The experiences of warfare described in the two assigned sources. What was similar and different about warfare during World War I in Europe and in Africa?
The World War I was basically a war that had considerable experiences in Europe and in Africa. Through the readings one can be decode that the war in Europe was against the Nazi-led National Socialism while elsewhere the war was geared towards resisting the expansionist strategies.
One of the most notable similarities regarding the warfare in the First World War is that the combatants mainly used guerilla tactics in a bid to launch surprise attacks to their opponents. This is evidenced by the fact that the conventional forces used trenches as their attack and defense strategies. The combatants did not face each other in the open and their strategy involved ambushes, raids, and mobility. As such, the combatants anticipated attacks at all times, more so at sunrise and sunset (Fraser, 2008, p. 35).
Accordingly, it is notable that the recruitment of young Africans into the French army also involved ambushes and surprise raids, particularly on the fringes of the colonial authority (Getz, 2008, p. 233).France recruited heavily from their colonies into their armies to complement their manpower. The French recruited was mainly through deception and the use of force (Getz, 2008, p. 232). The use of force is seen apparent from Getz’s article which provides that the French carried out what he refers to as ‘surprise’ raids in a bid to capture young men (p. 233). Specifically, the local chiefs were required to fill quotas through lottery, sacrificing their sons, and through other forceful means whenever it was necessary to do so. In this regard, young males sought to avoid the French recruiters’ by all means possible. For instance, Getz observes that the young prospective recruits sought momentary refuge in the wild until the French recruitment commissions crossed over to Mauritania(Getz, 2008, p. 234). This shows that the young Africans did not perceive a soldiers work to be heroic.Of note is that the young Africans, just like the combatants in the European always expected raids albeit of different nature. However, whereas the young Africans believed that the best way to be safe was flight (Getz, 2008, p. 233) the European combatants believed that victory over their enemies was the best way to secure themselves during the combat was remaining inthedeep parts of the trenches (Fraser, 2008, p. 31).
In contrast, the European warfare experience regarding recruitment was based on a willing cooperation and political military associations between countries that shared the same vision. The willing cooperation is seen between the English and Swedish armies fought alongside each other against the German army. The cooperation is apparent when the narrator states thus, “Frisk, a Swede, who was behind me, not to be outdone accepted a bigger pile” (Fraser, 2008, p. 31) and “once a fighting soldier leaves England he practically sleeps in his clothes till he gets back there again” (p. 34). The two quotes evidence the presence of various troops drawn from various countries. The soldiers saw fighting as soldiers as a heroic act as evidenced by George, a dying soldier, who requested his colleagues to inform his parents that he died like a soldier (Fraser, 2008, p. 117).
Bibliography
Getz, Trevor, Richard Hoffman and Jarbel Rodriguez. “The Joyful Leap To War” in Exchanges:
A Global History Reader, Volume 2. (Pearson Inc., 2008), 223-234.
Reginald H. Roy, ed., The Journal of Private Fraser, 1914-1918, Canadian Expeditionary Force
(Victoria, BC: Sono Nis Press, 1985).
