Soldiers Don't Go Mad: War, Shell Shock, and PTSD in WWI

Introduction

Charles Glass's Soldiers Don't Go Mad is many things, but ultimately it is an in-depth examination of the psychological cost of war. The book is set against the backdrop of World War I (1914–18) and focuses on the experiences of soldiers who faced unimaginable horrors. The war resulted in the deaths of nearly 10 million soldiers and countless civilians, reshaping the world and leaving an enormous mark on those who lived through it. At the heart of Glass's book is the establishment of Craiglockhart War Hospital, which acted as a pioneer in recognizing and treating the then barely understood condition of shell shock — a term used at the time to describe what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

The fact that doctors at Craiglockhart could recognize shell shock for what it was demonstrates an early awareness of the mental toll caused by the devastating experiences of war. The very title of Glass's book is ironic. That irony conveys the social expectation — likely prevalent during that era — that soldiers should be strong, tough, resilient, and unflinching. Regardless of the traumas they endured, soldiers were expected to be above such suffering. Not everyone believed this, however. The Women's Movement in the early twentieth century in the United States certainly understood the toll of war on soldiers, which is why the Movement was initially anti-war (Kennedy, 1999). Nonetheless, Glass's book sets this social expectation of toughness against the raw realities of mental anguish. The outcome is a powerful statement about what it truly meant to confront mental health in the context of modern industrial warfare. This paper analyzes Glass's work and examines how it fits into the larger historical context of United States history.

Central Elements of Glass's Narrative

Central to Glass's narrative are the lives and works of two poets who experienced the war firsthand: Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Glass makes constant reference to their poetry and pain, using their stories and verses to convey an accurate but deeply disturbing sense of what it is like to be a soldier in a conflict like WWI. The book's title itself comes from one of Sassoon's own poems, "Repression of War Experience," in which Sassoon warns that "soldiers don't go mad / unless they lose control of ugly thoughts…" (Glass, 2023). It is this battle to control one's thoughts that characterizes the mental health crisis of shell shock and PTSD. Those soldiers who witnessed bloodshed, death, and horror firsthand were the ones most likely to face this mental struggle.

Governments were often no help, as they frequently failed to understand the shock soldiers endured — and some men were ultimately executed for cowardice, as Glass (2023) explains. As Solomon (2023) observes in his review of the book, frontline soldiers bear the greatest burden: "Government leaders remain masters of deception, while enormous numbers of human beings suffer the consequences." Interestingly, despite the anti-war sentiments evident in their poetry, both Owen and Sassoon chose to return to the front lines during WWI. This decision reveals the profound sense of pride and duty soldiers felt, but also the weight of peer pressure and personal conviction that many of them carried. It is more than likely that both poets felt socially obligated to fight given the pressures that existed in Britain at the time. In the United States, the situation was somewhat different, as the country remained broadly Isolationist and anti-war and was still processing the psychological and political aftermath of the Spanish-American War.

Shell Shock and the Reality of Psychological Trauma

The book is constructed around the theme of the psychological impact of war. Glass discusses the term "shell shock" in connection with Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland, an institution established specifically to treat traumatized officers. Despite receiving treatment, many of these officers continued to suffer from trauma throughout their lives. The narrative also explores the pressures of nationalism and the sense of brotherhood among soldiers — factors that often compelled men to participate in wars they might personally have chosen to avoid.

The knowledge of what soldiers endure, and the fact that governments nonetheless continue to send them into combat, reveals a troubling reality. A particularly tragic detail is that 306 "shell-shocked men" were executed by the British government for perceived cowardice or desertion (Glass, 2023). For this reason, Glass's work is not merely a historical account — it carries modern relevance. Readers are invited to draw parallels between World War I and contemporary conflicts, reinforcing the point that the human cost of war has remained tragically consistent across generations.

Conclusion

Through the lens of Craiglockhart War Hospital and the intertwined lives of poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, Soldiers Don't Go Mad by Charles Glass takes a searching look at the trauma of warfare and the lasting effects of PTSD. Overall, it is a powerful reflection on what soldiers endured during WWI and, more broadly, a compelling argument for why an anti-war perspective deserves serious consideration. The book reminds readers that behind every military campaign lies an enormous and often invisible human cost — one that neither governments nor societies have ever fully reckoned with.

References

Glass, C. (2023). Soldiers don't go mad. Penguin.

Kennedy, K. (1999). Disloyal mothers and scurrilous citizens: Women and subversion during World War I. Indiana University Press.

Solomon, N. (2023). "Soldiers Don't Go Mad": A stunning account of poetry, paradox and the horrors of war. Retrieved from https://www.salon.com/2023/07/09/soldiers-dont-go-mad-a-stunning-account-of-poetry-paradox-and-the-horrors-of/