WWI and Modernism by Van Cathcart III

This picture shows soldiers in WWI wearing the gas masks that were assigned to them by the United States Military in around 1919. These masks were vital in survival during WWI because of the mustard gas used in the war. Mustard gas would render the person who came in contact with it utterly useless becuase of the effects. Effects included, burning of the skin, blisters, and irritation of the lungs. In Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, he writes on how fast the soldiers had to acquire and get the gas masks on to prevent breathing in the mustard gas during the war. He mentions that the…

This photo shows Canadian troops dressing the wounded in trench warfare during the Battle of the Courcelette in WWI. This was a totally different type of war and fighting that than the world was used to. During trench warfare the two sides would dig trenches accross from their opposition with "no man's land" in the middle. Whichever side was on the attack would attempt to get through No Man's Land to infiltrate the other sides defenses and emerge victorious. Trench warfare was enough to completely break a man, these men would spend weeks, maybe even months in…

This graphic picture show soldiers who have died in the trenches in WWI. These soldiers in particular were Italian. The saddest part about WWI was the way that they had to get rid of bodies, according to Wilfred Owen in Dulce Et Decorum Est, they were throwing bodies in a cart to be taken away after the soldiers had reached their fate. I could not find a picture of this on Wikipedia commons however. "If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in," it is also said that soldiers would bury their fallen comrades where they fell in shallow graves. This…

In English this translates to "It is sweet and honorable to die for your country." Wilfred Owen refers to this phrase as "the old lie". I believe he uses this phrase because soldiers had no idea what they were in for during their time in the Great War. No war had been fought in the same way that WWI had been fought, before WWI wars were fought with both sides standing in lines opposite each other firing muskets while holding the line. WWI truly changed the way that war was fought. This picture is a propaganda piece encouraging young men to take up in arms to fight in the war and their…

It is said that soldiers marched upwards of 25 miles a day while in WWI. I can tell you confidently that I would not be able to do this every day  for who knows how long. "Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;Drunk with fatigue" writes Wilfred Owen in Dulce Et Decorum Est. This line in the poem shows just how exhausted and delusional these men were when marching long treks throughout the day. The line "Men marched asleep" particularly stands out to me because in order for a man to be tired enough to march when he's exhausted…