War: Politics, Conflicts, and Society

¶ … War: Politics, Conflicts, and Society Since 1914 by Gabriel Kolko. Specifically, it will discuss at least three interesting facts about soldiers in World War I from reading Chapter 7 of the novel. Several interesting facts emerged from reading this chapter, giving a deeper understanding of the machinery of war.

One interesting fact that came from reading this chapter was the note that the soldiers were not necessarily loyal to the state they were fighting for. The author notes," non-one in 1914 thought it essential to consider their fidelity to the state and those who ruled it" (Kolko 124). Today, this seems odd and even dangerous, and it became more dangerous as World War I lasted. It seems rather thoughtless that these nations would not have considered loyalty important, and as the war went on for years, fighters who had little loyalty to begin with lost it all and refused to fight. That no one thought of that before is quite amazing.

Another interesting fact was that so many of the armies were so poorly prepared and armed. That Russian soldiers had to take guns from their fallen enemies, and some soldiers were charged for meals are facts that do not so often come out in the history books. The overall picture of the war, even with its awful violence and death in the trenches is one of well-oiled machines fighting each other with artillery and the latest advances, like airplanes and machine guns. This was clearly not the case, and it is quite surprising to read. As the author notes of the Italian army, "which was underequipped, fought poorly, and became demoralized within a few months after joining the war" (Kolko 131). One would think countries would be more prepared, or at least understand what their armies needed before sending them off to war.

Also interesting was the fact that the men often fraternized between the trenches when there were lulls in the fighting. This makes sense, and has happened in other wars, such as the Civil War. Here, it seems like it was more prevalent because of the nature of the war, and the close proximity of the trenches. The men understood they were more than killing machines, and reached out to the men close to them. The author states, "In various place they fraternized, even playing soccer, singing, and talking together" (Kolko 134). This indicates the men recognized each other as human beings first - trapped in a war not of their making. It also shows that the men were larger than what they were fighting, and larger than the countries that created the war. They could see the humanity of the "enemy," and understand they were simply men caught up in an impossible situation. This is interesting, since the text notes that so many of the soldiers were peasants, who many felt were uneducated "chattel." It seems that had more humanity than those with more education and breeding.