Kelly Dramos Mr.

Marrone History 08/09/2013

What happened to French Soldiers on the Western Front in 1917? How many were executed for cowardice?
I. Introduction

Fighting in The Great War took great courage, but not all the men who fought lacked cowardice either. This essay will analyze what happened to French Soldiers in 1917 at the Western front, and those who were executed for cowardice. Does the research question have enough reliable resources of viable information, or has the information related to it been altered over time by those who dont want the truth about the executions to be revealed? Also, what if there is no definite number of soldier executed? This essay will analyze what happened to Soldiers (not just French) on the Western Front during the time of mutinies and how many soldiers were executed for cowardice during battles (in The Great War a.k.a. World War One). This essay will analyze the year of 1917 when there were mutinies in army bases and executions for cowardice. This essay will expose why soldiers started mutinies and that other soldiers were executed for cowardice during battles on the Western Front. II. Background/Summary

It was 1917 and the Russians had just dropped out of the war. This allowed the Germans to concentrate entirely on the Western Front. This meant that there were 2 million men fighting, a million soldiers fighting on each side. German U-boats were sinking ships with supplies, rendering the British and French armies in France hungry and unarmed for a period of time. The British and French had a great number of casualties from the Battles of Verdun and the Somme. The Entende powers were losing more battles that they were winning and the soldiers were starting to lose moral. III. Evaluation of Sources

The movie Paths of Glory was directed by Stanley Kubrick, The Criterion Collection 1957. Its purpose is to show what happened to the men who did not fulfill their duties as soldiers and coward in the field. Its historic value is that it gives us an insight of how men were treated and what life was like during the Great War. The limitations of this movie is that t only shows us one story of mutiny and how it was dealt with but it does not tells us facts about these occurrences during the Great War, for example, the amount of soldiers who were killed for cowardice. A JSTOR archive called Mutiny at Etaples Base in 1917 was written by Douglas Gill and Golden Dallas, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society

Kelly Dramos Mr. Marrone History 08/09/2013

1975. The purpose of this archive is to share and educate people on what was happening during the Great War, other than just the fighting against the Germans. Its historic value is that it sheds light on why mutinies occurred during the Great War, who was part of these mutinies and it helps us understand why situations like these were handled the way they were. The limitations of this article are that it was not written by someone who was there, but by collected information. Information may be missing or formulated to fit the information around it. IV. Analysis Part One

Soldiers in Bases, such as The Etaples Base (in France) rebelled and started mutinies because of the conditions in which they were living and being treated. Although the Etaples base was a permanent base, the soldiers were confined to tents (Douglas Gill). Soldiers who had barely been discharged from hospitals were sent back to training. Those who had already served at the trenches had to undergo the same training as the new recruits. A course in gas warfare at the Bull Ring (what the training ground was called) took up two weeks. The conditions were bad and the principle meal of the day consisted of two slices of bully beef, two biscuits and an onion. The harshness of the training and the bad living conditions that they were in caused them to start riots and mutinies against the police officers on Sunday 9 th of 1917 (Douglas Gill). Ringleaders or those whom were thought to be organizing the mutinies were shot. These mutinies continued for several more days, that the base requested reinforcements from outside (Gloden Dallas). This tells us why Soldiers (not just French but Scottish and ANZAC) rebelled against the police and officers. Though this is just one account in one base, there were other mutinies in other bases before and after. It shows us what was happening in the background while The Great War was going on. V. Analysis Part Two

In wars its normal for soldiers to be killed by the opponent, but in 1917 Soldier were executed by their own men for cowardice. The Entende Powers had greatly suffered in the Battles of Verdun and the Somme, and moral was running low. Soldiers were scared to go over the top, and retreated during battle without receiving orders to do so (Kubrick). Lieutenants from each battalion that exhibited cowardice in battle were asked to choose men from his own battalion to be executed (Kubrick). 355 men were executed in Etaples Base alone, for a series of military offences (Gloden Dallas) from 1914-1918. During the year 1917 most of the executions are believed to be for cowardice and mutinies. Men who were charged with cowardice did not have proper and official trials (Kubrick) (Gloden Dallas). It is uncertain how

Kelly Dramos Mr. Marrone History 08/09/2013

many men were executed throughout the entire was for cowardice. Though, it does serve to show how desperate they were to win the war that they would shoot down their own men. VI. Conclusion

This essay explains why soldiers on the Western Front rebelled and why others were shot in execution for cowardice in battles. Future sources of information could be: journals kept by soldiers detailing these events. Maybe there are other archives that follow Mutiny at Etaples Base in 1917 that mention more mutinies. Researching for how long the executions went on for could help us determine a more precise number of men executed for cowardice.

Bibliography
Douglas Gill, Gloden Dallas. "Mutiny at Etaples Base in 1917." Douglas Gill, Gloden Dallas. Oxford Unibersity Press, The Past and Present Society, 1975. 89-90. Gloden Dallas, Douglas Gill. "Muntiny at Etaples Base 1917." Gloden Dallas, Douglas Gill. Muntiny at Etaples Base 1917. Oxford University Press, 1975. 93. Paths of Glory. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. 1957.