“He Should Be a Soldier!”

The emergence and disintegration of the ideal soldier image in World War I

Abstract

The article focuses on the emergence, development, and disintegration of the prevalent image of the perfect soldier from the pre-World War I period. It describes the education and retraining of young men within the family and at school, which aimed to raise a new generation of strong and sturdy men, willing to sacrifice and fight. A new hierarchy appeared among men, based on the body and physical abilities. The conscript system and the outbreak of World War I drew a clear dividing line between real men, who were sent to the front, and the washouts, who spent wartime at home. Next, the article presents the everyday life of soldiers, which was in stark contrast to the expectations, because they frequently felt degraded to the level of children. Humiliation continued after the war, when they returned home not as heroes but as invalids and losers, which in combination with the devastating social conditions and widespread alcoholism, resulted in many cases of family violence in the years immediately after the war.