Academic literature on the topic 'Soldiers' writings, Belgian'

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a true World War One event, the Christmas Truce of 1914. The paper is inspired by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) award winning book, Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by John Hendrix, which narrates the truce through a fictitious letter from a British soldier. On Christmas Eve, German soldiers on the western front line, specifically near the Belgium border, ceased fire and invited British soldiers to celebrate Christmas. Descriptions of events derive from oral histories and photos collected from actual soldiers who experienced this unusual historic event. Design/methodology/approach This lesson engages students in inquiry centers focused on events, location, soldiers, remembrance, and primary sources to answer the question: Why did the First World War Christmas Truce of 1914 occur? Practical implications World War One (AKA the First World War and The Great War) classroom history studies typically focus on tragic components of, what many call, a needless war. Many lessons examine military technologies, political power struggles, horrors of trench warfare, disease and casualties. In essence, “World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people – soldiers and civilians alike – were dead” (history.com Staff, 2009). This lesson reveals a spontaneous, impactful, emotionally charged event occurring during the worst of times. The Christmas Truce of 1914 moves students from thinking about the ravages of war into thinking deeply about what it truly means to be enemies, friends or even to mend relationships. Who are soldiers – what do they feel, need, believe and miss? During the truce, the longing for peace and human interaction superseded political ideologies, for a while. This lesson starts with students participating in a class discussion to uncover prior knowledge of the famous event. Students examine their real-life feelings regarding personal truces, answer guiding questions while rotating through classroom research centers, and collectively create a generalized response to answer the compelling question: Why did the First World War Truce of 1914 occur? Students will apply their understandings of the event, location, and feelings associated with the truce by taking a soldier’s persona and writing a letter home. Illustrations and maps further engage students’ creativity. Social implications This true story about the Christmas Truce of 1914 reminds us that countries may have differing ideologies and political beliefs which cause conflicts, yet people, as individuals, find commonalities making them seek peaceful connections with one another. Originality/value “The soldiers of 1914 remind us of the choice we all can make: we can see others as humans who matter like we matter – even when they’re our enemies. They also show us what can happen when we make that choice: enemies can become friends and, at least for a moment, there is peace” (Arbinger Institute, 2017, Section 3). This quote embodies the lesson’s value, because it brings understanding to a personal level – soldiers on the field. First World War soldiers were typically powerless. For instance, as many as 250,000 boys under the age of 18 served in the British army during the First World War. Patriotic fervor, escape from poor conditions or hopes for adventure were motives for joining. Birth certificates were uncommon; war recruiters received money for each sign-on, so boys as young as 14 went to war. In this lesson, students examine First World War background information; analyze the truce’s events, geography, soldiers and memorials. Students are immersed in large numbers of resources including videos, music, photographs, maps, books, articles, newspapers, historians’ perspectives, oral histories, museum archives and the First World War soldiers’ original letters that help reveal the story and help students understand underlying feelings of soldiers and their families.

Of every 6,000 soldiers deployed, one publishes an autobiographical book about their experiences shortly after the war. Military memoirs are therefore an inescapable consequence of deployments. How should defence organizations react to these soldier-authors: should they be encouraged, discouraged, or ignored? A substantiated answer to that question is given in this article by providing a profile of all writers of military Afghanistan memoirs from seven countries (the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands) and the kind of plots they write. A small majority write positive plots. The negative ones specifically deal with disillusionment about the care the defence organization or society at large provided, and experiences with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is interesting that it proves to be possible to predict whether a writer will write a positive or a negative plot based on the type of work they do and whether they still work for the defence organization. Military organizations interested in getting positive books published are advised to particularly encourage writing by individually deployed personnel who work in combat support positions and are on active service.

De zomer van 1917 was er één van belangrijke internationale en nationale politieke en militaire gebeurtenissen, maar ook het moment waarop aan het IJzerfront Vlaamse soldaten zich manifesteerden en de spanningen met de politieke en militaire hiërarchieën een hoogtepunt bereikten. Alveringem en de figuur van onderpastoor Cyriel Verschaeve stonden hierin centraal.De aankomst eind juni van de eerste Noord-Amerikaanse troepen in Europa gaf de Eerste Wereldoorlog wellicht een beslissende wending. In Duitsland deed zich een wissel van de macht voor. Met de ontketening van een totale onderzeese oorlog werd alles in het teken van een slotoverwinning gesteld. De machtsverschuiving leidde in bezet België tot meer opeisingen van goederen en mensen met verscherpte armoede, honger en dwangarbeid als gevolg.Aan het front nam het ongenoegen over het officiële triomfalisme in de pers onder soldaten toe. Daarenboven voelden vele Vlaamse soldaten zich achtergesteld door overwegend Franstalige officieren.Cyriel Verschaeve was het aanspreekpunt en de mentor van de Vlaamsgezinde soldaten die aan de basis van de frontbeweging lagen. Zijn autoriteit en populariteit had hij vóór de oorlog verworven door zijn geschriften en lezingen.Zijn houding zinde noch de kerkelijke noch de politieke hiërarchie en in de zomer van 1917 stegen de spanningen ten top.Inhoudelijk raakte Verschaeve op dezelfde golflengte als de activisten in bezet België die de Duitse bezetting en de Flamenpolitik gretig aanwendden om substantiële eisen van de vooroorlogse Vlaamse beweging te veroveren (zoals de vernederlandsing van de Gentse universiteit).Met de Russische Februarirevolutie – maart 1917 – was het begin van het einde van de oorlog ingeluid. Russische troepen waren oorlogsmoe en velen raakten onder invloed van de bolsjewieken die de oorlog wilden stopzetten. Uiteindelijk zouden ook Duitse troepen massaal in opstand komen en muiten.__________ The Summer of 1917 in Context The summer of 1917 was one of important international and national political and military events, but also the moment when Flemish soldiers on the Yser Front demonstrated and the tensions with political and military hierarchies reached a high point. Alveringhem and the figure of chaplain Cyriel Verschaeve were central to this story.The arrival in the end of June of the first United States troops in Europe was perhaps a decisive turning point in the First World War. In Germany there was a change in power. With the unleashing of unrestricted submarine warfare, all their hopes were pinned on a swift victory. In occupied Belgium, the shift in power led to more requisitions of goods and people, with more poverty, hunger and forced labour as a result.On the front, dissatisfaction with the official triumphalism in the press grew among the soldiers. In addition, many Flemish soldiers felt discriminated against by overwhelmingly French-speaking officers.Cyriel Verschaeve was the point of contact and mentor for Flemish-minded soldiers who formed the basis of the Front Movement. He had acquired authority and popularity before the war through his writings and lectures.His attitude pleased neither the political nor the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and in the summer of 1917, tensions rose to the top.Verschaeve was largely on the same wavelength as the Activists in occupied Belgium, who eagerly welcomed the German occupation and Flamenpolitik to accomplish the major goals of the prewar Flemish Movement, such as the transformation of the University of Ghent into a Dutch-language institution.The Russian “February Revolution” (March in the Gregorian Calendar) in 1917 ushered in the beginning of the end of the war. Russian troops were tired of the war and many fell under the influence of the Bolsheviks who wished to end the war. Finally, German troops would also come to revolt and mutiny en masse.