Well, in the category of somethings never change they found a group of inhospitable and high strung Frenchmen. In addition to the French people the Doughboys undoubtedly had personal experiences that shaped their lives in a lifelong way. War is always ugly but WWI was really ugly with static trench warfare and battles that cost hundreds of thousand of lives for a few yards of mud. Rather than the battles I am most interested in how the war changed America culturally and socially. Prior to the war most Americans were rural people who probably only travelled a few miles from their homes on rare occasions. Additionally, given the lack of any mass media suddenly Americans of all regions, races and economic backgrounds were thrown together for the first time.
What were the long lasting societal changes in America that were speed up or created by American involvement in WWI?
Do you think that African American Doughboys and their experience in France impacted them to act in a different way when they came back to the United States after the war?
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I know this may sound funny, but in my opnion i might have to say Most commonly associated with the First World War the phrase "no man's land" actually dates back until at least the 14th century. Its meaning was clear to all sides: no man's land represented the area of ground between opposing armies - in this case, between trenches.
ReplyDeleteFor newly arrived novice soldiers No Man's Land held a certain allure. Such troops were cautioned against a natural inclination to peer over the parapet of the trench into No Man's Land. Many men died on their first day in the trenches as a consequence of a precisely aimed sniper's bullet.
The composition of No Man's Land could rapidly change as front lines shifted as a consequence of battles and actions. It was at its most static however along the trenches of the Western Front where from late 1914 until the Spring of 1918 the war was not one of movement but rather one of attrition.
I think one big societal change in America was building of arms and preparing for war. Also i think there were alot of drafts for men to enter the war, and some of them were not prepared for what was to come in France.
ReplyDeleteLIke it said in the last part of this articule, that most of the doughboys that survived came home with a limited amount of stuff, but the time they spent in france affected them greatly and htye will probaly remeber what they encountered for a while. So i Think it will affect each person in some way because of the warfare and tramatization of what they encounterd.
Money, this war gave the "big haunchos" more control of wartime agencies, which in return tripled coperate money. Not to just to say the rich profited alone; farmers got higher profit for their products and higher wages with new jobs coming avaliable. So, simply said the economy profited.
ReplyDeleteI think that when anyone comes home from war they see the world in a new light!
One big societal change we read about this week in the text was women's role in society changing. While men were overseas at the battle front, women were taking over roles previously held by men in heavy industry as well as the addition of nurses back home and across seas. This also continued through into WWII. Although, women took on this big part, the view of women had not completely changed yet. Shortly after, women gained the right to vote but still did ALOT of protesting, pushing, demanding, and fighting to be viewed equal. America also became the highest industrialized country.
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