com. 2010. Accessed January 6, 2017. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-shock-of-war-55376701/?c=y&page=3.

Baker, Horace L. Argonne Days in World War I. Columbia, US: University of Missouri Press, 2007. Accessed January 5, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.

Department of Veterans Affairs. “Management of Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.” healthquality.va.gov. 2009. Accessed January 6, 2017. http://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/Rehab/mtbi/concussion_mtbi_full_1_0.pdf.

Department of Veterans Affairs. “The Management of Post-Traumatic Stress.” healthquality.va.gov. 2010. Accessed January 6, 2017. http://www.healthquality.va.gov/PTSD-Full-2010c.pdf.

Moss, Matthew. “The Battle of the Somme Began With Britain’s Biggest Artillery Barrage.” warisboring.com. Accessed January 6, 2017. https://warisboring.com/the-battle-of-the-somme-began-with-one-of-britains-biggest-artillery-barrages-a04aa61b4783#.j002p3pwj.

Strachan, Hew. The First World War. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. Accessed January 5, 2017. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost.

Thomas, Gregory M. Treating the Trauma of the Great War: Soldiers, Civilians, and Psychiatry in France, 1914-1940. Baton Rouge, US: LSU Press, 2009. Accessed January 6, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.

[1] Hew Strachan, The First World War, (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), accessed January 5, 2017, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, 11.

[2] Ibid., 12.

[3] Ibid., 172.

[4] Ibid., 173.

[5] Horace L. Baker, Argonne Days in World War I, (Columbia, US: University of Missouri Press, 2007). accessed January 5, 2017, ProQuest ebrary, 45.

[6] Ibid., 140.

[7] Matthew Moss, “The Battle of the Somme Began With Britain’s Biggest Artillery Barrage,” warisboring.com, accessed January 6, 2017, https://warisboring.com/the-battle-of-the-somme-began-with-one-of-britains-biggest-artillery-barrages-a04aa61b4783#.j002p3pwj.

[8] Horace L. Baker, Argonne Days in World War I, (Columbia, US: University of Missouri Press, 2007), accessed January 6, 2017, ProQuest ebrary, 34.

[9] Gregory M. Thomas, Treating the Trauma of the Great War: Soldiers, Civilians, and Psychiatry in France, 1914-1940, (Baton Rouge, US: LSU Press, 2009), accessed January 6, 2017, ProQuest ebrary, 20.

[10] Department of Veterans Affairs, “Management of Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury,” healthquality.va.gov. 2009, accessed January 6, 2017, http://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/Rehab/mtbi/concussion_mtbi_full_1_0.pdf, 16.

[11] Department of Veterans Affairs, “The Management of Post-Traumatic Stress,” healthquality.va.gov. 2009, accessed January 6, 2017, http://www.healthquality.va.gov/PTSD-Full-2010c.pdf, 4.

[12] Caroline Alexander, “The Shock of War,” smithsonianmag.com, 2010, accessed January 6, 2017, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-shock-of-war-55376701/?c=y&page=3.