Summary: How Were Soldiers Affected Mentally By Trench Warfare

How Were Soldiers Affected Mentally by Trench Warfare? Although there were many casualties in World War I due to physical injuries and deaths, can we also consider the mental effects on the soldiers as casualties as well? During World War I it was very violent. One of the most common ways of fighting was trench warfare. Trench warfare is when the two countries dig up trenches and attack the other country. There would be an attack side and a defending side, the soldiers would have to defend their trench or else it would get taken over by the attacking side. There is a middle ground called “no man’s land” which is made up of barbed wire and other traps. In the trenches it would not be very clean, this caused many soldiers to get many sorts

There many of the soldiers would get sick with different types of diseases especially trench foot. It is when your feet are in a damped area for long periods of time."The living conditions within the trenches were harsh, with little protection from the elements and an abundance of disease and infection" (Amaker). In this quote by Tyler Amaker it states that the soldiers would have very little protection in their living environments. This would affect their mental health because they are in an unsanitary living environment. When soldiers would be living in the trenches they were constantly surrounded by people being killed. What they see on the battlefield might have traumatized them forever."Gas attacks were particularly feared by soldiers, as they could cause blindness, suffocation, and other horrific injuries" (Amaker). This quote from Amaker states that what they have seen on the battlefield would scar them forever. They had gotten accustomed to this because they had to see this every single day in the war. This is one of the examples of what the soldiers would have to go through everyday. This could have affected their mental health because they were constantly getting attacked and they would get accustomed to this and change their perspective on what is

They would wake up and would not know if it was going to be their last day alive. A common fear that soldiers had was death. Being dead was the worst possible thing that could have happened to them in the war. Death was something that they were uncertain of and it could have happened anytime. The soldiers fighting would have to always be cautious of what they are doing so that the risk of death would be lower. “In 1914, many soldiers thought the war would be over in a few months. As it dragged on, they found it increasingly difficult to cope with the constant strain and danger of life on the front lines” (Watson 9). This quote tells us about how the soldiers had a constant strain when they were on the front lines. It also tells us that they were not ready for the war to be this long. It became harder and more stressful for the soldiers as the time went on because they only thought the war was going to be for a couple of months. Many of the soldiers wanted to come back alive from the war because they thought it was not going to be long but it kept on getting worse and worse. This shows that when there is a prolonged conflict it can be more stressful for the soldiers to deal with. Soldiers also lived with fear after the war. Examples of this would be shell shock known as “post traumatic stress disorder” or PTSD. Many of the soldiers that survived the war would have shell shock. This was the first time that we had seen