UNIV 3539 Blog

Europeans countries had been on top of the world. Expectations were great. They were easily persuaded to follow the government due to the glory and grandeur associated with the patriotic war. It was their patriotic duty to support the war.

The soldiers soon discovered they were not properly prepared to go to battle. They had bayonet training but little target shooting, grenade and automatic weapon training. They were ill supplied with weapons, ammunition, food, water, and drugs. The soldiers lived in trenches which caused dysentery illnesses. Rats and lice caused problems for the soldiers. The rats ate on corpses. Some soldiers could not take the deplorable conditions and left, when found they were executed. They were willing to take the chance of being executed than stay in the trenches.

I believe the war finally ended because everyone was tired. The Allies got a second wind when the US entered the war. The German?s felt they could not hold out against the fresh legs of the US. Does anyone really win when 9 million soldiers and 15 million civilians die? I don?t believe you can call anyone a winner. Everyone was losers and just tired of fighting!