Final Paper
by iqra.aslam ~ December 8th, 2010. Filed under: Uncategorized.For my research paper, my main topic is the affects of trench warfare on soldiers during World War I, and the psychological impacts that this leaves on the soldiers. While Ernst Junger’s “Storm of Steel” is my main source, I will not be focusing on German soldiers against the French in particular, but rather on soldiers collectively who have been through the trench warfare experience during World War I.
Throughout my research, I found that while some soldiers become afraid and anticipate their opponent’s attacks, other soldiers become killing machines. I want to compare the behaviors of different groups of soldiers, how they behave under pressure, and how they react to the horrors of war, when placed in the same situation.
I came across a particular article that talks about the psychological impacts of trench warfare on the soldiers, and what interested me the most was the fact that soldiers had more chances of having a psychological disorder when they were “not allowed to kill”, rather than soldiers that killed quite a bit. This article also focuses on the fact that the soldiers most prone to having a mental breakdown were the ones that were exposed the most to the risk of being killed. Since Junger focuses more on being descriptive, rather than on what he felt or went through emotionally, I feel that you have to sort of read between the lines about what went on in his head.
Bibliography:
Wessely, Simon. Twentieth Century Theories on Combat Motivation and Breakdown, Journal of Contemporary History. Sage Publication, Ltd., 2006.
Jones, Edgar. The Psychology of Killing: The Combat Experience of British Soldiers During the First World War, Journal of Contemporary History. Sage Publication, Ltd., 2006.
Junger, Ernst, and Michael Hofmann. Storm of Steel. Penguin Classics, 1920.
December 8th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
I’m glad I get to comment on your post because I find the idea that you are tackling, regarding trench warfare and its effects on soldiers extremely interesting!
It sounds to me like you are also handling another issue besides trench warfare, you are also looking into the behavior of soldiers and how they react to stress/pressure…I see how this is somewhat tied to trench warfare but it also sounds as if it could be a paper all on its own.
The whole idea of soldiers having more psychological problems when not being allowed to kill is similar to what happened to the soldier in Jarhead! Who after months of training and finally get a chance to kill someone was called-off from doing it seconds before the trigger was pulled. He definitely seemed to be affected by this. I can also see why the soldiers that had the most mental breakdowns were the ones whose lives were most in danger; they had to always be on alert and constantly fight for survival.
Overall I think this is an interesting topic that will allow you to explore a lot of different aspects of it. I don’t know if you watch the show boardwalk Empire but the character Jimmy was a soldier, I believe in WWI (not too sure about that though) who was in the trenches. Just last episode he spoke to his wife how this traumatized him and left him crippled many nights; how he would lay there some nights and dream he could feel her hair brushing against his face while he tried to block out the sounds. His wife had confronted him about his nightmares and how he, in his sleep, shakes her violently while screaming in German and how this horrifies her and their child. Jimmy just told her that there is so much in his head that she doesn’t know…just thought I’d let you know about the part of the show and it goes with the trauma from the trenches =)
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