Breaking Point.

This is coolbert:

The mutiny of the French Army in 1917 was not a unique phenomenon during the Great War [WW1]! A collective disobedience to order [mutiny] that did not exist within a vacuum!

A total breakdown, a collapse, a collective unwillingness of the troops "to go further", physical and mental exhaustion signifying a LACK OF WHEREWITHAL was NOT confined to the French!!

In his book, "The Face of Battle", Sir John Keegan makes some interesting points regarding the breakdown of the various combatants during World War One [WW1].

"And taking a very broad view of the war, a point was reached IN EVERY ARMY [my emphasis] at which either a majority or a disabling minority refused to go on. This point was reached":

* "for the French army in May 1917"
* "in the Russian Army in July 1917"
* "in the Italian army in November 1917"
* "in March 1918, the British Fifth Army collapsed"
* "in October [1918] the German army in the west signified . . . its unwillingness to continue."

There is - - according to Keegan - - a measurable and quantifiable way by which the breakdown can be understood:

"the relationship of total casualties to the number of fighting troops engaged."

"the break came soon after the total number of deaths suffered equalled the number of fighting infantry in the divisions."

"Counting the fighting infantry of a division at 10,000, and the number of British, French, Italian and Russian divisions engaged against the central powers as 60, 110, 45, and 120, we get figures of 600,000, 1,100,000, 450,000, and 1,200,000 [deaths respectively]"

"The German army, which certainly suffered a great many more deaths before cracking, escapes from the pattern."

BUT, EVENTUALLY, THE GERMAN ARMY DID TOO SUCCUMB AND DID SUFFER A BREAKDOWN, A "CRACKING"!

BUT - - THE "BREAK" POINT FOR THE GERMAN SOLDIER WAS DEMONSTRABLY HIGHER THAN IT WAS FOR THE TROOPS OF OTHER NATIONALITIES!

[Keegan attributes this to the fact that the German army on a number of fronts prior to 1918 had sustained victory against a variety of opponents. Losses were offset by "a light at the end of the tunnel!"]

There is SOMETHING IN THE NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE GERMAN THAT MAKES THEIR BREAKING POINT HIGHER THAN THAT OF OTHER NATIONALITIES?

American participation in the Great War was not protracted as it was for the other major combatants! American casualties were mild and small compared to what was suffered by the Germans, British, French, Russians, etc.! Prolonged engagement in the war would have seen the American Army reaching a breaking point too!

It can happen to anyone!

coolbert.