The horrors of war traumatized soldiers, leaving them lost and without a place to return to. By the end of the war, “a sense of disillusionment settled over the survivors. The insecurity and despair that many people experienced are reflected in the art and literature of the time” (Beck 422). Soldiers felt traumatized by the events of the war and were shocked by how much their expectations differed from reality. Instead of the expected glorious battle, soldiers experienced the horrors of warfare and battled through despair and disillusionment. As said above, this pain was reflected in the art at the time, as is seen in the painting “Gassed,” by Sargent John Singer. Wounded soldiers are shown wearing a blindfold after a gas attack and are lined …show more content…
By the end of the war, “countries felt cheated and betrayed by the peace settlements…” (Beck 427). Many nations felt that they did not receive what they had deserved, and felt as though they were cheated out of a promise. They were unable to secure the power they were promised by fighting in the war and were worried that they had sacrificed lives for nothing. This flawed peace settlement resulted in the severing of “all the common bonds between the contending peoples,” and left the world in a “legacy of embitterment” (Freud). The peace settlements disconnected friendly relations between many countries, a result of the betrayal felt by each nation after the war’s resolution. Similar to their soldiers, countries were also forever changed by the war, and they would leave with a general feeling of embitterment that could only be healed by time. Like the soldiers, many nations were devastated and were forced to rebuild, causing some governments to even fell apart from public demand for reforms (Barron, “Last years and End of the War”). The public was angry that their country had thrown them to war as if they were dispensable, and people began to fight for change within their governments. In the end, there was a general feeling of resentment among the nations in the war, making many powerful nations hostile to one