the pity of war

The Pity of War

World War I marked a change not only in military strategy and technology of war, but also in consciousness in those who served as soldiers and those who watched the innocently as the western world was transformed forever. Never again would the world regain the innocence, or at least the simplicity it had previously enjoyed.
Carl Zuckmayer, through his account of his life pre- during and post war is clearly exemplifies the epact of WWI on the person. He as with many young Germans was changed nearly overnight from a passively allegiant civilian who as he had stated while on holiday in Holland “I will not shoot at other people, I’d rather go to prison”, to a patriotically consumed non-individual. Driven by the mass consciousness of war propaganda and the enthusiasm of the war legacies. He found his most cherished ideals, as expressed in his poems “false and stupidly innocent, shameful. He did not feel forced to join the military, rather compelle...