Essay About Source A And Particular View Of The Attitudes

British Soldiers Perspective on World War one “no Works Cited”
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British Soldiers Perspective on World War One ” No Works Cited”
Sources A,B and C portray a particular view of the attitudes of
British Soldiers to their commanders during World War One.
A) Source A holds a negative perspective stating that soldiers
disliked their commanders because they never showed up at the
frontline of any of the battles. The source is a cartoon taken from
the British magazine Punch. The negative view shown is mostly the view
held by the cartoonist and so may not represent the view of the
British Public. The negative view point can be reinforced by Hot
blood and cold steel by andrew simpson it says “Good and you were
with me on the somme?” to which the men replied ” we didnt see you
there sir!” this proves that most of the British soldiers shared the
same view point that commanders were not liked amongst the men as they
were always willing to send men into batle but they were never willing
to lead them into one which makes them seem cowardly. However this
point can be contridicted because in Officers and Men it says He
was sorry to hear he was gone, as he was a fine chap and a jolly good
officer. This quotation shows that some officers did join in battles
and were respected and liked by their soldiers. Also source A tends to
be very general and doesnt show the differences between staff officers
and fighting officers. Many men respected their officers which fought
with them but hated the staff officers who didnt fight. In Diary of a
Battalion runner it states that some staff officers such as Jackson
who was relieved of duty “refusing to commit his battalion to an
action which he saw as ill concerned” This shows source A is not as
useful as first thought. Although it is useful to see the view held by
some people the cartoon can only show one of the view points. The
cartoonist did not have a first hand experience of World War one and
so will only be drawing from ideas. At the time officers were thought
of very highly amongst the Public and so obviously the view shown in
the source isnt a fair representation of the events in peoples minds.
Overall I dont think Source A is very reliable or useful because it
only shows one mans opinion and doesnt show what the public thought.
B) Source B holds a similar view to that hown in source A. The source
has been taken as an extract from the television programme Blackadder,
it says General “Insanity” Melchit invites you to a mass slaughter
this means the source holds a negative view point that staff officers
who were often not in battle were not liked or respected amongst
soldiers who fought in the War. However the television series
Blackadder is known as a comedy and so any points made during the
programme could have been written with the intention of humour. If
this is the case then the source could be slightly un reliable because
the statements will have been twisted and exagerated to make them as
funny as possible. However the points used in the programme must hold
some element of truth in order to be relevant to the episode. It says
in The front line soldier and the Staff – ” to some soldiers the
commander-in-cheif was so renound a figure hat they failed to
recognise him even when they encountered him in person” This source
just quoted shares the view with Source B that officers werent
respected if they werent willing to turn up and fight with the
soldiers. Source B should be very accurate as it has the advantage of
other resources and hindsight, however this source may also only show
the view point of the producers of the programme and not the view of
the Public. Although some characters such as Captain Darling are
portrayed as being a bit of an idiot other officers such as Captain
Blackadder are shown as good characters which could mean the
programme doesnot contain to much bias although a little may be
present. The source can be considered quite useful because the
programme recognises the difference between Fighting Officers and
Staff Officers, Captain Blackadder is shown going into battle with his
men, this means that in the programmes perspective some officers did
fight in the war. However due to the many clashes of opinion within
the source it cant be reliable the most likely thing is that the facts
have been twisted in order to create a comedy.
C) Source C is taken from a speech made