British Soldiers Perspective on World War one "no Works Cited"

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British Soldiers Perspective on World War One " No Works Cited"

Sources A,B and C portray a particular view of the attitudes of

British Soldiers to their commanders during World War One.

A) Source A holds a negative perspective stating that soldiers

disliked their commanders because they never showed up at the

frontline of any of the battles. The source is a cartoon taken from

the British magazine Punch. The negative view shown is mostly the view

held by the cartoonist and so may not represent the view of the

British Public. The negative view point can be reinforced by 'Hot

blood and cold steel' by andrew simpson it says "Good and you were

with me on the somme?" to which the men replied " we didnt see you

there sir!" this proves that most of the British soldiers shared the

same view point that commanders were not liked amongst the men as they

were always willing to send men into batle but they were never willing

to lead them into one which makes them seem cowardly. However this

point can be contridicted because in 'Officers and Men' it says ' He

was sorry to hear he was gone, as he was a fine chap and a jolly good

officer'. This quotation shows that some officers did join in battles

and were respected and liked by their soldiers. Also source A tends to

be very general and doesnt show the differences between staff officers

and fighting officers. Many men respected their officers which fought

with them but hated the staff officers who didnt fight. In Diary of a

Battalion runner it states that some staff officers such as Jackson

who was relieved of duty "refusing to commit his battalion to an

action which he saw as ill concerned" This shows source A is not as

useful as first thought. Although it is useful to see the view held by

some people the cartoon can only show one of the view points. The

cartoonist did not have a first hand experience of World War one and

so will only be drawing from ideas. At the time officers were thought

of very highly amongst the Public and so obviously the view shown in

the source isnt a fair representation of the events in peoples minds.

Overall I dont think Source A is very reliable or useful because it

only shows one mans opinion and doesnt show what the public thought.

B) Source B holds a similar view to that hown in source A. The source

has been taken as an extract from the television programme Blackadder,

it says 'General "Insanity" Melchit invites you to a mass slaughter'

this means the source holds a negative view point that staff officers

who were often not in battle were not liked or respected amongst

soldiers who fought in the War. However the television series

Blackadder is known as a comedy and so any points made during the

programme could have been written with the intention of humour. If

this is the case then the source could be slightly un reliable because

the statements will have been twisted and exagerated to make them as

funny as possible. However the points used in the programme must hold

some element of truth in order to be relevant to the episode. It says

in 'The front line soldier and the Staff' - " to some soldiers the

commander-in-cheif was so renound a figure hat they failed to

recognise him even when they encountered him in person..." This source

just quoted shares the view with Source B that officers werent

respected if they werent willing to turn up and fight with the

soldiers. Source B should be very accurate as it has the advantage of

other resources and hindsight, however this source may also only show

the view point of the producers of the programme and not the view of

the Public. Although some characters such as Captain Darling are

portrayed as being a bit of an idiot other officers such as Captain

Blackadder are shown as 'good' characters which could mean the

programme doesnot contain to much bias although a little may be

present. The source can be considered quite useful because the

programme recognises the difference between Fighting Officers and

Staff Officers, Captain Blackadder is shown going into battle with his

men, this means that in the programmes perspective some officers did

fight in the war. However due to the many clashes of opinion within

the source it cant be reliable the most likely thing is that the facts

have been twisted in order to create a comedy.

C) Source C is taken from a speech made