The First World War, also called the Great War, began around 1914 and lasted until 1918. This brutal war was an extremely bloody time for Europe and the soldiers who he fought in it. These men spent their days in the trenches maintaining bases and suffering attacks from all sides. The soldier's only free time was spent writing letters to those on the home front. The letters they wrote contain heartbreaking stories of how they spent their days and the terrible scars of war. The war consumed them and many of them expressed all their true war feelings in letters to their loved ones. In The First World War: A brief History With Documents we can find some of these letters that help us understand what the First World War might have been like for these young and desperate soldiers. In document thirteen, we encounter a letter written by a young British Soldier fighting the Germans from the woods. He begins his letter by explaining how he was once again forced to remain in the trenches for forty-eight consecutive hours. The letter, addressed to his parents, illustrates how devastating it can be for a young man at war. When he asked to be alone they told him to bring a group of men with him and after some difficulty they finally let him go alone. During a walk he comes across a German trench and kills an officer, doing the same thing the next day. At the end of the letter he simply calls the experience terrible. Continuing in the book, we find a letter written by a young German soldier on the Western Front. This soldier talks about his thoughts on the war. It asks the question that many men at war would ask: "When will it all end?" This soldier however is different from our fifth...... middle of paper ......even if people believe that, those on the home front are doing as badly as the soldiers, because they have to face the responsibility of their husbands , there is nothing that can compare to what these men experienced. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope of returning home soon, most men came to terms with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The greatest tragedy that follows war is not the number of deaths and damage done, but the broken mentality that comes from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the difficulties of being at war and the consequences, ideologies and lifestyles that come with it. Works Cited Grayzel, Susan R. The First World War: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. Print.