The Taliban: 21st Century Fascists?

When I sit in history class learning about fascism and also hear about the tumultuous and violent events caused by the Taliban, I tie the two together instantly and firmly. The Taliban are a modern replication of a fascist organization, only with a different name. They clearly exhibit traits that parallel with those of a fascist institution. Here is why.

Fascist regimes notoriously target something (or a couple things) to blame for the world's problems. They use this scapegoat as a way to motivate people and move them in the direction of unity. For instance, Hitler framed Jews as "parasites" and blamed them for Germany's problems. The Taliban essentially use the same tactic, only with westernization and women. American intervention has proved to be unorthodox and frowned upon according to Taliban culture. Also, the Taliban do not let women participate in occupations that men can, a form of sexist punishment.

This suppression of women and western influence introduces another strong similarity between Taliban and fascism. The Taliban discreetly use secret "police forces" to punish people who do not abide by Taliban rule, a characteristic that matches that of fascism. After viewing the documentary in class about Taliban occupation in Pakistan, I gained understanding on how the Taliban would secretly murder their opposers and then display their bloodied corpses on the side of the street for the common people to watch, learn, obey, and fear.

Military expansion is another fascist trait that the Taliban have shown during their entrance into Pakistan. After seeking involvement in Afghanistan, they expanded to the valleys of Pakistan and provoked more violence in those regions (making it a military expansion). The Taliban's primary goal is to spread their influence - what better way than geographically expanding? Fascist Germany expanded its forces into Poland and France during Hitler's reign to execute their prejudice against Jews and spread the political ideas of their regime. Are not the Taliban doing the exact same thing? They are expanding to spread their ideas in a military fashion, making them a modern example of a fascist organization.

Booted

This image was taken depicts a boot kicking a boat. The black boot, portraying the symbol of fascism, appears strong and dangerous; there are even studs at on the sole. In contrast, the ship , carrying what appear to be British flags, seems weak and flimsy. It seems broken and worn down. The mast is snapped in half, and the flags are all torn. Where the boot is being torn almost looks like soft, moldable rubber. The fascist boot is strong and powerful, while the British boat is weak and damageable. Ritirate Strategiche means hasty retreat. This fascist poster is showing that, if the fascists attack the British ships, the Brits will retreat quickly. The size of the boot is almost the size of the entire boat. A simple black boot (with the fascist symbol) is nearly as big as a (British) ship. Would I want to support the Fascists based on this poster? Probably yes.

Image Analysis

This picture portrays Adolf Hitler in battle, and is encouraging people to vote for him.  The bottom of the poster says "Vote Adolf Hitler!" in big bold letters. The top says "A Front Soldier" also in big letters. The text in the middle says thing about why front soldiers always earn German citizenship.  The fact that these words are in big letters really draws your attention to the fact that Adolf Hitler was a Front Soldier, and that this is the best thing you could be.

The picture also glorifies war. The sky where the battle is taking place is bright and pink, a very light-hearted color, and this makes it seem inviting. In the picture, you want to be up ahead, where the battle is taking place. The bombs and explosions are drawn very artistically and not very big, so it makes it seem like the bad sides of war, like getting blown up, are not very bad at all. Since the rest of the picture is in black and white, my eye was drawn immediately to the battle, and then to the man, Hitler, and then to the words promoting Hitler. I think this is exactly how the makers of this poster intended it.

German Propoganda

This picture portrays the Allied forces and the "Liberators" as complete savages and killers. This is a German propaganda poster to make the allied forces look like cold-blooded murderers. The title itself makes the word "LIBERATORS" seem like a negative thing because it is in the color of blood and is the title of a monster attacking a defenseless town. The German who made this propaganda poster definitely included the strong predujice beliefs and stereotypes to decieve the civilians at that time. First of all, the monster's head is representing the KKK club because it says "KU-KLUX-K..." on its neck. It has that to show Americans as racist heathens since the KKK club was around at that time. They wanted to protray all Americans like that even though it was definitely no true. In the monster's left hand, there's a money bag with a man clinging onto it, which supports the stereotype of Jewish people being "money grabbers". They are obviously hypocritical because they are accusing Americans of being racist, when on the same poster they are mocking people of the Jewish faith. On the monster's shoulders, there are two girls, one holding an American Flag, representing the monster as an American, and the other one blowing into a trumpet with Indian feathers on her head. They are trying to say that the present Americans are invaders and took over the country when the American Indians were there first. It makes Americans seem as invaders and as people who usurp any land that they feel like taking. Its left foot is a nuclear missile with blood splatted on it to show American's cruelness towards innocent civilians. Behind it there is blood-colored smoke showing people constantly being slaughtered by American bombs. Also, on its right arm, there is a noose hanging, which represents constant death by Americans and their violence. On one of the monster's other arms, there is a striped cloth as its sleeve, which implies that there are more criminals and crimes committed in America, therefore, making it an unorderly country. That arm also has a handcuff connected to it with a gun in its hand showing that the American soldiers are all criminals who have been released and given guns to kill mercilessly. All of these details put together show the propoganda that the Germans constantly attempt to use to brainwash its people to join the war to fight against these so-called "monsters".

Nazi Propaganda

This picture represents a truck full of people trying to advertise their views traveling through a city. The big message on their truck translates to "We don't admit any sabotage of the constructive work of Hitler." The picture was taken in 1935. The propaganda is actually in this case on the truck itself. People put this message on their truck to deny working against Hitler. This message promotes working for and with Hitler and the Nazi movement. The picture on the truck looks to show diversity in people, especially in terms of religion. I'm not quite sure as to the reason this is displayed on the truck, but it could be to give examples of what people should be persecuted. Although I am not sure about what the particular stereotypes of different religions were at the time, the picture on the truck is most likely displaying the stereotypical examples of people in different religions. This is an example of not only the propaganda posters during this time, but also the other ways people advertised their beliefs.

Propaganda

This bit of propaganda is from the Nazi Party made in 1932. The caption reads "Enough! Vote Hitler!" It is not only a strong drawing, but also a strong, clear message. The simplicity of the entire piece is very striking and I think it sends a stronger message than it would have if it had been more complex. The man in the drawing is breaking free from chains with his hands held high. The background of the picture emphasizes his hands and his broken shackels. There is almost an aura of light around him. The white background is centered around his head and arms, highlighting his newfound freedom coming from voting for Hitler. He is drawn as a tall and strong man and is meant to show that the strongest and manliest men free themselves and vote for Hitler. It also may be promoting Germans in general, by depicting them as strong, tall, newly freed and virile. The message in the caption is clear even without the image. Germans should no longer lie down to those who oppress them, but they should stand up and fight against it. The name Hitler takes up a good 25% of the poster and it's bold, blocky letters dominate the image. The man is wearing a belt buckle with the Nazi symbol, emphasizing the man's devotion to the Nazi party.

German Propaganda

This piece of propaganda, though perhaps not a poster, was just as effective to the German people because it was a stamp. In some of the propaganda that I've seen from Germany, there seems to be a reappearing theme of the hatred of Great Britain. After translating the German on the bottom (with help from google translate) I learned that it says, "We go against England." Using this, i can only assume that the picture is of the King of England lost at Sea. The King, though supported by a life raft, seems to either be wearing chain mail or he is dressed to look like he has fish scales. He is also wearing a viking hat, perhaps to suggest that he is like a viking and semi barbarian like. The fish seem like they are laughing at him, maybe to suggest that even fish are better than the King of England?

Paul Joseph Goebbels Propaganda

This is a German "total war" propaganda poster. Paul Joseph Goebbels was appointed by Adolf Hitler to lead the war propaganda movement in Germany during World War II.

The big drawing of the man shows him rolling up his sleeve. The man is getting down to business and is about to do some tough work. He's determined and seems committed to the task ahead of him.

The propaganda poster is small so it's hard to see details, but on the bottom some men are striding purposefully. They are dressed plainly and simply, just like the man on top, to portray an earnest working man. The poster is appealing to the German people by insinuating that they should go to the war cause and be like these good, hard-working men.

Germany's Liberation

This piece of Nazi propaganda is very effective because it conveys that their form of government will propel them forward to a better life. In this image, Germany is represented as an eagle, a ferocious bird of prey, which implies that the people of Germany are powerful and deserving of respect. The eagle is flying away from broken chains that held it captive, bringing to mind the post-World War I misery of the German nation. But seeing an unshackled Germany provides hope that people can be freed from their current situation. "But how?" one might ask. The eagle is flying from the dark, monochromatic, gloomy imprisonment behind it towards a bright, radiant sun, emblazoned with the hopeful swastika. The Nazi party here is pictured as the hope that Germany needs, but really, it's the hope the Germany wants, the motivation that compels it to break the bonds of current society. With wings nobly outstretched, flying boldly towards the Nazi horizon, it seems as though the Nazi party is really what the people should want. Finally, the caption, "Germany's Liberation" makes it clear that people are intended to believe that the Nazi party will solve all of their problems, and all people have to do is flock towards it.

Image Analysis

I was unable to find any images in the databases, however the image I found appears to be from a reliable source, as it is from an online gallery from the University of Wisconsin, and contains several of the images we looked at yesterday in class.The image is s spread celebrating the successful conquest of the capital of Ethiopia by Italy. All of the small dots in the center of the image are soldiers, with guns and tanks, looking very victorious. Together with the other parts of the image, the war theme is very celebrated, and fascist ideals are evident in the image. The door, which looks very heavy, possibly to symbolize the difficulties Italy has undergone in the aftermath of WWI, is being opened by an angel. The angel not only softens the picture, making the guns and violence suggested by the background less noticeable, but also serves to make the fight seem more noble, as if Italy is so rightful and their intent so pure that even the angels come down to Earth to aid them in their cause. In the background is a Greek or Roman temple (most likely Roman, as this IS Italy). Going back to the glory days... way back, that is. The Ro man Empire was so widespread and successful that anything Roman is automatically associated with glory, especially if you are living amongst the remains of their society, so the Temple in the top of the image serves to further justify the war. Upon close inspection, the soldiers lookr ather violent and modern, but because the human eye is naturally attracted to white your attention is drawn mainly to the angel and the temple, stressing goodness and success rather than simply violence.

Italian Fascist Propaganda

This propaganda poster from 1931 is trying to get the Italian youth to join the movement. Gioventv Fascista means young fascists. During this time, the government put a serious effort to appeal to the younger generations. I think this might be because it is easier to convince kids than adults since they are more naive. They promised big things to the kids that if they joined the movement. This particular poster literally says: Fascism does not promise honor or gains but duty and combat. Fascism emphasized war and expansion through millitaristic means. The picture shows a young drummer who probably is part of the army, and he is shown as a strong man. The government is telling kids that they too can be strong like this man if they join the fascist movement.

Hitler Youth

My picture is not true propoganda, but I believe that it serves the same purpose as many propoganda posters. This image displays two lines of young men, probably around our age. They are all holding torches and wearing matching uniforms as they stand in front of a large Nazi flag. Because of the lighting and the torches, all of their faces are partially hidden, and this creates an ominous mood in the picture. The boys, although they are still young, look frightening and formidable, as if they could hurt or kill as a mob without a second thought. This picture is definitely meant to promote Germany's Hitler Youth program, which was mandatory for even primary school students. This program was created to raise Germany's children with fascist ideals and force them to serve in the army. The image perfectly conveys this odd sense of power belonging to those who shouldn't have it: the children. Because of the straight lines they are standing in and the matching clothes and torches, they look more like one united force than individuals. This picture would probably have intimidating anyone fighting against Germany at the time, because seeing mere children armed and ready for battle is just about as unnerving as it can get.

Analyzing "Green Shirts"

This picture portrays a group of men from a fascist group in Brazil. The man are seen raising their arms in salute while attempting to start a coup and overthrow the current government in Brazil. This picture exemplifies many things that Fascist movements encourage. first off, it shows the majority saluting one man, who seems to be the leader of the movement. Secondly, it shows obedience from the majority, which is essential to Fascism's success.

Killing the Dragon

An effective and common element in propaganda is the glorification of the desired party and the demeaning of their opposition. This poster is particularly strong in this, portraying the Nazis as proud, virtuous soldiers. In this poster, the "enemy" is represented by the snake, commonly thought of as a corrupter (who caused Eve to fall from the Garden of Eden). This beast has many heads, each of which takes on the role of a different party. One head is capped with a red hat, perhaps representative of the Marxists. The second has a star, for the soviets. On the body of the snake itself there is a Star of David for the Jews, as well as "KPD" and "SPD" for two groups within Germany that were against fascist ideals. This "evil" snake is being stabbed by a pure and holy white figure, whose heart and spur are covered with the cross, and whose sword is topped by half of a swastika. This noble knight (St. George, killer of dragons) rests his hand protectively on the shoulder of a Nazi flag-bearer. In the distance, a series of civilian homes sit peacefully on a ridge. The message is obvious: Our righteous defenders push back the ignoble enemy (Jews and Marxists), saving the civilian city from an unspeakable attack. Religious veins are evident and prove that God knows the Nazi fascists and is on their side. It is a play of good defeating evil, and there is no doubt of whose side you are meant to be on in the end.

Dadaism and Me

Dadaism was a very interesting and odd phenomenon that was started in Switzerland. What is so surprising about this is that it was started in Switzerland, a country that remained neutral despite the surroundings going on around it. Dadaists were known for their arts, visual and musical, including poetry. A Dadaist poem can be made from a newspaper article. My Dadaist poem follows.

Guard instead said of Pistons,
That know facetiously in It
Jackson helped times get rebounds
The and ligament that walk
Instead Rodman in played total
Be All-Star the that row

A Dadaist requires little to no work to create whereas other poetry requires long hours of work at times. Other than the last line, my poem made no sense because I row, and it would be nice to be an all star rower, if there is such a thing. Hopefully this is a prediction of the future.

The word dada is French for hobby horse. Dadaism is rather playful like a hobbyhorse as there are not strict rules and regulations. It seems a lot more lighthearted. They say it is a coincidence that it happened during World War I probably because the Swiss weren’t involved in the great war. However there are connections between Dadaism and the great war. Dadaism is the opposite of the kind of things that were going on during the war. The war was very serious, and tough for everyone involved with it. However Dadaism was almost like a joke. The reason it has a connection is because the Swiss were not involved with the war so it was only fitting that it was started in France. The Swiss had a lot more freedom, time, and morale, whereas the other countries were beat up from the war. However, Robby brings up an interesting point in his post. Dadaism has its own kind of destruction, that of words. In the war there was destruction of people and places, and objects, but in Dadaism there was a destruction of the conventional way to do poetry, writing, and art.

PTSD and WW1!

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after an exposure to any event which results into psychological trauma. This effect comes from the threat of death to one's self or to someone in relation to them. PTSD and WW1 connect because of the new war humanity saw during that time. Because of how advance war has become and the loud booming that shook the Earth changed the way people thought of the war. It showed the war with a new face with a new style of battle such as trenches. It put the fear of death in soldiers causing shell shock. To see a fellow partner in war go "Up and over" would most definitely cause PTSD. Because the nature of war had advanced it caused the mind to ultimately be scared into shell shock.

PTSD and you!

When learning about PTSD and its affect on our soldier it opened up my eyes to what other side effects war has on peoples lives. We see the war as something horrific for our soldiers and we think that it's amazing when someone makes it back from places like Iraq. But when you look at it the war doesn't stop for soldiers coming back.. It's a battle on and off the field some would say. PTSD has showed people the side affects of war and ultimately if you do even come back from the war, your fight with your mental state is your next mission. Not only is PTSD a problem for soldiers but a problem for the people around them. They put them and the people around them in danger as we've seen from the documentaries that were shown in class. The scariest part of looking at PTSD is the worry of one recovering from something so severe. Ultimately the fear of death that was put into the eyes our soldiers will ultimately cause problems for society. Bring the rise of drinking problems and drug problems that will put people in danger.

Ultimately the war doesn't only commence bloodshed but it affects the brain of those that were involved in war and have survived. Making it impossible for people to rub away the stain that war brings into their lives

My Dadaist Poem

The idea of Dadaism is cool but weird at the same time. I decided to try it out for myself! I made a Dadaist poem from a random article in a magazine, using these very simple instructions:

TO MAKE A DADAIST POEM:
Take some newspaper.
Take some scissors.
Choose from this paper an article of the length you want to make you poem.
Cut out the article.
Next carefully cut out each of the words that makes up this article and put them all in a bag.
Shake Gently.
Next take out each cutting one after the other.
Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag.
The poem will resemble you.
And there you are – an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.

My Dadaist Poem

Can simple self you sacrifice?
In true hair beauty ponytail prom story,
Easy, able, formal should show looks who worry.
That sweep off brilliant makeup,

Have content, says superpretty.
Polished of this wear be you overdone accessories,
Though made meltdown accoutrements whose ton is too featured,
Dance won’t feel getting your girl.

Yet headband you prom,
Gossip even if prom makeup created.
And if you’re a heart’s according,
May normally style affair you.

And remember sort are regularly mid seconds,
To prom designer look don’t a crystal but about a hairstyle.
As if your doesn’t have,
You the hair, says your face.

Personal don’t artist girl and aren’t,
On was 30 mean your on for to of you’ll be a.

I expected this all to be gibberish, but it actually makes some sort of sense. Some lines you might even call poetic! “If you’re a heart’s according,” or “Look don’t a crystal but about a hairstyle.” There’s even some alliteration: “Simple self you sacrifice.” Weird!
Does this poem resemble me? Maybe. It’s definitely girly. But then again, the article I picked (randomly) was from Teen Vogue about how to get ready before prom, so I guess that was to be expected. I added punctuation in certain places and broke it up into lines and stanzas so it would be easier to read, but other than that I didn’t cheat! This was exactly how I pulled the words out of the bag! The last line is sort of gibberish, because I think the shorter words fell to the bottom of the bag.
I don’t know if a true Dadaist would analyze their poem, but I’m not going to try and discover the deeper meaning from it. But I can see how a Dadaist could call this art, and then not feel any attachment to it. Seeing the final result after having fun creating the poem is interesting, but not very entertaining for too long. It’s not like I slaved over making this poem for hours, trying to find the perfect rhyme scheme and rhythm. It’s kind of refreshing to make a poem that is completely effortless and meaningless at first glance. I guess it’s the Dadaist philosophy to be able to appreciate a completely random assortment of words. It’s fun! I recommend making your own Dadaist poem!

Dada - Sound Poems

In class, we briefly studied the absurdity of dada works, but I was really interested in dada works of the time and what they told us about the vanguards of the movement and, more generally, the spirit of the time. Dada "happened" to coincide with World War I, and after looking at some of the prominent sound poems at the time, it's become more clear why.

One of Dada poetry was the sound poem. These poems were not composed or ordinary words chained together to form an instantly cohesive idea. Rather, common words are cast aside, and sound poets instead use phonetic sounds to convey the poem's meaning through the syntax of these invented words and their natural flow. These poems were mainly intended to be performed during live readings, not written word. Kurt Schwitters, a leader of the movement, stated about dada poetry, "The reader himself has to work seriously to become a genuine reader. Thus, it is work rather than questions or mindless criticism which will improve the reader's receptive capacities." Below are audio recordings of these sound poems so that you can judge for yourself whether these poems are utter trash or a transcendent, revolutionary form of literature.

Hugo Ball
Karawane

Kurt Schwitters
Ursonate

Raoul Hausmann
fmsbw

From a certain perspective, these poems are indulgent works by pretentious writers of the time, but if you can accept them for what they are, they can become a somewhat compelling form of literature. These poems really force you to pay attention to the phonetics of poetry, and the performance becomes similar to acting in that it requires precise voice inflections that can determine the tone, and to an extent, the "meaning" of the piece. When you listen to the poems being performed, it is possible to envision, at least partially, what their creators intended to convey.

When you look at sound poems and Dada in the frame of a timeline, there's a viable relationship between Dada and the Great War. This was the most horrifying war that had ever been seen, both in size - Europe was completely divided and America with other countries were also participants - and magnitude - trenches, gassing, PTSD, mass land destruction, total war. Whether the connection is direct or indirect, it is undeniable that the events and aftermath of World War I mirror the development of Dada. Dada is basically the destruction of words and clear thought. Words and sounds are fragmented and replaced together frantically. Poems do not immediately make sense. After this terrible of a war, should anything make sense? After death in the masses, this seems to be a natural way to react. The effects of the war's destruction can be seen in the deconstruction of language that sprung from the dada movement's sound poems.

Surrealism - Automatic Writing

As Andre Breton states in his Surrealist Manifesto, Surrealism is "pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation." In other words, surrealism is the expression of the subconscious, so much so that everyday thought and reason is not able to tamper with it.

The surrealists had a certain number of exercises that helped aspiring surrealists bring forward the "real functioning of thought." These includes cutting up phrases and words from newspapers and rearranging them into new patterns. They would also write detailed instructions of how to do something that doesn't commonly need instructions. An example of this would be "How to Operate the Human Heart." Of course, exquisite corpse, the most well-known, involves multiple people. Commonly, everyone starts with a piece of paper and writes an article and an adjective. Then the paper is passed to one side. Without looking at the previous article and adjective, write a noun, then pass it again. The exercise continues in this manner with a verb, and article + adjective, and finally another noun. Although no one sees the previous words, there is supposed to be a strange correlation between the words, and the sentence formed may become inspiration for a story idea.

I tried to do an activity called automatic writing. Essentially, it involves writing down whatever ideas come to your mind as soon as they arrive without censoring anything for three minutes. The point is to maintain a constant flow from your subconscious so that nothing can be affected by your conscious mind. Then, I cut out stray words (haha, they're all stray words), broke up lines, and ended up with a very strange poem. Really, it was weird. I don't remember what I was thinking, and I feel like I was choosing words because they were words and they happened to be in my mind, not because of their meaning. Any semi-coherent pieces of thought continued for a short time and then jumped to something else completely unrelated. Maybe I was tired and a little delirious, but maybe it was my actual functioning of thought. That might be a bit disturbing.

Fruitless champagne bottles

Fragments cantering stringently

Sally Ride tiled floor

Pools of its cream

Against the whale knife

Wailing

More than kissing children

At Saturday church

Abandoned to sand, sleet

Minestrone packets into the latches

Silicone and sized

There is none

There is clamor

Reflection on PTSD

In my family I have a connection with PTSD because my grandfather fought, and four of my great uncles fought. One of my uncles actually I thought might have had PTSD because whenever anyone one mentioned war to him he would distance himself from the conversation. I heard about one of his experiences in the war which was when he was serving there was a battle and teenager was fighting and he shot my uncle and my great uncle had to shoot him even though he was a minor, and because he was in the war. My great uncle was then discharged because he got shot, and he was sent home with a purple heart, but many of his family members realized that he had changed because he was more closed of from most people and he never wanted to talk about his experiences in the war and with the teenager. So what I read about post-traumatic stress disorder it would point to him having PTSD because he really was changed by that and he never really was the same. When I was researching I saw some stories that reminded me of my great uncles story, like the story of when guys that came back from the war In Iraq seemed distant to their friends and family and they developed alcohol addiction and drug addiction the alcohol addiction and drug addiction did not really had to do with my great uncles story, but the distant from family and friends is almost exactly like my great uncles experience. That experience with the teenager really must have traumatized him because the thought of having to put someone down that young is something I cannot even imagine doing. That would terrorize someone inside forever because that is something that cannot be undone, it will remain in you forever. That is something you would do all the time in the War, that is why I believe all of the the people who have had experience with fighting and killing the war, if they are returned home they are changed they know inside what they have done and that is what causes them to have alcohol addiction and drug addiction it causes them to sometimes even to commit suicide so they can maybe repent for what they have done in the War, that is the true face of PTSD it makes men women go crazy, it destroys them inside.

Links to articles and multimedia sources on the history, symptoms, and treatment of PTSD:

• "The Soldier's Heart" PBS Frontline Report, Mar. 1, 2005
• "War Torn" A New York Times Topics Series on Veterans and Mental Health
• "The Last Tour: a Decorated Marine's War Within," William Finnegan, The New Yorker: Reporter at Large, Sept. 29, 2008
• "Service," photo portfolio by Platon, The New Yorker, Sept. 29, 2008
• "Virtual Iraq: Using Simulation to Treat a New Generation of Traumatized Veterans," Sue Halpern, The New Yorker: Annals of Psychology, May 19, 2008
• "Casualties: Ford Hood," Rollo Romig, The New Yorker: News Desk, Nov. 6, 2009
• "The Price of Valor," Dan Baum, The New Yorker: Reporter at Large, July 12, 2004
• "When Soldiers Snap," Erica Goode, New York Times, Nov. 7, 2009
• "PTSD and the Purple Heart," New York Times editorial, Jan. 11, 2009
• "Troubled Minds and Purple Hearts," Tyler E. Boudreau, New York Times, Jan. 25, 2009
• "Purple Hearts," a New York Times slideshow, Aug. 22, 2007
• "Words Unspoken are Rendered on War's Faces," Holland Cotter, New York Times, Aug. 22, 2007
• "My Grandmother's War Stories," Andrea Ventura, a New York Times slideshow
• "Women at Arms," a New York Times video, Oct. 31 2009
• "Proposal to Ease Aid for G.I.'s With Stress Disorder," James Dao, New York Times, Aug. 25, 2009
• "Counting the Walking Wounded," Lawrence M. Wein, New York TImes, Jan. 25, 2009.
• "A Focus on Violence by Returning G.I.'s," Lizette Alvarez and Dan Frosch, New York Times, Jan. 1, 2009
• "Families of Military Suicides Seek White House Condolences," James Dao, New York Times, Nov. 25, 2009
• "Violence at Home," a New York Times slideshow, Feb. 15, 2008
• "When Strains on Military Families Turn Deadly," Lizette Alvarez and Deborah Sontag, New York Times, Feb. 15, 2008
• "About Us," VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Reflection on PTSD

In my opinion, there should be more research about PTSD being done just like they do for any other disease like cancer or AIDS. PTSD affects nearly 50 percent of war veterans, and I think there should be more haste in trying to look for a cure for PTSD. After the soldiers return from battle, they would have experienced very traumatic events and these kind of events would haunt them for a long time, and it would cause them to do some strange things like Gast in the NY times video. PTSD can cause the deaths of not only veterans but also the victims of their uncontrollable actions after returning homes. It is a much bigger problem than is publicized probably because the armywants more people to join it so they do not discuss the after effects of going to war. 50 percent is a lot of people. That statistic stood out to me. Before I really didn't know much about how grave a problem PTSD is for our war veterans who should be commended for their bravery for fighting to protect our country. In fact, the job of a soldier is not romanticized as much as it used to either. Probably because of the mixed opinions of the war on terror. Before soldiers were considered to be very heroic, and while many still do consider their job heroic, a lot of people believe that this war is unnecessary and hence, they don't not only care as much they lose pride in this country. I believe the war is unnecessary but that doesn't make a soldiers job any easier. They still have to go across the pond to a strange country and kill tons of people, including some innocent civilians as well. When they see some of their comrades get killed while they themselves are near the jaws of death, strange things can happen to their minds even after they come back. The millitary should set up some sort of rehabilitation program if they don't already have one, for vetarans to recover from PTSD. In my opinion, if the military puts a better attempt to stop this problem, I believe that they could in the near future to maybe not cure, but drastically decrease the symptoms and save quite a few lives along the way.

Reflecting on PTSD

Today in class we looked in depth on the causes, symptoms, and affects of PTSD. I browsed through many videos and pictures of soldiers suffering with PTSD. I read stories of soldiers coming home and killing their loved ones, or developing drug problems; each story seemed to end with the death. though all of the stories were somber the one on Sgt. Jacob Blaylock was especially dark. The short clip begins with a video entry from Blaylock days after he witnessed the death of two of his friends. It shows him as a troubled young man, with obvious symptoms of PTSD. It then goes on to tell the story of his eventual suicide, with interviews from his girlfriend at the time and more video entries from Blaylock there to provide the viewer with a picture of just how dark his situation was. the reason that this video struck me more than any of the others was because the video diary of Jacob showed me exactly how frightening PTSD is and mostly made it obvious to me why people with shell shock seek drugs and alcohol. The genuine fear in Blaylock's voice definitely showed me how horrible PTSD can be.

PTSD - The Harsh Realities of War

All this nationalism talk has stirred up a little patriotism in me! We learned about how Europe’s superior technology and burgeoning nationalism helped create many new country’s. Nationalism was universally agreed upon by the class, as seen in our World War I projects, to have played a role in starting the Great War. Even though the horrors of the war were apparent afterward, at the time, the people of the involved European countries were supportive of their soldiers. But all the talk on the grisly nature of World War I did little to my now gung-ho attitude toward war.

I think that being a teenage guy pumped up with testosterone and other hormones and my false sense of war being a camaraderie filled and noble experience contributed to my being pro-war. In the back of my mind I always knew about war’s many darker sides. But for some reason my image of the bond that war veterans share after their shared experiences overrode my logical side. Camaraderie and friendships mean a lot to me and they blinded me to the death and destruction in war.

I also think that the might of America’s military wouldn’t allow such cases of PTSD to occur. Sure, more militarily inferior countries would have to deal with the deaths and PTSD cases because they weren’t good enough.

Reading about the widespread effects of PTSD on the Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans though has sobered me. There are pretty high percentages of PTSD (about 16% ) and there have been 121 cases of domestic violence in in these returning veterans.

When the soldiers suffer from PTSD, they bring the war home with them and it injures other people, too. It takes a toll emotionally on other family members. The effects of PTSD also have led to the murder and deaths of other people. I read accounts about soldiers who abused their kids, murdered their wives and committed suicide. When these soldiers actually carry the weight of the war with them when they return home, it gives others a taste of the war.

Before I didn’t have these personal experiences of the horrible potential of soldiers suffering form PTSD. I mistakenly lumped them into the category of having vivid flashbacks and waking up sweaty from nightmares. Seeing them come home and harm innocent people has rocked my view of war.

PTSD: Reflection

After reading about numerous cases of PTSD on returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, I have a better understanding of how the events on the battlefield affect and rub off on everyday life. The constant terror (and excitement) of warfare makes civilian life seem excruciatingly boring, even pointless. Soldiers, by constantly having to shoot at the enemy, are used to having something or someone to blame, for the war and for their own personal suffering. When they return to normal life, they still suffer from war's effects (a.k.a. PTSD) but have no one to blame it on back at home. This struggle to blame something yet having nothing to blame perhaps drives these ex-soldiers to drug/alcohol abuse, violence, and even suicide. The disturbing part about the effects of PTSD is that the victims are necessarily bad people - they are just mentally ill, and there is very little that we can do about it. Counseling during war has a limited positive effect. The fact remains: the brutal circumstances, events, and chaos of war leaves soldiers in emotional vulnerability, eventually leading to mental implosion.

PTSD Reflection

In our cruel and chaotic world, the life goals of many are simply to find peace. Happiness, love and tranquility are what we all strive for, so why do so many people die in gruesome fights every day? Some people fight under the illusion that they will ultimately create a more peaceful world. But I believe that the future world is being created right here, right now. A beautiful country renowned for its calm prosperity will not be born out of the blood of its enemies, but by the strength of its friendships.

It is true that sometimes fighting is necessary. To refuse to hurt someone who is about to kill you will not result in anything but your own death. However, unncessary and unjustified violence will harm more people than it will help. During world war one, the entire human race was affected by the death and destruction inflicted. Soldiers and civilians alike were subjected to trauma and immediate danger, and many others felt the ripples of influence as relatives or family members injured either mentally or physically. Those who were suffered mental conditions because of the war often became nervous, angry, violent, or depressed. These people had seen what no one should ever have to, and they suffered with that knowledge for the rest of their lives.

Violence is an inbred part of human nature. It is how we can settle disputes, protect ourselves and our families, and assert our dominance. However, I believe that in our current society, violence poses much more harm than usefullness. We have evolved enough to treat criminals with dignity and a fair trial - now can't we do the same with our rivals? If people could just let go of their fake alliances to countries and states and feel their true alliance to the human race, we could all stand together as equals with no need to fight for land or politics again. We need to learn to cooperate, and to distinguish between friendly and deadly competition.

PTSD 2

PTSD is a very serious disorder. It changes how a person thinks, feels, and responds to everything. By undergoing trauma, a person’s entire life can be changed. The best thing possible is to try to understand PTSD. If we accept PTSD as a serious disorder, and not a sign of weakness, I think that soldiers (or even others) who have experienced trauma will be far more likely to seek out help, thereby saving themselves, and possibly even the lives of others whom they would have hurt.
To me, one of the scarier parts of PTSD is how people are resistant to help, and how many choose to hold everything all inside. This means that you can never completely tell whether or not a person has PTSD, except by noticing changes in behavior. One of the reasons this frightens me is because one of my family’s very good friends, “Big Alex,” is a General, who has seen combat. I wasn’t born before the first time he was deployed, so I have no idea whether or not fighting changed who he is. Its frightening to think that the big, comforting friend I have known for as long as I can remember may still have aftereffects from his past, and even more frightening still to think that they could suddenly reappear and the wonderful person I know could be gone in an instant.
PTSD essentially removes the control a person has over their life- the only way they can try to fix it is by seeking help, otherwise they are completely at the mercy of their past. Of the many symptoms of PTSD, it seems that anxiety and depression are two of the major factors, and that many other effects of PTSD can be seen as part of either one. For instance, many people suffering from PTSD abuse substances, in order to escape the anxiety and depression. Unlike getting and allergic reaction or a cold, PTSD is not cut and dry: it can easily spiral into a life-destroying force.

PTSD Reflection

Hearing about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in WWI, is very easy to understand the surface level of reasons PTSD occurs. Of course, there is tons of danger in the trenches and because the war was fought on such a global scale, there were clearly problems with PTSD worldwide. However, the issue is not something that is easy to understand to its deepest level. PTSD has occurred as a result of every war in mankind. Through reading these articles and hearing all the stories, I have begun to grasp a much truer understanding of what it is that causes PTSD, and how much of a problem it really is.

Hearing that, for example, millions of people have suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not nearly descriptive enough to paint a picture of what soldiers and veterans go through. What captured me was the specific stories of people who are alive today, or have recently died as a result of the trauma they faced in the military. It is tragic to hear stories about people who have come home from the war and never gotten the graphic war scenes out of their heads. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder causes people to never forget the images that they saw in battle, which has a lasting effect on them and others. Many people practically lost their hearts in battle and never got them back when they returned home. It is almost like even when they come home, they never leave the war.

Just as much pain PTSD causes soldiers, it has a similar effect on people close to the people who were traumatized. Certain videos talked about what a terrible effect the mindset of soldiers leaves on people around them. Many people who came back from war after terrible experiences practically radiated their depression. Family members said that just after being on the phone with the person, they would hang up and be quite depressed themselves. The stress that people have after visualizing their war experiences leave feelings of pain, guilt, depression, and fear. These emotions penetrate the minds of soldiers in such a deep way, that suicide is a somewhat common response. This is of course worse than anything else for people who know the person who killed themselves. Just one person's war experience often leaves such a mark on a family. It can leave somewhat of a domino effect, because the person who will kill himself because of what he sees, is causing the same pain on his family that caused his stress in the first place.

Never Escaping War

It is sad to think that someone returning from their horrible experiences in war never truly escapes the war. However, this is exactly what PTSD is.

The video we watched as a class (that I finished on my own) struck me as the most disturbing because I refuse to believe that the affects of PTSD is really the post-veteran’s fault, but it was hard to believe this when you see how much damage they can do. The first veteran, Gast, who killed the man who was on his way to work, ended up in jail for first-degree murder. The judge ruled this way because he said that Gast had been trying to kill himself by crashing his car, and that this was intentionally murdering someone. Gast’s lawyer did not fully mention how Gast had PTSD, and this was why the judge ruled this way. I don’t think this is fair. Although it is a tragedy that the man lost his life, the fact that this was judged as first-degree murder does not seem fair at all. Any victim of PTSD will not be in their right mindset, even when they are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. When Gast was interviewed later in the movie, he said that he couldn’t believe he was being categorized as a murderer with everyone else in prison who had intentionally shot or stabbed someone, while this was not what he did at all.

The other man in the video had been drunk when he crashed his car into a 16-year-old driving home from work, killing her. I found this even more disturbing, because of how young the girl was. The man was a victim of PTSD and had been abusing drugs and alcohol. The mother of the girl who was killed thought the man should be sentenced to prison, but he was only sent to therapy. One thing the mother said, however, shocked me. She basically said the victim of PTSD should “suck it up” because that was no excuse for killing her daughter. She said that she was a police officer, and that she saw a lot of traumatic things, but she didn’t go around crashing her car into innocent strangers. Although I can imagine this woman was in a lot of grief for her daughter, I think she was being really harsh. I think that PTSD is a serious illness that a police officer cannot relate to. Imagine being in combat and watching fellow Americans get shot, injured and brutally killed, on a daily basis. I can’t imagine a police officer like this woman would be in contact with these things, especially not on a daily basis. One with PTSD cannot just “suck it up,” they need serious therapy.

Even though I don’t think these victims of PTSD should be blamed for the mistakes they made while suffering from the illness, I do think they are at fault for not recognizing sooner that they had a problem, and seeking help. This could have prevented the deaths of these innocent people. It’s unfair how someone who was only trying to help their country by fighting for them should live the rest of their lives with so many problems, and I am equally sympathetic to the post-veterans with PTSD and to the families of the car-crash victims.

Losing a Way of Life

Returning from war should be a happy homecoming, not one haunted by the memories of what was seen and done in the time away. As just after a storm there should be peace, after war there should be comfort. That the world isn’t as it should be is something that humans have bemoaned from earliest experience of unfairness. Ever more cruelly, in this situation, this torture is not just felt by the person who has PTSD, but also by those close to them. It had always seemed, that after a war is passed, things should go back to the way they were; the home front should be returned to a civilian metropolis, the soldiers happily with their families and friends, life going on in a series of busy nothings. I know now though, that the ramifications of war never stop being felt. The outcome will continue to affect later generations, people and politics alike.
Domestic violence is often connected to a case of PTSD, something that resounded with me more deeply than the idea of war itself did. I do not intend to go into war, never did, never (I do not think) will. That war can come to a person rather than a person going to war never occurred to me. Yet, many spouses and children to marines have died or been severely injured because of their family member’s traumatic experiences. They are hurt without ever having come close to war, because violence seen on the front inspires a reflective irrationality and anger in those who have PTSD. From this violence at home, we can see that for some there is no going back to before.
The experiences that these soldiers go through put me in mind of a quote from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Frodo, at one point, reflects upon his place at the end of the journey, so full of terror and breathless flight: “‘But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam…. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them,’” (Tolkein 338). This is the experience of many soldiers who have PTSD. They left for various reasons (to do a job, to earn money, to get an education, to defend their nation, to save their family), but in doing so, ruined their chance of ever again being able to be happy in what they saved for another. So even if this sacrifice is not without reservations or hurt done to another, it is important to acknowledge the helplessness in the case of those who have PTSD.

Getting Help and Preventing Death

It's impossible for a soldier to come home from a war and be the exact same person he/she was before. The person must have changed mentally (and most likely physically as well.) Although every single soldier does not come home from war with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he/she could still have some symptoms, just not enough to be diagnosed.

For the soldiers who had symptoms and committed a crime because of them, they should not be sent to jail. It's not their fault. Instead, they should be put through treatment. Today, the soldiers volunteered to help their country. They were not forced to go to war. To have somebody be punished for committing a crime because of a mental problem they received fighting for their country is cruel. If the government really wants more people to join the army, than they should set up a better program to help returning soldiers. It's also because of the lack of helpful programs that many returning soldiers get into drugs and alcohol. In Gast's case, the government found out about his problems with cocaine and alcohol. Instead of helping him, they just dispatched him, basically abandoning him on his own, with no help for his mental issues, and no help for his drug and alcohol problems. He was then depressed and suicidal, and ended up killing an innocent man on his way to work. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. This whole situation could have been prevented if the army had reached out to Gast, rather than dispatching him. Also, Gast's lawyer did not focus on his PTSD from the war. If she had, the judge might have sent him to get mental help rather than sending him to prison.

PTSD and the Great War

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is the main reason why most veterans returning home commit suicide or homicide, have substance abuse problems, or suffer from depression. During a war, veterans need to be on constant alert and have probably witnessed many of their fellow veterans dying or being severely injured. These experiences is similar to that of the trenches in World War One, and is why many of the soldiers suffered from PTSD (which was then called shell shock, because it was believed to be caused by the heavy artillery.) The soldiers were on constant alert. They couldn't see their enemy, but they knew the enemy was there and could shoot at them at any given moment. This is most likely why one of the symptoms or PTSD is being very jumpy, hating crowds, and startling easily. Reasons why someone could be scarred for life are probably relatively the same during wars. All wars have death, violence, harsh conditions and fear. In WWI however, the cases of PTSD, even if they were unknown at the time, were probably a lot greater than the number of cases now. One could argue that this is not the case, because our technology of weapons are more powerful. However, WWI was a lot bigger and involving more countries, there were more casualties, and more innocent people were hurt or killed. In any case, PTSD is problem in all wars and should be diagnosed and treated quickly, because the person with PTSD could be contemplating suicide or homicide and should be stopped.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Honestly, before this class period, I had no idea what post traumatic stress disorder was, and even if I may have been slightly familiar with the changes in war veterans, I was completely unaware of how the effects of war can so easily eat away at someone's life. I guess what shocked me the most isn't that war can leave a lasting imprint on its participants, but what that imprint causes. Not only does PTSD result in bad memories relating to the war, it prevents those affected from living ordinary lives. As we watched in the documentary during class, PTSD resulted in a need for escape in the form of drugs, alcohol, and an attempted suicide. In addition, PTSD fosters paranoia, and someone insisted on keeping a gun between the bed and the mattress because he became so afraid of the idea that there were always strangers trying to kill him. Someone suffering from PTSD found himself in relationships with older women with a dependence on drugs or alcohol who already had children. PTSD literally destabilizes patients' lives, and the worst part is that the damage is purely psychological. In all of the cases I've seen, the problem arises from the individual himself. They barely have control over it. How do you treat something that exists within someone else's mind? Not to mention, the "craziness" or "depression" that comes with PTSD looks like a permanent blemish on one's army record, and the current social order of the army looks on it as a bad thing. It's terrible that the environment is such that those suffering from PTSD can't address their concern with a friend or doctor without bearing the shame that they believe will come with it. The only way, it appears, to clear one's mind from a severe case of PTSD is to discuss it and confront the issue, but when they are discouraged to publicly acknowledge the problem, they begin a descent into substance abuse so that they can numb the pain.

On anther side of PTSD, one particular treatment really interested me in which soldiers suffering from war-related PTSD underwent a war simulation customized as therapy to their own personal experiences that triggered PTSD. Because PTSD is connected to memory of an incident long after it has finished, and it is this memory that leaves them constantly on edge, doctors believe disconnecting the memory from its negative connotations will lessen the impact or do away with PTSD altogether. This fascinated me because of the insight it provides into the human mind. It's the scarring memory that causes PTSD, so why not neutralize it and pacify its reaction? The memory of the incident and its reappearance in everyday life are really the root causes, and the paranoia, depression, and substance abuse are the methods of coping. By being exposed to the same experiences that started PTSD, its victims face the problem head on (with no real danger), and in this way, they can overcome it.

PTSD Reflection

WRITE a blog post in which you reflect on what you've read, both in class on on your own. This reflection is open and prompt-less; it should be about 400 words.

When the soldiers return from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, their families and friends are all escatic of their returning. People think that the families who are missing a son, husband, or father begin to have issues from the lack of a family member for so many years. Actually, the ones who have the issues after the war are the returning soldiers. After so many years of constantly watching their backs, soldiers begin to be paranoid of constant enemies trying to kill them. The soldiers who have been traumatized from witnessing a devastating incident, such as military warfare, suffer from PTSD, or Post traumatic stress disorder.
For me, it is very sad that the soldiers who volunteer to serve for their country suffer from more than physical pain and trauma, they also have to endure through mental distress. Some people with PTSD refuse to get help from physcologists and their families and they want to deal with all of their issues by themselves. But instead of turning to people who are willing to help them, they turn to drugs and alcohol to temporarily sedate their mental problems and issues. Besides the obvious of them hurting their own bodies, they hurt and sometimes kill other innocent people. I never knew that people who have PTSD become violent and may hurt others without thinking. In many cases, actually, veterans who have PTSD have killed other innocent human beings because they were either intoxicated or high on different types of drugs. They also hurt their own family who loves them because when they see that someone they love is turning into a terrible person and they refuse to take their help, it could inflict depression and sadness within the family.
From the soldier's point of view, they are just innocent people who have been traumatized from witnessing their friends die by gruesome and devastating ways. To "get away" from their problems of losses and injuries, they may take drugs to escape their problems. There is no other way to escape the problems because they cannot literally run away from the war. Once they make a dedication to the army or other armed forces, they have to fulfill their duty to the end. They all have different reasons for enlisting themselves into the army, but they also ruin their own lives and their future. If they are lucky to survive the actual battle and they don't have any physical injuries, then a majority of them may have been mentally scarred. Soldiers who go to the war are of risk of mental and physical damage from the battle and witnessing the horrors of war. It is important to give the veterans credit for enduring through the dangers of the war and to help them as much as possible for the safety of themselves and other innocent people.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disoder

PTSD or Post traumatic stress disorder would have had a lot to do with World War I because the handout on PTSD said "A traumatic event is a life-threatening event such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents" etc in all of those examples all of the those would have had to do with the War because one obviously military combat was something they all saw and having to shoot at people would be terrible because it could leave you scarred for life and can make you have PTSD. Secondly naturally disasters would not have occured that often but there may have been a few earthquakes because of the explosions that occured frequently which could have been stressful for soldiers. Thirdly terrorists incidents would happen there because they had to do whatever they could to stay ahead even playing dirty, so soldiers near these dirty assaults would have been scarred because they might have seen the explosions hit other people. Lastly serious accidents would have been maybe the next highest cause of PTSD after military combat because with the gases of chlorine and mustard cause people could get deformed or die so people would see this everyday so that would really scar people because they wold never forget the uimage of their fellow soldiers dying or being deformed.

PTSD in the Trenches

PTSD is a common disorder that can be seen throughout history, but was only given proper name in the 1970s. There is a huge amount of trauma in any kind of war situation, but the kind of warfare that we see in World War One was particularly traumatic. The technology was geared more towards mass destruction than ever before. The machine gun could wipe out an entire line of men in a matter of seconds, whereas not long before the 1910s opponents would only shoot volleys at each other. Poison gas was particularly destructive and new. If soldiers didn't get their proper gear on quickly enough they would die a horrible, drawn out death. Witnessing deaths like this once in a lifetime would be enough to cause some serious mental scarring, but seeing it again and again in a war was extremely traumatic. The close quaters of the trenches certianly would have contributed to the high trauma level in WW1. Being so close to people when they die must have been an extremely scarring experience. Soldiers in WW1 could be standing right next to someone dying from any number of causes. Although PTSD was not officially named until much later in history, there were most certainly cases of it in the aftermath of WW1.

PTSD

Is it even possible for World War One to have had more ground for fostering PTSD?

Well, maybe, but trench warfare and PTSD certainly go hand in hand. Any type of warfare is enoguh to give someone PTSD, what with the constant fear of being shot at or bombed and dying, but trench warfare was really extreme. Poison gas was a horrible way to die, and watching someone die by it was almost as horrible as you being the one injured. You try watching one of your comrades drown in their own frothy blood, and not be haunted by that image for a very long time. And unlike traditional warfare where the dead were buried after each battle, trench warfare had no letup. If your friend died while fighting right next to you in the trenches, his body stayed there. At least until the rats got to him. Even the 1918 influenza outbreak would contribute to PTSD, with the dead so numerous that they were stacked up outside the hospitals, and there was a shortage of coffins in America.
It would be very difficult to argue that World War One resulted in no cases of PTSD. It would probably be difficult even to argue that cases of PTSD were few, even if they weren't diagnosed. With the conditions of trench warfare, severe trauma almost seems a natural after-effect.

Sorry if this was a little too graphic.

Post-Treaty Possible Fallouts

In signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany agreed to lowering its army to 100,00 men, reducing its navy, eliminating its air force, losing land, and the agreement to a War Guilt Clause, which stated that the entire Great War was completely their fault, and that they have to pay for all the damage.

The fact that Germany had to do all of this obviously hurt Germany, but also hurt the entire continent of Europe. Germany could not pay for the amount of money they owned, so the government would simply print more money. This caused the money to lose value, which was at times even worse than owing so much money.

Lastly, the treaty, and specifically the War Guilt Clause, would cause tension between Germany and other nations. The peace treaty did exactly the opposite of what President Wilson held as his principles. It enraged Germany, and, although a second war was unlikely, it did nothing to ease the hatred Germany felt for the other Europeans. Imagine having a whole world war that involved casualties from over 10 different countries, all blamed on you. That was Germany's position, and this caused even more cultural differences and distaste between Germany and the other countries of Europe.

PTSD and World War I

PTSD probably affected many soldiers in world war 1. Many of them witnessed horrible deaths of their fellow soldiers and many other traumatic events such as bombings. Witnessing these kind of events are the main cause of PTSD. With so much firsthand experience to death, it is no wonder how many soldiers are getting PTSD. Also back then, medical help for veterans with PTSD was much more limited than it is today. So, it probably lasted longer for them than it would for a veteran with PTSD today. Trench Warfare was epecially brutal as once you left the trench, chances are you would not come back.

The Home Front

In Evelyn Blücher's "The Home Front" was an unbiased and very true account of the struggles experienced by the people away from the battle. It is a good source because it touches on all the problems: from scarcity of food and fuel, to the seemingly ridiculous and sad ways the government gets scrap metal for soldiers, like taking away the church bell or forcing children to collect it. We also know that Blücher was unbiased, because she was merely observing from the outside. She was well-off, and did not experience the conditions as harshly as some of the peasants did. Had the passage been written by a peasant, the conditions might have been exaggerated to seem worse than actually were. However, we know these were the actual conditions, and they are still really bad.

This relates to nationalism because it shows how far the citizens will go to support their country. Even if there are forced against their will to give these things up, the act of doing so will put the idea of nationalism in their heads. If I were a citizen forced to grow my own vegetables and cook with rationed food, the whole time I was doing it I would be thinking to myself "I'm doing this to help our soldiers fight in the war." Nationalism was engrained in these citizen's minds because of the sacrifices they had to make to support their country.

Treaty of Versailles

The treaty of Versailles is the perfect example of a compromise. Like any major compromise in history, everyone loses. The biggest loser was Germany, whose economy and army was practically destroyed. Of course, because the allied nations were the creators of this treaty, the advantage was in their favor. However, the main objective was to promote peace around the world. There wasn't necessarily peace throughout the world, but from an official, legal standpoint, the war was over. There was a slight backfire with the Treaty, that lead to some countries, particularly Germany, creating grudges against others. The effects of this were shown in later years, and were definitely partially responsible for WWII.

PTSD and Trench Warfare

Since soldiers in the trenches during WWI were packed tightly together, they surely witnessed traumatic deaths to their left and right. This firsthand experience (literally feet, even inches away from the brutal deaths) accounted for the great amount of PTSD patients after the war, even if they did not know it was actually a disease. PTSD represents the worldwide emotional and psychological consequences of WWI and its chaotic methods of trench warfare. Perhaps this severe mental disease (plus the fact that trench warfare was inefficient) acted as one of the reasons why trench warfare did not carry on into WWII. The main powers saw the effects of battle on their returning soldiers and may have rethought trench warfare, shaping the modern world of warcraft (haha)

PTSD in World War One

Fighting has, and will always be, a traumatic event. Watching or experiencing pain can cause a great deal of emotional shock, especially in a species (such as humans) that feel so much empathy for others. The terrors seen in World War One were possibly the most horrible and traumatic the world had seen at the time. Men were stationed among rats and dead bodies in little dirt holes, and if they were lucky enough to avoid running over the trench to their certain demise, they had to face guns, bombs, and the possiblity of drowning in poison gas. After seeing so much pain and death, there is no way a person could go back to their normal life uneffected.

Millions of people were undoubtedly affected by PTSD directly following world war one. And because people didn't yet have a name or treatment for the illness, these people may have even been shunned or scorned for something that was totally out of their control. This might have caused a decrase in morale among war veterans and their families, which in turn could have hurt the many already-weakened countries. However, this mass effect of traumatic war probably caused more people to investigate it, which led to why we know so much more about PTSD now.

WW1 and PTSD

WRITE a blog post in which you muse on the connection between Post-traumatic stress disorder and the nature of warfare in WWI. Though PTSD wasn't coined as a name until the late 1970s, do you think it has any relation to the trench warfare of the 1910s?

There is no doubt that soldiers of World War 1 suffered from Post-traumatic stress disorder. The horrors and trauma that the soldiers of World War 1 must have had to face could all be potential incidents to cause the disorder to be inflicted on the person. People with PTSD suffer symptoms such as becoming upset when confronted with a reminder about the trauma, avoiding places or people that remind them of the trauma, and startling easily from slight paranoia. After witnessing comrades and friends die from bombings, bullet wounds, and poison gas, anybody would be traumatized. Being surrounded by constant sickness and death is upsetting also for women nurses who had to tend to the screaming men dying from lost of blood or overwhelming mutilation. Since women are not used to seeing that type of violence during that era, they definitely would be shaken up. Men and women during the First World War certainly can have post-traumatic stress disorder because of the violence and devastation of warfare.

There's No Going Back

As it has had a place in every war since, PTSD must have had a place in trench warfare in WWI. In war, this disorder is bound to occur, for battle promote the kind of reactions that create PTSD. Symptoms include "flashbacks" or a reliving of the traumatic event; soldiers re-experience the terror of war on a daily basis. Alertness, numbing, and paranoia are almost encouraged; in war, a soldier must be on his or her guard, and emotionally detached from the enemy who is to be killed. These things are true of almost any war. Specifically in WWI, I would guess that the trauma of war was ten-fold what it is now. Not to say that war is any less terrible now than it was then, but for that time, trench warfare was a completely new and horrifying experience. Never before had killing one's enemy been done in so efficient and mercenary a manner. Machine guns killed in instants. Without a mask, soldiers were defensless against chlorine gas. In these new innovations there could have been trauma in both the dealing and recieving of death. According to the PTSD packet, this disorder is caused by a traumatic event in which the person felt threatened physically or emotionally through another, was injured, or felt helpless. All of these things were likely daily events in WWI, making PTSD very relevant to the Great War.

PTSD & WWI

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder definitely played a part in WWI. There are three major symptoms of PTST. The first symptom: reliving an event. The soldiers saw people being blown up. These people included not only their friends and fellow soldiers, but also the enemy soldiers. It is scarring to see a mangled human body even if the person was not on your side. Since soldiers stayed at the battlefield and in the war for an extended period of time, the scenery did not change. This provided the opportunity for explosions or attacked to be relived at any moment. The second symptom: staying away from places and people that remind you of the event, isolating oneself, and feeling numb. The soldiers on both sides did not have the option to leave the battlefield if they felt like it. Although they might have wanted to escape, they could not walk away, forcing them to stay in the action. The soldiers probably started isolating themselves, so as not to get too close to a friend who was likely to die at any moment. Soldiers would become numb after being in a trench war for so long. They would be immune to killing people. If not, they would likely be shot themselves. The third symptom: feeling on guard, irritable, or startled easily. Because they lived in the trenches, the soldiers had to be alert at all times. They could be attacked at any moment. They could have to throw on their gas masks in case of a gas attack. It must have been shocking to see your friend not put on a gas mask, then die right in front of you. It is reasonable to assume that a soldier would be irritable because of the poor conditions in the trenches. They were probably easily startled from being on guard at all times. The slightest noise could mean an attack was on the way.

The veterans of WWI were at huge risks for PTSD. There must have been immense amounts of stress on the battle field. At any moment, they could have been killed. It must have been difficult to go from the trenches to their home, and many were not able to make the transition. PTSD was probably a small part in the start of WWII. Many soldiers were most likely affected, and could not adjust to life at home.