Viewing Thread:
"If You Lived During WWI..."

This is a question mainly for males, but females can answer too...not that I could've stopped you anyway.

BEFORE Conscription was introduced, would you have volunteered to join the Army?

Really think about it, would you be willing to give up your family, friends, job to go be a soldier, where you could easily be killed? And of course, you may have to live with the fact that you've killed others (if you did join up).

I'm not sure about my own answer yet.

Don't forget, back in WW1 the men were GLAD to join up at the beginning

They had dead-end jobs
They had a duty to their country
They thought it would be over by Christmas

I could dig out an old history book of mine if I still have it and give a massive list of reasons

So if I was alive back then, I'm sure one of these reasons would have made me join up

Anyone who didn't join up was heckled in the streets by women and spat on

There was immense pressure to join, and then conscription came along

And what if you couldn't afford to skip the country?


As for killing people, if it's kill or be killed, I'm sure I know what I'd be doing (and it wouldn't be running away)

I'm going to join the army in 3 years time anyways, so my answer would be yes. Joining a service to defend other peoples way of life. In order to insure that life can continue, so that, food will not be scarce. So that, rights are not taken away and survival is not an option, but a possibility.

Say what you like, but I'd be willing to die in duty if it had any reason behind it.

Ant wrote:
sounds selfish, and it
> probably is, but if I had gone I may have taken many lives. What some people
> failed to understand is that many of the Germans also felt they had to join up
> thanks to the pressure from other people, and being scared of being called
> 'cowards.'

Well said Ant. People always seem to give the impression that all German's are horrible people, which is not the case. This goes onto discrimination etc, but this is the wrong topic for that. I'm sure there were plenty of German's who had British friends and vice verca, but were literally forced to go out into war. At least these days we have a human rights act, to prevent that happening (I think). What would it have been like to live in the days of World War 1?

At the moment, after much deliberation, my answer would have to be...no.

I'm not that much of a patriotic reason, but my main reason would be killing other people. I mean, we know now that the trench wars were pointless most of the time, and just caused thousands of deaths. I, personally, would not want to go to War for 'honour'. I'd rather stay, help my country in other ways, and therefore I don't kill anyone else, I wouldn't have to give up what I have here and I wouldn't be stuck in some dirty trench.

Hey, it sounds selfish, and it probably is, but if I had gone I may have taken many lives. What some people failed to understand is that many of the Germans also felt they had to join up thanks to the pressure from other people, and being scared of being called 'cowards.'

If i lived in the first world war, I'd have put on a dress, largened my upper chestal area and stayed at home. And then I'd get kinda fond of the idea. . .

loki wrote:
> MoJoJoJo wrote:
Hey, I'm not saying I would go "Yeah, war,
> let's all
> sign up and get killed" but if I had to, I would

So why would you have
> gone then? Do you think war would be a laugh?

If not, what would be your
> reason for fighting? For the glory of the Nation State? For the King? For
> money? Or do you just want to fight? If a man doesn't want these things he is
> not a coward.

I'm sorry but I can't see why you think men should be expected
> to die in WW1. What would your reasons for going be?

Well said Lokes. I don't think there is any logical reason, but if so, please enlighten me.

MoJoJoJo wrote:
Hey, I'm not saying I would go "Yeah, war,
> let's all sign up and get killed" but if I had to, I would

So why would you have gone then? Do you think war would be a laugh?

If not, what would be your reason for fighting? For the glory of the Nation State? For the King? For money? Or do you just want to fight? If a man doesn't want these things he is not a coward.

I'm sorry but I can't see why you think men should be expected to die in WW1. What would your reasons for going be?

MoJoJoJo wrote:
> Draft dodger, eh?

Your family would be penalised if you left

And when you
> returned you'd be locked up

In peanalised do you mean killed or fined? I would take them with me, and I wouldn't come back.

Hey, I'm not saying I would go "Yeah, war,
> let's all sign up and get killed" but if I had to, I would

But war is almost definate death, and do you want to die? I will wriggle out of war as much as I can, because I hate war and am a conscienscious objector, even if it means risking things to escape it.

Draft dodger, eh?

Your family would be penalised if you left

And when you returned you'd be locked up


Hey, I'm not saying I would go "Yeah, war, let's all sign up and get killed" but if I had to, I would

MoJoJoJo wrote:
> *[SR]* Shaneo wrote:
> As Loki said, there are PLENTY of reasons as to why
> you shouldn't sign
> up/participate in the war. I am a glorified
> conscienscious objector, and damn
> proud of it. Call me a coward, or a
> buzzard or whatever - I don't really care.
> I'm not really a patriotic
> person, and I am not one to die for my country, and
> all I say to those who
> are is good luck. A solution to not having to fight for
> your country is to
> sign peace treaties, but then that's a lot more difficult
> than implied. In
> a nutshell, I will not fight for my country.



Shame on you

You would've
> been conscripted anyway, so devastating

Going out to war is almost like signing your own death warrant - death is almost guaranteed. Death is not something I'm looking foward to, and I want to do when my time is up - not prematurely. If I was conscripted, I would simply leave the country, albeit a little difficult, I would do anything to wriggle out of war, because its a pointless act that destorys millions of lives.