Conscientious Objectors In Field Punishment

The Great War has witnessed destruction at a calamitous rate were humanity seemed to have faded away. The Great War for the first two years has attested to a great loss of lives. Despite the huge causalities the war didn’t seem it was going to be over soon nor did it seem any peace agreements were going to take place. Generals from various nations across the globe were sending their troops to fight for a war that seemed endless, and at the same time the morale of soldiers was going down. The loss of so many soldiers has pushed militaries to start conscription and this is where the conscientious objectors started raising their voice. The resource utilized in this paper is the documentary Field Punishment no. 1.; a documentary that truly captures
the heroism of Conscientious objectors. The conscientious objectors were truly brave people who decided to stand-up against the brutalities of the Great War because they knew nothing would come out of fighting except utter destructions.
These courage’s people rose their voices at a time the world was busy at annihilating each other. Conscientious objectors were degraded and humiliated by number of people but they never gave in. Additionally, Conscientious objectors weren’t men who were afraid of picking up the gun and fighting, they were in fact the boldest of men who stood a stand against war at a time no one was willing to. The author will discuss the true heroism portrayed by the Conscientious objectors, and how they stood to their ground through extremely harsh treatments to prove that this Great War was to support capitalism and was truly only benefitting the powerful
people. By the end of the second year of the Great War so much destruction and loss of life has been witness at various levels.
The government started using propaganda to tell its people to sign up for the army and conscription soon followed to become mandatory. Some people were fired up to stand by their nation and fight while others knew that fighting wasn’t the only solution to end this misery. The movie Field punishment showcased some of the latter group of people who knew war couldn’t lead to peace. Archibald Baxter, Mark Briggs and their twelve other friends who were courageous Conscientious objectors were secretly sent from their home country New Zealand over to the Western Front to fight by their country. This brave group of brave men truly portrayed heroism by deciding not to fight. They were tortured, separated and humiliated by not only their fellow soldiers but also by Generals. They were often given a field punishment which was a type of punishment that involved the subject being tied to a pole for hours to an extend the person hands would turn black due to lack of circulation. This punishment continued during the harsh winters too. Conscientious objectors were starting to be seen as less humans and more as war criminals or even at times cowards because they decided to restrain from war. These men weren’t even close to being cowards because they were the only ones that had their sanity by standing up against war. Everyone else was blinded by patriotism, nationalism
to a point where nothing really seemed to be more important than killing your enemy first. Conscientious objectors were trying to prove much lives this war has taken from every country. They have seen how much this war has not only divided people and pushed some to extreme hate but also how humanity was starting to die. Furthermore, they were men who never gave up on their belief no matter how much pain they had to go through because of it. When Briggs was brought to the Western Front he refused to go to the front, and his punishment was to be dragged more than a kilometer over a barbed wire simply because he decided to stand his ground (Field punishment No. 1 Directed by Peter). After such a crude treatment these men faced people still had the audacity to claim they were cowards. Briggs could have given up after witnessing such a server pain but he still held it in.
Conscientious objectors were people who even though were treated with extremely harsh methods never mistreated anyone. Not even the generals who have made them suffer to extreme lengths in order to make them give up on their pacifist beliefs. Conscientious objectors despite the enormous hatred they suffered from people they never left an opportunity to tell their fellow soldiers and Generals how this war was for capitalism. When Baxter was forced to walk with the troops in the Western front he paused to witness what this war has led to in a closer range; a German solider lying dead on the ground (Field punishment No. 1 Directed by Peter). He tried showing the solider guarding him how this war has led to such a mass destruction. That this war cannot continue in the name of patriotism because it was turning humans against each other. This war was indeed only leading to more loss and greater division. Empires despite seeing the enormous causalities rates didn’t stop they in fact decided to recruited more soldiers in order to win the war. At a time, no one was starting to realizing the kind of instability this war was leading to these men were risking their lives to ensure more people could be more aware of it. In conclusion, Conscientious objectors truly defined heroism during the Great War. Despite having to some face some of the cruelest treatments they never mistreated anyone. They refused to fight and kill in the name of patriotism. Regardless of the harsh treatments they faced they never stopped believing in their belief it only gave them more strength to stay stronger. They stood up and never backed down to the government that made so many soldiers believe they were fighting for patriotism. Conscientious objectors were the boldest of men because despite having suffered extremely rough treatments they stood still to let the world know that this war was benefitting only the powerful people and that the soldiers where merely just tools in their hands. These brave men never lost hope and kept on encouraging their fellow soldiers to stand up against war for the greater good of the world.