HIST 387 Chapter Notes - Chapter chapter 12: Christmas Truce, No-Conscription Fellowship, Bacon
19 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
War was not just won by killing the enemy as getting him to desert, mutiny or surrender. High casualty rates helped prolong the war because high troop turnover prevented fatigue and despair from becoming too widespread. High casualty rates do not correlate with a decrease in morale. Even when the trenches were dug men were still vulnerable to machine guns and snipers who were positioned every 21 meters along the british line. Experiences soldiers learned to distinguish the directions and types of enemy shells, in heavy bombardments at the front. Being shelled was a horrible form of torture. Found layers of men on top of the living soldiers from shelling. After the war 65,000 british soldiers were taking disability pensions due to having shell shock. German soldiers tended to punish as much as treat the victims with electric shocks and other painful treatments. During the war men suffered from intense fatigue.
