History

Internal Assessment

Research Question: To what extent did the experiences in the trenches during the Battle
of Verdun impact the soldier's physical and mental well-being?

IB Code:
Word Count: 1082

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 This investigation will address the question: To what extent did the experiences in the

trenches during the Battle of Verdun impact the soldier's physical and mental well-being?

Through various soldier ́s surviving experiences and the research of historians whose lives

were dedicated to investigate the filthy and deadly life among the trenches, along with the

numerous health issues that arose there, the authors can shed light onto the soldiers internal

and external struggle to survive the trench atmosphere and circumstances during the bloody

Battle of Verdun.

Primary Source.- Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas,

Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 (Book)

To begin with source 1, we have a historical book called ‘’Poilu: The World War I

Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918’’ made by the french corporal

Louis Barthas, a soldier who engaged in combat in the Battle of Verdun, between 1914-1918.

This source was chosen because it provides a soldier’s perspective on the aftermath and

consequences the Battle of Verdun had on soldiers, whether it is a mental or physical one.

The origin of this book is valuable due to the first hand-information provided by the

author, granting a deep perspective on the experiences of soldiers in the trenches during the

Battle of Verdun, as the author was a corporal battling for France during the event.

Nevertheless, this involves the fact that his perspective can also be a limitation, as it takes

into account the lack of sleep, the constant bombardments and the terrible life conditions

affecting the physical and mental integrity of the soldiers. The purpose of this book was to

write a reliable testimony about his experience fighting in the trenches, however its purpose

is also its own limitation, as this book reflects the perspective of a single individual and does

not portray the full experiences of all soldiers in the Battle of Verdun.

Secondary source: Article ‘’Journey’s End: the trenches’ impact on mental health’’

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 The secondary source is an article from the National Archives called ‘’Journey’s End:

the trenches’ impact on mental health’’. The content of this source is valuable as it contains

insights into mental health impact during trench life, offered through several references such

as documents related to shell shock and mental health topics from that time, giving a

comprehensive understanding of the psychological impact of trench warfare. All the same, an

important limitation to this source is the detail of this article not having an author and neither

year of publication. Additionally there is lack of information regarding the immediate impact

of trench warfare on soldiers physical and mental well being, but still, overall, provides the

effects of fighting shell shock, waiting in traumatic surroundings, and the overall atmosphere

soldiers had to face during their stay in the trenches.

Section II: Investigation

The battle of Verdun was one, for not to say, the bloodiest battle in the history of

Mankind. It eventuated from February 21st to December 15th of 1916 and was planned by

the German Chief of General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, to secure victory for Germany on

the Western Front. The aim was to crush the French army before the Allies grew in strength

through the full deployment of British forces, as France´s ninety-six divisions were the one

thing holding up the Allied struggle in the western front.

At 4am on February 21st of 1916 the battle began, with a massive artillery

bombardment and a steady advance by troops of the German Fifth Army under Crown Prince

Wilhelm, and ceased on December 15th, as winter conditions and results of fighting on the

Somme, place where the German effort was concentrated, made further activity impossible;

leaving, in total, the titanic number of more than 700,000 casualties; with the French

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suffering the loss of 377,000 men and the Germans 330,000. (What Was The Battle Of

Verdun?, n.d.) These digits, however, do not represent the total picture of injured soldiers

during this horrendous event, as it takes only into account the deceased, not the physical or

mental aggrieved. As a matter of fact, most deaths were not caused as a result of the

battlefield, but by the poor living conditions the soldiers faced daily.

The trenches were the place in which soldiers would spend day and night waiting and

fighting for their lives and defending their sacred home, their nation; but that also meant

living day after day in the most filthy, ill of places in the entire world. Two French soldiers

wrote: “You eat beside the dead; you drink beside the dead, you relieve yourself beside the

dead and you sleep beside the dead.” “People will read that the front line was Hell. How can

people begin to know what that one word – Hell – means.” (The Battle of Verdun, 2015). The

circumstances inside the trenches were the most horrible of experiences any human could

ever bear; the mud was everywhere as a result of constant artillery bombardments and poor

weather conditions, diseases plagued the soldiers at all times due to the corpses left to rot

within which also flooded the place with rats and contaminated their food and water; whereby

caused the latrines to be occupied day and night, leaving an unbearable stench that also mixed

with the corpses´ decomposing essence, not to mention the malnutrition soldiers endured due

to the constant and vast shortages of food.

All this factors would contribute to the development of various physical and mental

diseases, such as: trench foot, due to keeping feet moist for long periods of time; dysentery, a

gastrointestinal disease caused by bacterial or parasitic infections; or the worse mental

disease a soldier could go through as not only did it affect increasing numbers of frontline

troops serving in World War I, but to the fact that Army doctors were struggling to

understand and treat the disorder known as shellshock. The name was coined by the soldiers

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themselves as it often happened after explosions from artillery shells that caused tremendous

and agonizing sounds for the soldiers, leaving them in a state of extreme disorientation and in

inability to function. Its symptoms included fatigue, tremor, confusion, nightmares and

impaired sight and hearing. Because many of the symptoms were physical, it bore little overt

resemblance to the modern diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. (Shell Shocked, 2012)

Bibliography:

- The Battle of Verdun. (2015, April 17). History Learning Site. Retrieved June 27,

2024, from https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-one/battles-of-world-

war-one/the-battle-of-verdun/

- Dysentery: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment. (n.d.). Cleveland Clinic.

Retrieved June 27, 2024, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23567-

dysentery

- San Jose, D. (2014, Noviembre 18). Life in the trenches: Battle of Verdun. Prezi.

Retrieved Junio 26, 2024, from https://prezi.com/tkj9au2v-6g0/life-in-the-trenches-

battle-of-verdun/

- Shell shocked. (2012, June 1). American Psychological Association. Retrieved June

27, 2024, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/06/shell-shocked

- Trench Foot: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment. (2022, October 30). Cleveland Clinic.

Retrieved June 27, 2024, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24392-

trench-foot

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- What Was The Battle Of Verdun? (n.d.). Imperial War Museums. Retrieved June 27,

2024, from https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-the-battle-of-verdun