Violence de masse

Mass violence

The First World War took place between 1914 and 1918. In 1914, Europe dominated the world which created rivalry between countries which led to the formation of the to alliances : the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) and the Triple-Entente (Britain, France and Russia). On the 28th of June 1914, the Austrian archiduc was murdered by a Serbian activist in Sarajevo. This persuaded the Austrian government to declare war on Serbia and with the system of aliances, the war rapidly beacme a European and then a World War. The mass violence defines itself by the death of many soldiers and by the massacres of civils. It affects everyone as the First World War was a total war who mobilizes all the ressources of the country, soldiers and civils. The first world war was a war of attrition, a prolonged period od conflict during which each side seeks to gradually wear down the other by a series of small-scale actions.

The states take control of the econmy and of the society and orientate them towards the war. The biggest industrial are engaged and produce armaments in huge quantities.

The science and technology progress at a considerable speed and create weapons massively deadly : the artillery comes first using hundreds of millions of bombshells.

New armements appear like airplanes, tanks, submarines and allow the conflict to take earth, in air and on water. Thse weapons caused the deaths of numerous soldiers as they were more developed and precise so could kill more men.

The artillery dominated the battlefields in WW1. A well-aimed bombardment could destroy ennemy trenches and knock out artillery batteries and communicsation lines. It could also help break up an infantry attack. Many tactics were required to break down the ennemy lines. The more effective was the creeping barrage which is a slowly moving artillery attack acting as a defensive curtain for infantry following closely behind. The barrage threw up dirt clouds to obscure the infantry. It was very hard to defend against the artillery especially because the defense at that time was very poor. There were two main types of artillery : The light field artillery, pulled by horses and heavier guns moved by tractor.

The airplanes at that time were almost entirely for civilian use. The first war planes flew as reconnaissance craft, lloking down on enemy’s line or helping to direct artillery fire with more precision. The airplanes started shooting the ennemy’s planes down and then became capable of carrying bombs to drop on the enemy.

The use of gas was very significant in WW1. On the 22th April 1915, French troops noticed a yallow cloud moving towards them from the German front. The cloud was chlorine gas. It was the first gas was used effectivily in awr. Soldiers didn’t have any protection. Germans released in total 68000 tonnes of gas and the British and French 51 000. The gas was released by canisters and blown by the wind wotwards the enemy. There were some problems as sometimes, the wind changes direction and killed their own soldiers. In total, 1200000 men were gassed of which 90000 died.

The tanks were first used in 1916 by Britain. First, they weren’t reliable. In 1917, their full potential was realzed. At Cambrai, german defenves were too strong to attack with the artillery so the tanks crossed the ennemy trenches and served of shields for the advancing infantry.

Millions of soldiers are mobilized coming from their country or from the colonies. 800 000 mens were mobilized in the colonies. Approximatively 600 000 of them fought on the front. All those people were engaged in a dangerous and risky fight and many and 10 millions soldiers died.

The generals use mens without counting them, thinking that they had inexhaustible reserves during the war of movement. The battle of the Somme in 1916 who is a war of movment counts 442 000 deaths. The Allies planned to break through the German lines. On the 24th June, the British began a six-day artillery bombardment on German lines but the Germans retreated into deep bunkers and were unharmed. On the 1st July, British infantry emerged from their bunkers and opened fire. Britain thought that the enemy had been destroyed by their artillery and surprised