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Redaktionens Avi Under Det stora kriget dog mellan 15 och 18 miljoner människor. Genom de stupades nära och kära kom ingen att lämnas oberörd. Förlorarna, barnen och de utomeuropeiska soldaterna ges sällan utrymme i den gängse populärhistoriken. I en tid då imperier spreds över världen användes dessa som maktfaktorer. När imperierna förklarade krig drogs även deras kolonier med i konflikten. Deras humankapital och naturresurser mobiliserades i den europeiska tvedräkten.

Men hur påverkar kriget oss idag? Över hundra år senare och genom historiens gång har Det stora kriget påverkat världen vi lever i. Våra författare har i dessa artiklar skildrat detta. Det stora kriget la grunden för ytterligare ett världskrig, och vi lever kvar i de bådas efterverkningar.

Denna tidskrift består av åtta texter som ger nya synvinklar på de stora skeenden och de enskilda faktorerna som påverkade kriget och folket. Författarna lyfter även hur dagens samhälle har formats av 1900-talets första stora konflikt.

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Joy Askerblom Alcohol, healing or destroying?

Cornelia E. Burman Boys and not only men in The Great War

Malte Moberg War of the arts

En vändpunkt i Tysklands historia

Inez Sundsten Warrior poets around the world

Kriget som Sveriges kvinnor

Daphne Åkerman The beasts of the battlefields

En kvinnas styrka förändrade världen

Artikelförteckning

En kvinnas styrka förändrade framtiden s. 4-5 En artikel om Flora Sandes och hur hon bidrog till den kvinnliga frihet som tillkom efter krigets slut. Daphne Åkerman

En vändpunkt i Tysklands historia s. 6-7 Det stora kriget kom att förändra Tyskland och ledde det in på den bana som kom att forma 1900-talet. Malte Moberg

Kriget som Sveriges kvinnor vann s. 8-9 I följd av det stora kriget så nådde även Sveriges kvinnor rösträtt. Inez Sundsten

alcohol healing or destroying s. 10-11 Alcohol and how it effected the great war Joy Askerblom

A War of the arts? s. 11-12 The Great War mobilized all means of victory including the arts. Malte Moberg

Boys and not only men in the great war s. 13-14 250 000 underage boys fought for Great Britain in the Great War. Cornelia Eriksson Burman

The Beast of the battlefield s. 15-16 The untold story of the Wolof tribe and their struggles Daphne Åkerman

The less read warrior poets s. 17-18 Manny of the soldiers during the Great war wrote poetry of their experiences but some are less read that others. Inez Sundsten

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En kvinnas styrka förändrade framtiden

m det Stora Kriget hade någon effekt på vårt samhälle idag är det ingen fråga om. Ett av de

tydligaste exemplen på detta är den kvinnliga friheten som tillkom efter krigets slut.

Innan kriget var det väldigt strikta regler mellan kvinnor och män. En kvinna skulle vara artig, sofistikerad, väl-lärd, och gifta sig med en man och föda honom barn. Men när alla män åkte ut till krig fanns det bara kvinnor, barn, och äldre kvar, och civilisationen mer eller mindre upphörde. För att kunna få igång samhället (eller hålla igång det så länge kriget löpte ut) så behövde det finnas arbetare, och de mest lämpliga för arbetet var kvinnorna. För första gången fick de arbeta, och inte bara hemma, men även på fronten.

Flora Sandes hade alltid varit väldigt annorlunda jämfört med hur kvinnor förväntades vara på hennes tid. Enligt History Today ska hon ha sagt: “I used to pray every night that I might wake up in the morning and find myself a boy,”. När kriget brast ut i 1914 började hon ta kurser inom vård och medicin under strid i Storbritanniens First Aid Nursing Yeomanry och Women’s Convoy Corps. Som medlem i Röda Korsets arbetslag skickades hon till Balkanländerna för att rädda livet på de stupade soldaterna vid fronten. När hon senare skickades till Belgrad med 50 andra sjuksköterskor kom hon att ta värvning i den Serbiska armén. Floras passion och vilja för att bli soldat och slåss i kriget var välkänd i den Serbiska armén och en dag när hon red förbi en officer frågade han henne varför hon var sjuksköterska om hon ville vara soldat, och uttryckte hur duktig hon var på en häst. När Tyskarna och Bulgarerna attackerade den Serbiska armén i 1915 fick hon chansen att gå med i den Brittiska Menigen. Anledningen för detta var nog att bristen på soldater i den Serbiska armén var så grov under just denna tid att kön inte spelade någon roll. Där fick hon friheten att göra i princip vad hon ville om man utgår från krigandet. Hon fick vara med i slaget i M a k e d o n i e n , d ä r S e r b e r n a f i c k e n överraskningsattack av Bulgarerna. I panik flydde armén, en officer försökte kalla på soldaterna och få dem att fortsätta kriga. Flora var en av de få som stod upp och fortsatte strida, tyvärr blev hon skadad av en granat. Flora Sandes blev tilldelad stjärnan av

Kara-George för hennes mod och henne berättelse spreds runtom i världen.

Hon var även väldigt intresserad i politik och Suffragette rörelsen och när hon var fick ta ledigt från armén brukade hon hålla föreläsningar i sin uniform om Västfronten, samt ge tal och press intervjuer. Hon publicerade också en bok om sitt liv på Västfronten vid namn An English woman-sergeant in the Serbian Army (1916), som skrevs för att samla stöd till armén från landet.

Flora Sandes totalt krossade idén av den Edwardianska kvinnan, hon visade att kvinnor var minst lika viktiga som män, att de inte fanns där för att sitta hemma och sticka och göra det andra sa åt dem att göra. Det är henne vi har att tacka, åtminstone för en del, för den moderna feminismen vi har idag. Hon var en viktig pjäs i det som kom att bli en kamp för frihet och mänskliga rättigheter. Hennes historia har inspirerat människor i flera generationer, och nu är det vår tur att föra vidare berättelsen.

Daphne Åkerman

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Flora Sandes kunde inte ha vetat den effekt hon skulle ha på framtidens kvinnors mänskliga rättigheter när hon blev inskriven i den Serbiska armén. Hon var en väldigt modern kvinna av sin tid, vi kan bara tänka oss hur bra hon hade passat bland i dagens kvinnorättskämper.

En vändpunkt i Tysklands historia

å bara 20 år genomgick Tyskland v ä r l d s k r i g , r e v o l u t i o n , demokrati och diktatur. Vad kan

Tysklands öde säga oss idag?

En evig värld, ett ombonat hem ”När jag försöker finna en lämplig beteckning för tiden före första världskriget, den tid i vilken jag växte upp, hoppas jag träffa rätt när jag säger: det var trygghetens gyllene tidsålder”. Stefan Zweig. Efter kriget mot Frankrike och sitt enande överträffade Tyskland sig självt i sina framgångar. Produktionen av stål steg svindlande 700 % till 1890. Pensioner och välfärd infördes två decennier före Storbritannien och teknologiska framsteg fortsatte sin eviga bana mot en allt bättre värld. Nationen blev egenkär och nationalismen blommade ut. Kejsaren var den militära överbefälhavaren, ledare för framgångens stat och nationen personifierad. En ovanlig politisk stabilitet rådde i Europa, koloniala dispyter löstes med penna och linjal och inte med vapenmakt. Det stora kriget blev slutet för denna era. Kriget välkomnades v a r m t a v d e n b u r g n a m e d e l k l a s s e n . Förväntningarna på kriget var målade av konstnärer, dess effektivitet skapad av industrin och dess okuvliga seger uttänkt av generaler.

De allierade satte direkt in en handelsblockad mot Tyskland. Detta, i kombination med att jordbrukets effektivitet sjönk då männen kallades in, ledde till a t t hemmafrontens v i l lkor försämrades . Undernäring främjade mottagligheten för sjukdomar som krävde runt 500.000 liv. Moralen vid hemmafronten sjönk. Vid Juli 1918 var Tysklands sista militära reserver förbrukade och i november hade Tyskland tvingats ut ur Frankrike. I desperation beordrades flottan till en enorm självmordsattack. Sjömännen begick myteri. Revolten spred sig över landet. Snart begärdes fred, bröd och statsvälvning i landets större städer. Kejsaren abdikerade och en republik utropades. Revolten ebbade ut men väpnade strider på gatorna fortsatte mellan socialister och liberaler, kommunister och konservativa under åren som kom. Republikens tidiga år var oerhört politiskt instabila.

Enligt Versailles-freden hölls Tyskland ensamt ansvarigt för krigets utbrott. En bitterhet väcktes som glödde tills en man lovade att göra upp med den orättvisa freden.

Den republik som blev var allt ifrån stabil. Politiken var polariserad mellan kommunister som strävade efter en Sovjetstat och konservativa anhängare av monarkin. De gamla skolorna ratades. Rörelser som Bauhaus och ”Den nya sakligheten” utmanade det gamla, dadaismen förkastade allt som konst var. Berlin blev enligt vissa ett Babylon, syndfulla kabaréer och drogförsäljning på öppen gata. Prostitutionen ökade markant och tidningarna rapporterade med skräckblandad förtjusning om de senaste lustmorden. Men synderna hade sitt straff. Mellan 1921 och 1924 drabbades Tyskland av hyperinflation. Livsbesparingar raderades ut, valutans funktion upphörde och befolkningen försökte överleva kaoset. Den världsomspännande krisen 1929 drabbades Tyskland oerhört hårt. Andelen arbetslösa år 1932 översteg 30 %. I det politiska kaoset vann extrema partier mark. Kommunisterna och socialdemokraterna kunde inte förlika sig, ett starkt och liberalt medelklassparti fanns inte men ett parti lyckades med effektiv användning av medier få ut sitt budskap som slog ifrån sig mot det de uppfattade som anledningarna till Tysklands vanheder. Med en paramilitär kår och bidrag från finansmän blev partiet i valet 1932 Tysklands största och kunde genom författningens kryphål avskaffa demokratin. Hitlers regim var inledd.

Med krigsmakten sammanbrott kastades Tyskland in i en historisk turbulens. Det fanns tillräckligt med kraft för att påbörja en revolution men inte tillräckligt för att slutföra den, samtidigt som många saknade den gamla ordningen. Tyskland blev en djupt polariserad demokrati. Ekonomiska kriser slog hårt och befolkningen sökte sig till de hårdföra linjerna som erbjöd en trygg ordning. Än idag kommer länder att träda in i demokratin efter en förtryckares styre, men utan stabilitet finns alltid risken att en ny despot kommer till makten. Hans skugga försvinner ej, men slumrar kvar.

Malte Moberg

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Mellankrigstidens Tyskland präglades av politisk och ekonomisk osäkerhet.

Kriget som Sveriges kvinnor vann

rots Sveriges minimala roll i k r i g e t s å d r a b b a d e s h e l a b e f o l k n i n g e n . S v ä l t ,

demonstrationer och polisbrutalitet fick svenska folket att koka, men detta fungerade även som bränsle till den svenska kampen för kvinnlig rösträtt.

De engelska suffragetterna har nog de flesta stött på. Det talas ofta om deras kontroversiella metoder för att få igenom rösträtten, så som våldsattentat. Den svenska motsvarigheten kallades för rösträttskämparna, och tog avstånd från våld. Detta skulle kunna bero på att engelskorna hade det ännu sämre ställt än svenskorna, som trots allt hade tillåtelse att både studera och arbeta med fysiska arbeten, om än detta var ovanligt. Det totala förtrycket som Storbritanniens kvinnor levde under gjorde dem ännu mer desperata till förändring, och tog dem till mer drastiska metoder än Sveriges kvinnor.

1902 kom två förslag om kvinnlig rösträtt till riksdagen. Antingen skulle den gifta kvinnans make få kvinnans röst, eller så skulle män och kvinnor ha lika rösträtt. Det sistnämnda förslaget fördes inte igenom, och det förstnämnda gjorde kvinnor runt om i landet arga. Det var då de började organisera sig. Så 1902 grundades den första ordentliga rösträttsorganisationen, Landsföreningen för kvinnans politiska rösträtt (LKPR), av bland annat Signe Bergman. LKPR åker ut och talar med andra rösträttsrörelser, i andra länder. De blev en del av den internationella rösträttskampen. En annan aktiv kvinna i rörelsen var Alfhild Lamm, som efter ett möte med de engelska suffragetterna skickade ett brev till Bergman. I brevet skriver hon följande: “Mera entusiastiska och engagerade människor har jag sällan sett, och det är då för väl att de finnas, som motvikt bland alla dem för hvilka det mesta synes omöjligt, och som tycka det ej lönar mödan att göra sig besvär ”i onödan” och söka förbättra saker och ting, ”det är bra som det är” - människorna, du vet.” (Alfhild Lamm, 1907).

Det stora kriget bryter ut år 1914, och många män kallas in till fronten. Detta gör att kvinnor runt om i Europa börjar arbeta i fabriker, som tidigare varit manligt nominerade.Trots att Sverige knappt deltog i kriget, led hela landet. Efter några år blir

matbristen så stor att Sverige ligger nära svältgräns. Folket är desperata och går ut i demonstrationer.

Hunger och politisk spänning efter både kriget och Ryska revolutionen resulterade i Junikravallerna i Stockholm, 1917. Den femte juni 1917 samlades en stor grupp människor på Gustav Adolfs torg, i en manifestation för att stoppa hungersnöden och förespråka kvinnlig rösträtt. Polisen stoppade manifestationen, med konsekvenser av ett trettiotal svårt sabelhuggna demonstranter, och ett fyrtiotal omkullridna.

Polisbrutaliteten resulterade i att detta blev den sista demonstrationen i 1917, men den skapade oro hos politikerna. Runt om i Europa sågs det hur arbetarrörelsen lyftes. I Ryssland hade arbetarna tagit makten, och hungerkravallerna i Tyskland hade övergått till kommunistiska revolutioner. Den borgliga staten fruktade att detsamma höll på att hända i Sverige. För att lugna demonstranterna så infördes kvinnlig rösträtt den 24 maj år 1919, kort efter Det Stora Krigets slut. Det första valet som kvinnor kunde delta i hölls år 1921.

Idag påminns vi om när den könsneutrala rösträtten och Det stora kriget var fjärde år, den nionde september, då hela Sveriges myndiga befolkning har möjlighet att gå och rösta och ställa upp i riksdagsvalet. Men minnet av kvinnors kamp påminns vi om varje dag, precis som vi påminns om varför vi måste fortsätta kämpa. För könsneutral lön, avstigmatisering av kvinnor sexualitet och normalisering av kvinnor med makt. För att samhället ska sluta klandra offret i en våldtäkt, sexualisera och lägga beslag på kvinnors kroppar, och för att hjälpa kvinnor i andra länder. Trots all den sexism som lever kvar idag, så finns fortfarande de människor som Alfhild Lamm skrev om i sitt brev till Signe Bergman, “det är bra som det är”- människorna. Och de är ett av de största hinder som vi har för att nå jämställdhet idag.

Inez Sundsten

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Signe Bergman var en av de som kämpade för kvinnlig rösträtt i Sverige.

Alcohol, healing or destroying?

lcohol was a big part of the war, David Lloyd George said; “We are fighting Germany, Austria and

drink; and as far as I can see, the greatest of these deadly foes is drink” Alcohol was used in the war both as a drink to enjoy, but was also sold as a medicine for “false courage” and most other things.

David Lloyd George, the prime minister was set on reducing the British alcohol consumption. He did this through taxation and licensing laws, and the so called rum ration. Even tho this was the case, rum was one of the most used medication on the front. It was used on everything from shell shock to the Spanish flu. It was used even tho it was proved to reduce shooting accuracy. The official ration was about 70ml per man. This was twice weekly for the men serving behind the frontlines, or resting. And daily for those in the trenches.

The rum was used for most things. It was used for false courage, for medicine, for warmth, for the men who couldn’t sleep. It was used as a motivational tool, as a reward. It was used different ways depending on which commander you had. Some commanders insisted on pouring every man's ration into their mouth one by one, it was like a ritual and a way to catch up with them. In theory this was how it was supposed to be. Some commanders used the rum as a reward system, this was an effective way. Men who had done an extra dangerous or upsetting task, like retrieving their comrades bodies from dead mans land, usually under fire, would receive an extra ration. There were also special times when a man got extra rations. For example, there was a survivor of an attack who spent more than 36 hours surrounded by his dead or dying comrades, drinking only drops of water and scavenging food from his dead comrades packs. When he made it back his commander took one look at him and have him a whole bottle of rum.

One thing that worried the government was the increasing amount of women drinking. A survey of four pubs in London revealed that in one Saturday night hour alcohol was consumed by 1483 men and 1946 women. The soldiers wives were drinking away their sorrows and worries. Newspapers said that they were “drinking away their over-generous

allowances”. The reason that this was so upsetting and not the men becoming alcoholics was very typical of the time, it was a sexist way of thinking.

Alcoholism was big. Everyone depended on alcohol. The regime tried to fix this by banning other alcohol and drugs then the rum ration. Only officers were allowed to buy, own or consume other spirits then the rum ration. Although many soldiers wrote to their families and loved ones and asked for spirits to be sent with a changed label to something like “sauce” others got their spirits smuggled in with for example a cake. People who never touched alcohol before the war drank a whole bottle of whisky a day. A few drank even two bottles a day. In theory officers who were found drunk had to go to court, in practice this rarely happened.

I would say that alcohol was both healing and destroying. Alcohol helped the people at the time. In the long run, it would ruin them, but then again so did the war. These problems could be recognized in today's society. Many people today take to alcohol when they have problems. In a way this could be recognized as the whole world's war because the whole world suffer from alcoholism. Alcoholism in itself is a war which every country is fighting.

Joy Askerblom

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A war of the arts?

he great war did not only rip apart landscapes and men, but also the canvas of artists. An

unreal war needed new ways of expression, and art came to be used in many more ways.

Depiction of war has existed throughout human history. During most of that time it had been a way for kings and commanders to glorify their victories. This ancient tradition continued up to the great war, the depiction of war in the fine arts was that of a glorious struggle, an honorable fight with perfect cavalry charges and exquisite uniforms. Suffering and death was left out and as where civilians and the world around them. In the Somme valley, the back of language broke. It could no longer carry its former meanings. World War I changed the life of words and images in art, radically and forever. It brought our culture into the age of mass-produced, industrialized death. This, at first, was indescribable.” Robert Hughes.

The war was nothing like romantic minds of nationalistic men and women. The effect of the efficient machines of death was a stalemate that drained life out of men and humanity into the sewer of the trenches. Soldiers stayed put in stinking pits of mud or were forced out on life-wasting marches towards a certain death.

Before the great war, the depicters of war had often been artists in studios that never participated in the battles itself, and only portrayed the action rather then capturing the emotion and feeling of fighting and loss. But at the time of the great war, artists had become more common and were now serving at the front lines. Common men wrote or never spoke of their emotions, whereas artists could use their medium of brush and paper, pencil and canvas, to process their horrors. Modern styles were already in full swing by the great war. Cubism, Vorticism, futurism and Russian avant-garde sought towards abstraction and alternatives to realism. These styles came to be applied on the unreal war with great effect. The harsh and contrasting shapes of cubism communicated the broken emotions and hard reality of the war. The futurist movement were fascinated by the modern, fast revolving world and the lethal, high energetic and mechanical new war. Their paintings of it are paeans to its ferocity.

Every mean of getting an advantage over the enemy was used and art was mobilized for the war effort. Art could transform objects beyond recognition. In the stalemate of the mud, tanks and artillery were painted in disruptive camouflage. At sea ships were painted in cubist fashion in the chic dazzle camouflage. In propaganda, gruesome hatred towards the enemy and his brutality became a way for the rulers to convince the populace that the war had to be continued and won at all costs.

The war affected every country in every way. The mind of common people, politicians and artists who endured it would never be the same again. The surreal and askew reality of the war contorted the very reality of the world, and not only through the moderna styles. Reality was torn apart physically and on the canvas.The realism of towns, dates, hilltops and regiments had struck hard against old words as honor, glory and courage. The great war mobilized all force available, industrial, human, resources, strategic and culturally. Art became both a tool for the war effort but also a tool for men to cope, escape and document the misery of war.

Malte Moberg

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In the great war, the glory of outdated military splendor met the realism of the industrial war.

Boys and not only men in The Great War

uring The Great War it was an age limit of 19 years to go fight overseas for British boys and

men. In great Britain there were as many as 250 000 underaged boys fighting in the great war.

When the war broke out 1914 there was a huge difference between the amount of men in the country's armies, Germany had about 3.7 million available men and Great Britain had 700 000. Britain was in big need of more men to be even with the other countries so Great Britain started a big campaign so that men would volunteer. It was thousands men who answered on this campaign and among these thousands it was 250 000 who were age 18 or under.

The recruiters used different mind games to make more men join the army. They had posters with words as “Are you gonna fight for your king and your country, or are you gonna hide behind the safety that you fathers won and your brothers are fighting to maintain”. They had many more posters where they used guilt and shame to make more men recruit. This guilt and shame was transferred to the boys also, they did not want to stay home and be cowards. So men took therefore a lot of pride in fighting for their country and it was a lot of young men and also boys who signed up to join the war.

During this time most people did not have a birth certificate so you could lie and say that you were older that you actually were. There was a height and chest size that you should have to be able to join but this could also be ignored. The recruitment officers got paid two shillings and sixpence (6 euro) for every man he recruited and in that time of need they took all they could get and did not really care that they boys were underage. It was not only the recruitment officers that helped these 250 000 young boys to make it to the army and the front line, it was the young boys parents, teachers and headmasters. But what the parents didn’t know when they helped the boys join the army was that this war was going to last for years and not only just until the roses bloomed out

In January 1916 the conscription to the British army was introduced so the volunteers were no longer needed. When this happened the numbers of young boys dropped immediately but there was still

those who were at the front and fought that could not go home. After a time the war office agreed that if parents (often mothers) could prove that their sons were underage they were gonna be sent home again. But this was not always the easiest thing to do. Sometimes they didn’t get the answer they wanted. There could be officers that didn’t believe that they boy was under 19 and other times it was too late, they could already be dead. A mother named Ms Evans received a letter with bad news, this letter contained information about the officers not believing that her son were underaged which meant that her boy stayed in the war. “I am astonished to hear that he is so young, he looks up to the standard of a 19 or 20 year old. I can hardly think that he want to be discharged as underaged being so physically big and strong. The rule is if the man or boy is up for the work he stays weather he is underage or not.”

It was a different time and the whole world was in need. This war did not become just the mens war it became the young boys and also their parents war. The big need of volunteers to fight made thousands of young boys feel forced to join. When they joined the parents were also involved. This war was all the peoples war.

Cornelia Eriksson Burman

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Underaged soldiers fighting in the trenches during the Great War

Great Britain had 2500 000 underaged soldiers that fought in the Great War

The beasts of the battlefield

hen the Great War came to a start in 1914, no one imagined the aftermath would be what it

is today. Yet, even now as we call it World War I, the lines between “the world” and simply “Europe” are fuzzy.

Picture this; a silent fear creeping into the minds of those affected by the war, thousands upon thousands of people dead day after day, the red poppies that bloomed in the fields where the endless dead lay, the loss of everyone you love, days spent in the cold and the wet and the dread. This is what most of us imagine when we think of World War I, but there is one part that’s been left in the dark for almost 100 years. It was not only a war for those who lived in Great Britain, France, Germany, Europe over-all, but for those who we have forgotten out of shame.

They live in the shadows, in memories long forgotten, on the dark side of the moon, they whose memory will never be honoured in the history books. The Wolof tribe.

At the end of 1914 the French had to come to the realisation that they were outnumbered by the German army. At this time almost 300 000 men had died in battle and their great shortage of soldiers (about 40 million men) compared to the 67 million Germans, would cost them to lose the war. Instead, they used their power as a country with access to an empire across the sea and went into their former colonies of West Africa to get infantry men. One of the tribes in the colonies that would come to suffer was the Wolof tribe, dragged into a war far away that was not theirs to fight. They were seen as a warrior race, barbarics prone to war, by French colonial theoretics. And this portrayal of them affected to what position they were hired. They were seen at the front of the battle, meant to lead the rest of the men into slaughter.

Because of the stereotypes for which they were hired, they were not valued as people, but as children playing at war, a living sacrifice. They were used to rally the men, but also as bullet sacks. They had 3 times the risk of dying than a white soldier in the same battle. They were denied the curtsy to learn the French language and forced to neglect their instincts. As men of colour they were raised with the belief that the lives of white people

were more valuable than theirs, and to show any kind of disagreeing of their will or even worse violence against them was a serious crime. But, dragged to a completely new continent in chains, without further knowledge of why, and forced to be alienated by the country they fought to save, they had to be the beasts of the battlefield, but children in the trenches.

Perhaps the most tragic part of their story is the fact that they were neglected the human right to be remembered by us today. We have hidden them away in shame for our own behaviour, and perhaps this can be seen in the way we treat people of colour in the present. There is, undoubtedly, still a struggle with racism in the 21st century, and the fact that we aren’t taught about the Wolof soldiers in school today is very good evidence of that. Instead, we learn about the bravery of the white soldiers. They are truly the unsung heroes of a generation.

Daphne Åkerman

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When the war ended in 1918, on what’s called Armistice Day, there were plenty of caucasian soldiers celebrating the world-wide truce, but little to none of those that were used as cannon fodder during the war.

The less read Warrior Poets

hen thinking about the Great W a r , w e r e m e m b e r t h e t h o u s a n d s o f E u r o p e a n

soldiers who died at the front. However, we often forget about the ten thousands non- European soldiers, w h o w a s l e d t o t h e f r o n t i n handcuffs, and their views on the war.

People have always expressed themselves through poetry. No matter if it's love, loneliness, selfishness or sorrow that makes your heart ache, writing a poem often has the power to release some pain. Poems says a lot about people's lives, and it’s an excellent way to map out a person’s journey or §feelings. This article contains two different poems, from two different poets, during the Great War. Two people with two very different conditions in life, and how they were affected by the war.

Roland Leighton is quite well known as a warrior poet during the Great War. Both his letters to his fiancé Vera Brittian and his poems have been beheld as an example of how the soldiers viewed the war, and the doomed love story between him and Vera Brittain has been recognized as an excellent reminder of the cost of war. Leighton came from a family of writers, and studied at Uppington School. However, he immediately volunteered for service as the war began in 1914. Between July of that year to December 1915 he was in service, while repeatedly writing letters and poems about the war, the society and love, which he sent to his fiancé. One of these poems can be viewed on the following page. In the poem, Leighton mentioned the place Plug Street Wood, which was a sector at the western front, just between France and Belgium. This would clarify the fact that he is writing about the war, and the “Violets” could make up a simile for the soldiers. The beginning of the second verse, “Violets from Plug Street Wood- Think what they have meant to me- Life and Hope and Love and You”, could be aimed at his friend and Vera's brother, Edward Brittain, with whom Leighton studied back in England. The “You” in the poem (as in “Life and Hope and Love and You”) would then referring to Vera, since the two lovers met through Edward. Like Leighton, Edward paused his education to join the war, and like Leighton, he died in the war.

A much less known warrior poet is Mall Singh. He was in his 20s when he was recruited by the British army, and was shipped from his home in Ranasukhi, Punjab to France in 1914. However, he was taken prisoner at the west front. This is all of the information we have about him, and we have it because of the strict notes taken by the germans. We also know that, on the 11th of december in 1916, at 4 pm, he was ordered to recite a poem he had written about the war into a microphone. This was then recorded onto a record, that has been preserved by the germans. But the men recording this did not care for the poem or poet himself, but only for Singh’s punjabi- dialect, to be able to continue to categorize races and linguistic types. There is no documents about Mall Singh’s destiny or death. Maybe he faced a destiny much more often seen amongst non-europeans; dead in captivity, without anyone taking heed or honoring him in any way.

The two poems seen on this page are very different in many ways, regardless of the fact that they were writ ten in the same t ime under similar circumstances. But what separates them from each other is the extreme literacy and raw distress in Singh’s poem, while Leighton keeps a romantic simile throughout his work. This is a strong depiction of how the war was perceived for soldiers from around the world, and how being away from their family and home affects them. Maybe this could make one remember not only the european soldiers who volunteered and lost their lives in the war, but also the ones that was forced into a war that didn’t concern them.

Inez Sundsten

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Violets from Plug Street Wood, Sweet, I send you oversea.

(It is strange they should be blue, Blue, when his soaked blood was red,

For they grew around his head; It is strange they should be blue.)

Violets from Plug Street Wood- Think what they have meant to me-

Life and Hope and Love and You (And you did not see them grow

Where his mangled body lay Hiding horror from the day;

Sweetest it was better so.)

Violets from oversea, To your dear, far, forgetting land

These I send in memory, Knowing You will understand.

Roland Leighton

There once was a man. He ate one pound of butter everyday in India

And drank one litre of milk everyday in India. He joined the British Army.

This man went to the European war. Germany captured this man. He wishes to return to India.

He will get the same food he used to have. Three long years have passed.

Nobody knows when there will be peace. If this man is forced to stay here for two more

years He will surely die.

If God has mercy, he will make peace soon. And this man will return home soon.

Mall Singh

Källhänvisning

Daphne Åkerman En kvinnas styrka förändrade framtiden Incredible story of Flora Sandes, the beer-swilling rector's daughter who was the only female on the frontline in WWI and WWII, The Daily Mail, (25/2-2014), Ruth Styles The Life of Captain Flora Sandes, History Today, (6/5-2013), Julie Wheelwright Marlesford, Suffolk: Flora Sandes, BBC, (10/2-2014)

The beasts of the battlefield Hela världens världskrig (2014), Olusaga, David

Malte Moberg War of the arts Capturing the Horrors - The Art of World War 1 I THE GREAT WAR Special (17/8-2015) Indiana Nidell Art forever changed by World War I, Los Angeles Times (21/7-2012) Reed Johnson Dazzle camouflage, Wikipedia (7/3-2016)

En vändpunkt i Tysklands historia. Weimar Republic, Wikipedia (10/3-2016) Weimar Culture, Wikipedia (3/2-2016) Unemployment in Nazi Germany, Spartacus Educational (01-2016) John Simkin German Revolution of 1918-19, Wikipedia (8/3-2016) German Empire, Wikipedia (13/8-2016) Gesammelte Werke, Kurt Tucholsky Världen av igår (Die Welt von Gestern) (1942) Stefan Zweig

Inez Sundsten The less read warrior poets Hela världens världskrig (2014), Olusaga, David. Roland Aubrey Leighton, University of Oxford. “Villanelle” (04-1915), Leighton, Roland. “Untitled” (1916), Singh, Mall.

Kriget som Sveriges kvinnor vann Hur kvinnorna fick rösträtt i Sverige (27/04-2013), Tröst, Henrik. Brev (11/11-1907), Alfhild Lamm.

Joy Askerblom Alcohol, healing or destroying? Booze in WW1 - diffordsguide (16/7-2014), Theodora Sutcliffe Alcohol and the first world war - Spartacus Educational (09-1997, uppdaterad 2014), John Simkin

Cornelia E. Burman Boys and not only men in The Great War Brev till Ms Evans från J.M Lloyd (1916) How did Britain let 250,000 underage soldiers fight in WW1? BBC. Greg James

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