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relationships in world war 1

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by emmieslou (U11204374) on Friday, 7th March 2008

  hi, i was wondering what the relationships were like between officers and men in world war 1. It would be really helpful if you knew.
  
  thanx
  
  xxxx

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Northern_Andy (U2943874) on Monday, 31st March 2008

  Hi.
  Generally in WW1 the officers would be from a higher social 'class' than the enlisted men, so as such would not generally consort with them.
  
  But of course when considering so many millions of men living in close proximity together under such conditions, the social distinctions began to erode somewhat. Remember, WW1 also had a huge social impact as well as a military impact...
  
  The officers would treat their men in a 'harsh but fair' sort of way. They had to act harshly to maintain discipline, but also had to take into account the stresses that they were living under, so would try to make sure they got their daily rum ration and a hot meal (whenever possible).
  
  It really is a quite complex relationship and I am certainly not an expert on the matter, but I did find that the WW1 memoirs book 'Forgotten Voices' gave an excellent insight.

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  Posted by Volgadon (U10843893) on Monday, 31st March 2008

  In almost any army some sort of distance is observed between the officers and men, even in armies where class isn't a major factor.

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  Posted by Mike Alexander (U1706714) on Tuesday, 1st April 2008

  I think it varied enormously, depending on several factors. For a start, 'officers' covers everyone from Field Marshals down to Second Lieutenants. A successful Lieutenant would have a good relationship with his men, somewhat along the lines of old-style patriarchal management. 'Staff' (the senior officers in charge of strategy etc.), on the other hand, would generally have had very little to do with the ordinary soldier.
  
  In the case of the more junior officers ('subalterns', as they were known), their relationship with their men could vary enormously depending on personality. I have read, for example, that Siegfried Sassoon was very popular amongst his men, whereas Robert Graves was not liked at all (probably not much helped by the rumours that he was a German spy, and his nickname: 'von Graves'!)

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  Posted by Mikestone8 (U13249270) on Friday, 5th September 2008

  In almost any army some sort of distance is observed between the officers and men, even in armies where class isn't a major factor.
  
  
  
  And they don't even have to be the real thing.
  
  I heard a lovely story about the making of the musical "O What A Lovely War". Uniforms were handed out tot he extras on a totally random basis, so that it was pure chance whether any individual got an officer's NCO's or private's uniform. Nonetheless, when they stopped for a tea break, the extras who were dressed as officers gathered into a separate group from those dressed as other ranks.

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• Message 6

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  Posted by Philip25 (U11566626) on Friday, 5th September 2008

  In the British army there has always been a gulf between officers and other ranks - they would not fraternise socially.
  
  Don't forget that in 1914 officers were drawn from the upper and middle-classes, were educated and brought up usually with servants and estate workers.
  
  This didn't mean that officers were unkind to their men - far from it, they would have been brought up in the main to have a sense of responsibility towards the lower orders, and would have liked, respected, even been "friends" with servants etc (whom they would frequently have known throughout their lives). But they would have had little in common with the other ranks either in terms of interests, tastes or outlook.
  
  My understanding is that in a Royal Navy the relationship would have been more paternal - the captain was after all " father" to a large flock contained in a stell hull. the atmosphere between officers and men might have been less "stiff" than could be found in the army, but the gulf would still have been there.
  
  When the RFC (later the RAF) was formed i suspect that, as in today's RAF the atmosphere was easier still, because the men involved would have been chosen in the main for their technical skills and interests. But it is all comparative.
  
  In conclusion, the relationship would have closley reflected and paralleled the social distinctions and class structure of the day. Officers would rarely have mixed with men except on duty, going to their own messes (or wardrooms in the RN), frequentling different places of entertainment etc.
  
  But at the end of the day individual relationships would have been influenced by the characters of the men involved. I would suggest you search out memoirs, diaries and works such as those by Graves, Sassoon etc for more detail.
  
  Be wary of modern novels or TV series/films which may not be accurate.
  
  Phil

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