The Great War
The Great War was fought between 1914 and 1918.
Prior to the First World War, empires and kingdoms such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, Canada, the Soviet Union, and many other countries and independent territories did not recognize the importance of peace and security in the development of society, culture, economy, and politics, as do we today. The opinions of those who have been affected by an event are critical in determining the extent and consequences of the occurrence. As a result, the purpose of this article is to conduct an examination of the viewpoints of three poets, namely Lt. Col. John McCrea, Lt. Siegfried Sassoon, and Alan Seeger, who were prominent during the Great War/First World War. The study goes on to examine the messages conveyed by the drawings and paintings created during the Great War in an attempt to decipher their deeper meanings, which is the purpose of this paper. The perspectives of these poets, as well as a number of existing paintings and sketches, provide further information on the Great War.
First and foremost, the three poets shared a similar perspective on the Great War. They all believe that the conflict was a matter of life and death for everyone involved. They are all in agreement that the leaders of their tribes, civilizations, and races played a more important role in the war than they realized. Some leaders, such as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party, believed that their race was superior and that nothing would ever be able to defeat them. Lt. Col. John McCrea, who fought in the Canadian army during the First World War, uses his poem to emphasize the reality that many people, including troops fighting in the war, had already died before the enemy was able to capture and kill them. During the same war, Lt. Siegfried Sassoon of the British army, who fought alongside the Americans, observed that young soldiers were unable to handle the intensity of the conflict and that sacrificing their lives was the only alternative available. In his book, Rendezvous with Death, Alan Seeger claims that many individuals were desperate during World War II and that their meeting with death, or what he called a “rendezvous with death,” was unavoidable. Many civilians in the United States were asked to pray for the soldiers on the battlefield because their return was never guaranteed, as Sgt. Joyce Kilmer of the United States army claimed in her poem.
Some troops and analysts preferred to communicate their thoughts, which were comparable to those of poets, through paintings and sketches, while others preferred to use words. When one looks at the paintings and drawings, it becomes clear that troops and everyone else who was affected by the Great War had something to say.. For Dix, who served as a German soldier during the First World War, a drawing depicting the movements of soldiers on the battlefield was presented. It is clear from this drawing that human beings have been transformed into something else, as their legs and other body structures mimic those of unidentified monsters. According to him, a specific evil spirit had infiltrated human beings to such an extent that they were killing and destroying their fellow human beings without regard for the consequences of their actions.
Some optimists, such as Nash, who was a British soldier, believed that the Great War was required in order to create a new world. The artwork on the tombs and graves of the fallen troops drew the attention of battle survivors who visited the sites. The wording on one of the skeletal memorials at Mort-Homme in France’s Verdun reads, “They Did Not Pass,” implying that the troops made significant contributions to the advancement of society. In Belgium, the paintings and carvings of the best soldiers who assisted the country in winning big battles are displayed in magnificent buildings, signifying that they will be remembered for the rest of their lives for their sacrifices. When troops were killed in action in the United States, they were honored as heroes, and as a result, their graves were meticulously maintained to show honor and appreciation for their achievements. In Germany, the cemeteries of the fallen soldiers are popular tourist destinations in addition to serving as recreation centers, indicating that those who died in the war should be remembered for their valiant efforts.
However, despite the fact that the Great War was fought some years ago, nearly a century ago, its consequences are still being felt in contemporary culture (Kennedy 24). The events of the First World War, for example, had a significant impact on the formation of the European Union and the military organization NATO, among other things. Countries realized that they needed one another in order to achieve long-term peace and security. Several international institutions have been established since World War I to deal with rogue governments, such as Germany during World War I and Japan and Italy during World War II, as well as belligerent players such as German commanders. The United Nations Security Council has made significant contributions to the resolution of wars that otherwise might have resulted in death and devastation. Because of lethal weapons such as atomic and nuclear bombs, which have the potential to wipe humanity off the face of the planet, a worldwide conflict in the twenty-first century would be unlike any other in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries.
To summarize, the Great War was disastrous, both in terms of the number of people who died and the amount of property that was destroyed.
