Life During The Great War

The Great War began in 1914 and was supposed to be short, but the Great War was standing for four years and killed almost 10 million of people. The first year of the war was a positions war. Armies had to gain fields whatever the price. Then the trench warfar took place in 1915 because armies weren't able to move on and win more fields. This is the beginning of an exhausting war. Soldiers “buried themselves”, and digged trenches. This will be the place where they are going to live for the rest of the war.
Life in the trenches was miserable, with fleas, rats, mud, food shortages, dead soldiers and enemies. The living conditions were really bad, soldiers had nothing, they were not even able to shower or change their clothes. They were wearing the same clothes for months.
In these trenches, soldiers were fighting and busy for only 25 percent of the time. And so they had to find something to do during the other 75 percent of the time.
In spite of the really hard living conditions, and the presence of death everywhere around them, soldiers tried to sustain morale the best they could. The morale of the armies was changing through the months during the battles, victories or defeats. The tactic guidance of the war had repercussions on the every day life in the trenches or at the front. But there are simple measures that you can have to
sustain the health of your mind, soul and body.
To keep the morale constant, soldiers had some activities, rituals and entertainment to pass their time. They had to find something to help escape, to forget what they were living in. So we can wonder, how did armies sustain morale during the Great War?
To answer this question we are going to approach two differents points. First we will study the basics things which maintained the morale. Then we are going to study the way sports and entertainment was used during the Great War.

Throughout the war, armies had several opportunities to maintain it. This consisted of companionship, news from their countries, food, alcohol... Their friendships also helped keep them positive. From the beginning of the war soldiers from every army created camaraderie and loyalty links based on the soldiers community. This relied on the shared experience of war and danger. They all had the same problem - they were all fighting for their country and for their freedom. These bonds were strong because of the sense of belonging the relationships created which impacted all the members of the unit. During raids or during attacks they were supposed to be able and expected to trust everyone in their platoon. Moreover, the solidarity links tended to reduce the munities and indisciplines. The camaraderie was almost a religion for the troops. These friendship and loyalty connections were stronger in the Dominion army. This is because of the distance between the soldiers and their country. They could not go back home when they had a leave. One soldier said, “Had seemed to cut us completely away from the land of our birth” “our only home was our unit.”.
An ex ranker from the 56th battalion said that he was living with the “truest and most trusted friends and companions, brothers who would share their last franc or crust with each other, bound together till victory or death.”

Keeping morale was also met by eating sweets from the country or from the officers.
Indeed, during the war, mail was delivered every day, it was really important for a soldiers' morale. They had to keep communicating with their beloved people at home. Soldiers kept a real interest in their family's, friend's, and community activities and experiences.
Even if a lot of letters were censored by the officers or other people, they were still writing to their loved ones.
Some packages were also delivered on the front. They contained food, journals, clothes and cigarettes. Almost all the men were smoking, and so were always asking for more cigarettes. During the Great War soldiers also had alcohol. When it was available, officers delivered small quantities of rum or wine in the morning and at night. It was a huge reward for the soldiers. It was like a medicine and a way to motivate the army to fight. When they volunteered themselves for a raid, or on a dangerous mission they were given an additional ration.
However if they did not obey orders, they did not receive their rum ration. French soldiers received some new helmets during the war. These helmets were made by women because factories needed manpower - but men were busy at war, so women started to work in the weapon and equipment factories.
In these helmets, women put little notes inside, like this one from Lucie Lambert, a french girl. “cher petit soldat, c'est une petite française qui viens vous souhaiter un prompt et bon retour parmis les votres. Je vous souahite que ce casque vous porte bonheur. Lucie Lambert.” (translation: dear little soldier, it's a little french girl who came to say that she hopes you get back home quickly and safely. She wishes that this helmet will make you lucky. Lucie Lambert.)
This was good for soldier's spirit, because they knew someone was thinking about them and they also knew that their country hadn't forgotten about them. During the Great War there were also communication between enemies. These communications kept their humanity because soldiers knew they were not alone in the pain and the danger of war

The opponants communicated in two ways. The first way is defined as the concern and self interst.
If one of the opponants was in need of something, then they asked the enemy for it. This exchange made the second form of communication. This exchange gave evidence that they did not want to fight, only converse. They are all humans and they don't want to do this voluntarily. This is evident in the Christmas truces. The most famous Christmas truce is the 1914 one near Ypres.
Soldiers were exhausted from the war and heartbroken because of all the comrades they had lost through battle and disease since August.
On the morning of December 25th, the British and French armies heard people sing Christmas songs from the opposing trench. When they looked around no man's land, they saw a Christmas tree on top of the German trench. After a while, the German soldiers got out from the trench and asked the British and French soldiers to join them on the no man's land. During this truce they played football and exchanged some gifts. The singer and officer, Walter Kirchhoff, decided to sing Christmas songs for every
one.
We have some testimonies of this agreement. For example the letter from Marcel Decobert, a French corporal : “Tout à coup, tout près de nous on entend chanter au son de flûtes et d'un harmonium. C'étaient les Bavarois qui fêtaient Noël. Quelle impression! D'un côté des chants religieux, de l'autre la fusillade, et tout ça sous un beau clair de lune en pleins champs, tout recouverts de neige. Quand ils eurent fini nous poussâmes des hourrah, hourrah ...
A notre tour, le Capitaine le 1er, nous entonnâmes d'une seule voix: Minuit Chrétien, puis il est né le Divin Enfant. Ils nous écoutèrent, puis eux poussèrent des applaudissements et des bravos. Enfin, trois qui savaient très bien l'Allemand chantèrent deux cantiques en choeur avec les Bavarois.
On m'aurait raconté cela je ne l'aurais pas cru, mais les faits sont là et ils se produisent un peu partout, mais malheureusement, ne serviront à rien.”
Translated: “We were surprised by the music we heard from the other armies. When they finished singing, we started to sing christmas and religious songs. Some French soldiers joined the German soldier. If someone had told me this had happened, I would not have believed it. This happened everywhere, but it did not seem to effect the situation we were all in. War.”
After this truce, another smaller one happened in 1915 and in 1916. This was soon followed by another at Easter on the Easternfront.

But even if the morale can be good, it can be bad too. And the shortage of food, the bad life conditions can lead to an uprising. This is what happened in the french rank in 1917. The crisis had been launched by the bloody defeat of an attack from Nivelle “Au chemin des dames” between 17th April and 10th August 1917. The french soldiers suffered from food shortages and sometimes had to get food themselves, on top of this, “The rest and leave was inadequatly provided” (J.G Fuller). Soldiers were bored of the trench war; waiting around, hungry, dirty and thirsty. However, when they weren't, they were fighting. The majority, however, dying. The officers did not really care about them, they did not mind if they were good or not, or if they were in pain…they just wanted them to fight on behalf of them. This is referred to as “neglectful of paternal solicitude” (J.G Fuller)
Soldiers started to protest again the war. And orders started to be ignored.
Even if they decided to not obey the rules and regulations, they promised to keep the line against the German army. Even if they were not happy, they didn't want to given the Germans the opportunity to pass Because of these crisises, Petain decided to improve the living conditions of the trenches and reduced the sanctions. He promised “ the future offensives would not be lightly undertaken, a support of heavy weight of artillery and tank.” (J.G Fuller)
He also increased the entitlment of leave and called for a real period of rest. He also asked the officers to take greater care of the welfare of the soldiers. But the French army was not the only one who created munities. There is also the first Battalion of the first Australian division who revolted due to their exhaustion which the war had enhanced. The German and Italian army suffered also from munities in 1917 and 1918. The level of morale differed every day and every month depending on the situation of the war at the time.

During the war, the soldiers managed to make time for leisure activities in the trenches. Soldiers participated in sports, the theatre and enjoyed listening to music and reading etcetra.

Sports was probably the most common leisure in the trenches. Sports distracted soldiers from the horror of the war and also contributed to their physical health. The most common sport was football. It's a British sport which started to spread in Europe before the Great War.
The German soldiers did not understand why the British army took the detrimental risk of playing football during the war. It wasn't easy to play football in the trenches, but it quickly became a sport played and enjoyed everywhere on the front, by all the armies.
As the game originated in England, the British and Dominion armies were better at it. They cannot even think to go to the front without a ball and play. They always had enough energy for it.
Corps tournaments were organized and played by the British army and the Dominion. They took place at Gallipoli, in France, in Palestine and in Macedonia. Football was everywhere on the front, and reached all the army's trenches
Beforehand, football was a sport for the upper class, but the Great war universalised this sport. Now everyone could play football. Football was not the only sport enjoyed on the front. French soldiers participated in boxing and cycling. The Dominion army also played baseball, cricket, tennis and basketball. In 1917, the 3rd canadian division contained: nine basketball fields and one indoor, three football fields, three tennis courts, one basketball square and two boxing platforms.
In the dominion army, afternoons are devoted to sports since 1916 until the end of the war. Sport was reinforcing the feeling of membership, solidarity and loyalty between the soldiers. It was really good for the morale to practice sport as it stopped them thinking about everything else. It broke the monotony of life in the trenches, and kept the body and mind healthy.

There were other ways to sustain morale other than sport, for example embracing cultures.
In the Dominion army, and soon in all the armies, Army Concert parties took place.
From December 1914 compagnies were created, such as “The Follies” for the 4th Division, or in February 1915 “The Francies” for the 6th Division. Even the Ambulance, RE and ASC had their own groups.
The 58th Division, “The Goods”, had almost 250 shows during the first year of its creation.
There were numerous theatres which soldiers called “coliseums” and “ hyppodromes”. The were different themes of the theatre, which largely revolved around fatalism and political sceptisism. Being swallowed up by the bottomless mud was not a laughing matter, instead it was the main fear among the troops. The theatres, however, made light of the situation at the front. This illustrates that the theatre was also used for comdy purposes.
In addition, the authority was also the target for the shows.
“ Canteens and concerts, games and horse shows, took us away from the war that was just around the corner.” (S.Casson,1935).
Theatre and shows was a way to reduce the boredom and fear of the war, even if it was just for a small period of time. It was a short moment where they were able to be free from the reality of war - away from the military life. There were also some cinemas on the front, however, we don't have a lot of information about this. But we do know that the cinemas was supplied by YMCA, comforts funds and the Expeditionary Force Canteens Organisation.
Cinemas, unfortunately, had less of an impact as the sports and theatre on the troops as sports and theatre were more popular. The only character mentioned for the cinema is Charlie Chaplin.

On the front there was a lot of books, newspapers, and journals.
French soldiers were reading La débacle by Zola. The subject is about the 1870 war between France and the Prussian empire. But also other books like Les souffrances du jeune Whether by Goethe, Le feu by Henri Barbusse, which talks about the living conditions during the war and writes in a colloquial way of that time, to make it more relatable to the troops
British and Dominion soldiers were reading the thirty-nine steps by Buchan or The monkey's paw by W.W. Jacobs. For the Dominion army a library was been established on the front.
In the German trenches, soldiers were reading various books by Kurt Aram, Karl May and Walter Bloem. Whatever the side they were on, reading was important for soldiers. Like all the activities they praticed when they were not in contact with the enemy or were on leave. It was, again, a way to escape from the blood and horror they were facing.

Through our reflection, we have seen how the soldiers managed to keep morale during the Great War.
Most of them needed to find a way to part from their miserable lives and tried to do this with friendship, because it's valuable for them to know that they could depend on their comrades. Futhermore, writing to their family and friends was key in distracting themselves from the hardships that they faced. The delivery of mail was also of high importance, as it had news from their loved ones. They also played cards, drank alcohol and ate sweets from the country.
As I have demonstrated, men played sports like football, boxing or baseball which significantly contributed to their physical health and morale, and the built up the strength in their friendships with their fellow troops.
Rankers escaped in reading and, musicals and shows. Whatever what they were doing, the thought about why they were fighting kept them strong. They were fighting for the freedom of their country. They were fighting for their own culture, their own way of life. They were fighting for a happier future, the life they had before the war. It was a way to keep their sanity due to the horror of war.