Can someone tell me more about the class divide between officers and private soliders on the western front WW1

Answer 1

The class divide between soldiers on the Western Front was more complex than people might assume. While officers were drawn from the middle and upper classes, the divide was more between those who actually fought in the trenches and those that did not. The life expectancy for junior officers at the Front was phenomenally low, at some points being measured in days. These officers were in the main respected by their men. Staff officers and others who were seen by the men as avoiding the trenches were considered to be objects of contempt.

Answer 2

The actual class division was not so pronounced towards the end of the war and a lot of NCO's did make it up the ranks into Battlefield Commissions.
However, basic education was not enough to become a good officer, you need grammar school education at least, better if you was a boarder, then the Capt of a sports club or an exec member. Then there was your civilian position, managerial or supervisory positions always counted for more with the Armed forces.
Yes to become a higher ranked officer, you did need connections, you did need some prestige or backer and they looked for the proper sort, but again talent at the job always counted and promotion boards did look at the records.
NCO's had exactly the same issues, tradesmen, supervisors, etc, all where expected to be better NCO's than ordinary workers, factory and farm labourers, but again in some regiments it did not matter too much.

Answer 3

The European army officer corp was derived from the aristocracy (the Naval officer corp recruited from the middle class).

The enlisted or rankings or conscripts were considered as so much cattle.

A class system existed throughout European society and the military was just an extension of it. So not only was your commanding officer a major or colonel or general he was also possibly a Duke or Baron or member of the Royal family of your country.

So the great divide between officer and enlisted in the European theater during WWI was huge.

But what changed during and after the War to End All Wars, was both the Napoleonic fighting strategies and the Napoleonic structure of the officer corp. After WW1 saw a complete restructuring of who became commissioned.

Answer 4

It was basically about the fact that officers had to be educated and the average soldier could bearly read and write. So the selection of officers was based on education and in the main only the wealthy and middle classes could fit the bill. When an individual was exceptional (i.e. clever or thick but wealthly) he would also be considered for officer status but the officers very much ran things like a club and those that did not fit in did not go far. Regardless, of the `old boys' or school tie issues many officers died as very young men who did not really know what they were doing.

Answer 5

At the start of the war, the class divide was huge, as it had always been in the British Army. The regular soldiers were drawn from the working classes and the officers from the middle and upper classes.
During early recruitment drives in 1914/15, this pattern continued, with volunteers from the working classes joining as privates and members of the upper classes/ex public school boys automatically being recruited as officers, unless they chose otherwise.
The first few months of the war saw many long-serving officers killed or wounded out of the army, as they led very much from the front. Throughout the war, the officer casualties were extremely high - proportionately more so than with the 'other ranks'. German tactics included deliberately targetting officers during attacks in order to deprive the soldiers of their leaders. As officers were 'disappearing' at a high rate, replacements had to be found from lower middle class and even working class soldiers, promoted at the front as a result of their service and experience.
This, added to the common experiences of all ranks at the frontline, helped close the social divide between officers and other ranks considerably.
Although the highest ranking officers and their staff officers were often detested by many frontline soldiers for staying safely at the rear during large scale battles, this reflected a change in army policy, after the first few months of the war had seen so many experienced officers lost to the army, either killed or wounded. The tradition of army leaders being in the frontline had to be abandoned as new weaponry made their situations far too precarious and their leadership skills all too easy to lose.

Answer 6

I wonder if you are asking the question that you want to ask. The "western front" was the one that Germany presented to the Allies. In Germany, they had a divided command for every important military unit. For every nobleman given command of a unit, there was a commoner, but quartiermeistergeneral. Think von Hindenburg and Ludendorf. Think Gneisenau and Scharnhorst.

If you were an allied general wanting to march on Berlin, you would have to go east. So: What were class divisions among French soldiers, the English, and the Americans?

Answer 7

Erich Maria Remarque Remarque replaced into born in Osnabrück, decrease Saxony. His mom replaced into Anna Marie Kramer and father, Peter Maria Kramer, a bookbinder. He drafted into German military on the age of 18, and replaced into wounded various situations. After his discharge Remarque had taken a instructor's route provided to veterans by the authorities. Remarque began his writing occupation as a wearing journalist, and assistant editor of Sportbild. popularity got here such as his first novel, All Quiet on the Western the front, which touched a nerve of the time. contained in the Thirties Remarque's books were banned by the Nazis. All Quiet on the Western the front replaced into between the works consigned to be publicly burnt in 1933 by the Nazis. In 1938 Remarque misplaced his German citizenship, and he left Germany contained in the overdue Thirties. First Remarque went to Switzerland and moved later to u.s., the position he made pals with Hollywood stars. He died in Locarno, on September 25, 1970.

Answer 8

Officers were picked from middle class and upper class conscripts/recruits.
Working class conscripts/recruits were automatically assigned to the ranks. They were the ones who died in their hundreds of thousands.
Yet another example of the rich looking after their own and allowing the poor to suffer.

Answer 9

Watch Black Adder it makes it blatantly obvious, whilst the humour makes the horror stomachable.