The Great War Changed the Definition of War

War has always been an interest of man. He who has the strongest army tends to hold the power. In the feudal society, the lords had access to armies which resulted in their dominance over the common man. In imperialistic Britain, the British were the most powerful, and thus, the economically wealthy nation in the world. With a dominant army, came a correlation of a strong economy. People saw war as romantic because the most skilled warriors determined a victory. World War 1 turned these ideas around.

Howitzer artillery gun used in World War I

World War 1 introduced the first mass killing machines. The introduction of the machine gun changed warfare forever. No longer was a war dependant on who was a better-trained shot, because with a machine gun, a spray of bullets into the enemy did not require skill and it was much more efficient. Artillery meant shells could devastate large groups of enemies.

One's skill with a rifle or a sword no longer determined if they would win a fight. The machine gun was the great equalizer where the only thing that mattered was how strong a position was. Mortar shells no longer required soldiers to even have to see their enemy to kill them. For the first time, a war was turned from an art or skill to an extermination effort. Whoever could kill more in less time, wins the war. The devastation was unprecedented.

Today, war can often be performed from different sides of the world. Rarely are conflicts large outright invasions because death can be delivered on a scale that would make large masses too easy with too large of costs of lives. War is impersonal. It is disconnected. Killing enemies is closer related to exterminating pests with a drone strike screen and hunting high-profile leaders like rodents.

Image credit: Howitzer gun Turkey World War 1, by WikiImages. Licensed by Pixaby under CC 2.0

"Sweet and proper"

English Poet Wilfred Owen
Source: Wikipedia

As young men went off to fight in World War I, they carried with them in their minds and hearts that it was “sweet and proper” for them to die for their country.  Their ideas stemmed from widely accepted beliefs of the time period where war was not only embraced but glorified as well. Heinrich von Treitschke was a German historian in the late 1800s who taught that “war brings progress and becoming.”  Because of these commonly held beliefs, idealism and optimism spread in the minds of the soldiers at the beginning of the war. 

Unfortunately, this idealism and optimism didn’t endure the war, and for most soldiers, was lost early on in the trenches. The shift in attitude is evidenced in the literature and poetry that we have today that dates back to the Great War.  Much of what the soldiers recorded is dark and cold as they write of death, pain, and horror.  

Today I had the opportunity to listen to many poems written during WWI, and I’ll be honest with you, it was hard to keep my composure hearing about the lives of the soldiers. There was one poem in particular that struck a chord with me by an English poet and soldier, Wilfred Owen, entitled ‘Disabled.’  I felt that it related to my life, even though it was written one hundred years ago, and even though it was written from the perspective of a soldier.  Owen writes about a subject that I, along with most people in the world face daily: fear.

One parallel specifically regarding fear is that the soldiers had no idea where the next bomb was going explode, so they had to constantly be on guard.  Do we see this today?  In movie theaters, line dancing bars, night clubs, classrooms, and concerts?  

Another commonality is that with real fear, there is no off button.  Fear is a force that lingers, we learn from his poem, though it would be nice if it didn’t overstay its welcome.  

What we can conclude is that whether on the front lines at war, or the battlefields at home, we will face fear.  But like any good soldier, we can brave our fearful challenges as they come.