Contextual notes for Disabled

1: The First World War 1914 - 1918: Britain entered the war in August 1914 when Germany invaded Belgium. Britain had signed an agreement to protect neutral Belgium. Men could volunteer to serve. Officially they had to be 19 years old but some were younger. First large-scale, merchandised war. Took everyone by surprise in terms of weaponry, methods etc. . at start of war British still fought like they had for centuries by end methods were very different. Casualty rates were very high due to greater mechanization which meant long-range shells could be used along with things such as mustard gas and machine WW1 changed attitudes to war and soldiering from idealistic and patriotic to the view that war was pointless and the loss of life simply wasteful rather than noble and honourable.

2: The War poets WW1 saw the rise of what have come to be termed the war poets or soldier poets. The war poets that we know today were men who served on the Front during WW1 most were officer class. Several names came to the fore such as Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. War poets such as Owen and Sassoon focus on the futility of war and the waste of young male lives. Women come in for some pretty heavy criticism, especially by Sassoon as they are seen as encouraging young men to throw their lives and prospects away for some outdated concept of glory. None of Owen's poems were published during his lifetime. The view of war presented by the war poets has shaped our sense of what the First World War was like and how valuable it was.

3: Fate of wounded soldiers. Injuries were more advanced than the medicine of the day Lots of amputations, single and double Infirmaries established to "care" for the war wounded British public did not really want to confront the effects of war so badly wounded were shut away in these infirmaries after the war. Many suffered psychologically as well as physically but very little help was available.