One of the major mental illnesses during the war was shellshock. Shellshock war the reaction of soldiers from the trauma of battle. After a long period of time in the war the soldiers would lose all self control because of the constant bombing, shooting and fighting (Wikipedia). Symptoms of shellshock were tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches (Spartacusschoolnet). From 1914 to 1918 there were 80,000 men from the British army suffering from shell-shock (spartacusschoolnet).
Tim O'Brien writes how throughout the war, "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide" (O'Brien, 21). Having to return to normal society after experiencing the hideous faces of war was not an easy task. For many veterans it proved to be more than they could handle.
In all actuality “the front” seemed to be the most difficult for Paul to endure, it brought about several pains that burdened his mind and changed his outlook on life. During Paul Baumer’s time at war he had to take turns in what they called “the front.” During his time at the front he came into several stressful situations. One situation that seemed to be particularly stressful was not having the correct tools for the war. There were several injuries due to friendly fire because the barrels of the guns were worn out. This also made it difficult to fire at the enemy when they were actually able to fight face to face.
Additionally, the noises of artillery and mortars, and not knowing where they would impact induced much fear and emotional distress in infantrymen: “Dawn approaches without anything happening—only the everlasting, nerve-wracking roll behind the enemy lines…” (104). Furthermore, the sight of numerous dead and dying comrades, or even enemies, triggered psychological stress in soldiers, though they would become desensitized to death: “For a
Plodding blood from lungs that once you had the chance to laughter, talk, kisses. Many of the sights which will hang the soldiers are not what the officials have ordered them to do but what they have done to save their own lives. It is the tragedy of war that you are not able to stop to help a dying man. What do you expect, it is a war. Millions of people are involved in armed conflicts in the world today.
“For centuries we have seen casualties of war; soldiers who have had various physical injuries and scars that last a lifetime (Stan Tian).” This can tear a soldier’s life apart and even his family and that’s a huge struggle that some veterans must go through every day, it’s not just physical injuries but mental illnesses as well. “Yet until the 20th century little was known about the emotional effects of war on soldiers and it wasn't until soldiers were studied psychologically that we began to understand what had happened to them” ( Stan Tian). Tian explains how war can affect you and he gives a lot of information on the topic of physical and mental disabilities in regards to combat. Stan Tian is a psychologist and studies mental health and helps people cope with and understand about the effects of war such as PTSD. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder in which someone experiences something that is life threatening, a serious accident, terrorist attack, sexual assault, etc.
The most common assumption was that if Americans had made their prior knowledge of the attack evident, the Japanese would know that their Purple Code had been broken and it would be back to square one (Harries). However, most people don't realize that President Roosevelt had been waiting for the perfect justified entrance to lead the country, still traumatized from World War I, into World War II. After World War I, a strong feeling of isolationism had developed in the United States. America had been destroyed in the first World War: the casualties had been extensive and the financial debt was tremendous. More than 300,000 American troops had been killed or wounded in the overseas battle ("the claim").
It often came down to hand to hand contact and quick thinking. This war scared almost all the soldiers for life, the ones who lived through it all at least. The total number of US casualties in the Vietnam War was 58,220. The ones who did live didn’t get a welcome home either. When the Vietnam Veterans returned back home they were treated worse than some of the terrorists now a days.
First of all, the main reason thousands refer to Haig as the ‘Butcher of the Somme’ is because that there were astronomical amounts of soldiers that lost their lives in this particular battle. In an interview with Private George Coppard, the private confirmed that “hundreds dead were strung out on the barbed wire like wreckage washed up on a high water mark”. Therefore, the root cause of this catastrophe was the guidance and leadership the soldiers were given; since Haig was the one in charge, people blame him for the loss. Further on that argument, the tactics Haig used were incompetent. When Haig discovered that the tactics he had prepared were ineffective and that there were numerous casualties, he chose not to change tactics, and instead kept using the faulty ones.
Many people throughout the Reign of Terror were killed by a guillotine. This affects not only them but their family and friends too. Life is the biggest thing anyone has to lose whether it’s yourself or a loved one. 20,000-40,000 people died from the guillotine alone. (Document F) This loss adds to the evidence that people of France did not want the Reign of Terror, therefore it is not justified.