What stands out the most to me so far, based on the readings in The First World War: A Very Short Introduction, are the reactions and feelings of the citizens of individual countries as the war affected their lives. At the beginning of the building of unrest in Europe, the vast majority of the countries seemed to have their citizens’ support. The individual countries saw this war as a subject of national pride, and the citizens of individual countries felt that their rivals could not be allowed to continue in their seemingly arrogant and, in many cases, violent ways. As the war continued into its first year, national pride seemed to remain strong in spite of what was becoming a very atrocious war. Then as the war was slowly continuing through its second and third year, national pride was slipping. National pride could not hold up in what was becoming a war that hit home with shortages of food and basic goods. The basic struggle for survival turned the war from a battlefield war to a home front war, and the main struggle then was merely to keep their governments from collapsing for longer than their enemies’ governments.

One way I would enjoy learning about the struggles within the battling countries might be through journals, diaries, or even fictionalized but realistic accounts kept by the people affected by this war. Before our recent reading, what I most enjoyed reading about was the personal struggles within the soldiers’ camps, but I already know some of what happened in those camps. After reading the first six chapters in The First World War: A Very Brief Introduction, what is now interesting to me is what was happening in the towns of Berlin and Petrograd during the war and how the war was changing everyday life for normal citizens so drastically. I also hope some of the books we read this semester will help me understand the countries’ views of each other from the civilian point-of-view which would also give a better understanding of how the war propaganda affected the citizens of the warring countries.