experiencing total war in ww1

Question 1

from what at perspective are most recorded experiences from?

Answer 1

representation of experience is often middle-upper class, as they had access to writing and publishing

Question 2

what were the typical perceived gender roles of ww1?

Answer 2

men should join the army out of duty and to protect the family and women’s role was as the mother and wife

Question 3

what was the role of class in wartime propaganda?

Answer 3

propaganda often downplayed the role of class in favour of unity and gender roles

Question 4

what was happening pre-war with gender roles?

Answer 4

women were fighting for the right to vote and extended rights and freedoms

Question 5

how did wartime propaganda represent the man?

Answer 5

represented as the hero soldier, defending the nation. the man being capable and aggressive

Question 6

how did propaganda appeal to men?

Answer 6

emphasised responsibility to defend their home and family, appealed to male comradery and masculinity. appealed to men as defender of women.
the inherent masculinity left little room for those who didn’t join the effort

Question 7

how did propaganda encourage women?

Answer 7

appealed to women to encourage men to enlist, by questioning neglect to the country and neglect to women

Question 8

how were men who didn’t enlist treated by women?

Answer 8

women often gave men a white feather in public to shame them for not joining, could be seen as women asserting themselves in public

Question 9

what shaped men’s experience of fighting in war?

Answer 9

trench warfare shaped experience with poor conditions, threat from snipers artillery. attritional violence happened in short bursts in raids on trenches.

Question 10

what was the mental affect of the conditions of trenches on men?

Answer 10

some men broke down in the face of violence and refused to go over the top. others thrived in war and enjoyed the experienced, many junior officers enjoyed the command

Question 11

how did the war experience increase male bonding?

Answer 11

since most men had no military experience, recruiting from the same area would create a bond and unit cohesion. intimacy between men was often physical and refined them of times in schools and clubs, slept, cooked and washed together

Question 12

how did men take on feminine tasks?

Answer 12

the lack of women meant men had to take on tasks of sewing, cooking to create new aspects of masculinity

Question 13

what was women’s experience in war effort?

Answer 13

nursing was large image of the war as mothering figures. working class women opportunity to work in factories and gave greater economic dependance. however many women died in factory accidents

Question 14

what was the complex nature in experience of nurses?

Answer 14

the job allowed travel and adventure but also romanticised the role with men

Question 15

what were some of the new medical challenges posed by the war?

Answer 15

had to overcome new weapons e.g poison gas and shell shock. the new tech of warfare posed a challenge and large scale casualties with new wounds due to large gun capacity and new bullets

Question 16

what were some of the new weapons that caused unique injury in war?

Answer 16

poison gas caused skin blisters, suffocation and blindness
flamethrower caused devastating burns
artillery caused large-scale damage

Question 17

what were some of the causes of increased mutilation and disability during the war?

Answer 17

increased use of more powerful weapons and increase in industrial accidents

Question 18

how many became amputees during the war?

Answer 18

30,000 people had amputations but medical staff warned against so much amputation as some could be saved

Question 19

what was the experience of men who had been disabled at war back home?

Answer 19

the experience was unpleasant, as the defined view of masculinity was tough and a working man and these men were not seen as either

Question 20

how were businesses discouraged from employing disabled men?

Answer 20

the men were associated with crippled children and useless

Question 21

how did men survive in society after being disabled by war?

Answer 21

relied of charity and learning rehabilitation, but work was hard to find and difficult to form relationships

Question 22

how many had permanent damage to face and head during the war? how was this improved?

Answer 22

280,000 suffered damage to face and head, but advancement of plastic surgery and facial reconstruction helped readjust these men into society

Question 23

who was the pioneer of modern facial reconstruction?

Answer 23

Harold Gillies

Question 24

what was malingering?

Answer 24

soldiers purposely damaging their own bodies to leave the frontlines

Question 25

how did men damage themselves to leave the war?

Answer 25

drinking excessive caffeine to raise heart rate, picking tonsils to cough blood, or even shooting own limbs

Question 26

what were the consequences of malingering?

Answer 26

within most militaries the consequence was death, but many chose not to investigate as mistakes would be massive error

Question 27

what was the gendered approach to mental illness?

Answer 27

hysteria was associated with women and women seen as weaker biologically and mentally to men

Question 28

what were the original assumptions of what shell shock was?

Answer 28

believed to cause invisible damage to nerve system that was caused from concussive effect from shells, impossible to tell who would show symptoms

Question 29

what were some of the effects of shell shock?

Answer 29

some saw nervous exhaustion other saw physical symptoms such as spasms, paralysis, others has anxiety, nightmares and mental exhaustion

Question 30

which soldiers were more likely to show symptoms of shell shock?

Answer 30

officers tended to display more mental symptoms rather than physical

Question 31

what were some of the ways shell shock was treated?

Answer 31

treatment was varied, some used talking cures to rid traumatic memories, others underwent electric shock therapy

Question 32

what were the long term prospects of shell shock?

Answer 32

some returned to the front line to regain their masculinity, many didn’t get any support compared to the physically disabled. the British govt eventually gave pensions to mental damage

Question 33

what were the long term prospects of shell shock?

Answer 33

some returned to the front line to regain their masculinity, many didn’t get any support compared to the physically disabled. the British govt eventually gave pensions to mental damage