Sleep Spent

This morning at 05:45, I am leaving with almost all the Cal Poly crew (31 of 32 of us) to go to Prague. I’m pretty darn excited; I know very little about Eastern Europe, and I figure there’s no better way to learn than to go there!

I’ll try to keep you all appraised of the happenings there; we’ll see about Internet usage. And, of course, I’m taking my camera.

Our humanities professor, John Makey, took us to the National Army Museum today. We spent the entire time there in a presentation given by a military historian, and it was absolutely fascinating. He gave a much more real view of what was actually running through the minds of the soldiers in WWI than I got from surveying the numerous artifacts and plaques at the Imperial War Museum.

I was tremendously moved by the IWM, but it was really interesting to see just the numbers there (60,000 casualties [20K dead, 40K wounded] in one day at the Battle of Verdun) and then listen to Andrew explain that, actually, the soldiers of the time were extremely well looked-after, health-wise. Apparently, the legacy of the Industrial Revolution in Britain was legions of malnourished children. Joining the army wasn’t just something you did for God and Country (although that was certainly true of the upper and middle classes). It was something you did to get access to three square meals a day, your own clothes and working conditions that often didn’t stray too far from what you would have been doing anyway. (Except the whole people-trying-to-kill-you bit.)

The de-romanticization (if I may be allowed to coin a term) of World War I mostly happened after the fact. It occurred in the 1930s, when it became clear that the continent was headed for a sequel. More importantly, it was carried out by sensitive middle-class artists. The sort of people who aren’t used to seeing people killed in front of them (whether by shrapnel or by being crushed in a mining accident). These were people who were waaaay outside of their comfort zone, and the literature and poetry reflect that. That’s not to say that the art isn’t valid, just that many others were more of the mindset that they should “just get on with it” and go home.

As I said, the talk was fascinating. The most incredible part was his explanation that only 10% of the men on active duty were serving in the trenches at any given time. Not only that, but a rotation happened every 8 days. The rest of the soldiers were either on leave or were put to work supplying those in the trenches. When all you hear about is massive casualties sustained while “going over the top,” it can be pretty startling to realize that that sort of thing only happened a few times a year. The rest of the time, the soldiers were in a routine.

Oh, and then there was the general who said that mustard gas was the most humane weapon ever devised. It temporarily blinded soldiers so they had to be put on leave, but it almost never killed anyone.

Yep, this was a presentation that challenged all the assumptions and conceptions I had about WWI. I just love it when that happens.