Gentle readers, Downton Abbey, Season 2 will be shown on PBS through February 19, 2012. I will be writing a series of posts to help illuminate some historical details that might help the viewer who is not familiar with the events of this era. World War I’s connection to Jane Austen is poignant: soldiers in the trenches and those who were shell-shocked or recovering from injuries read Jane Austen’s novels to escape the horrors of war and relive a gentler, more civilized time.
Warning: Minor plot spoilers
Downton Abbey’s more somber subtext this season is due to the reality of war. Season 2 opens with Matthew Crawley at the Battle of the Somme in Northern France, which lasted from July through November, 1916, and symbolizes the horrors of World War One for the British.
Lady Sybil reads about the death of a male friend. Credit: Courtesy of © Carnival Film & Television Limited 2011 for MASTERPIECE
The Great War was supposed to have lasted only a few months in the minds of British Generals, who were accustomed to quickly overwhelming poorly armed native fighters in the colonies. But this deadly conflict, triggered by Germany as its troops marched through neutral Belgium to invade France (and which had been building up its cache of war equipment for a long time), lasted for more than 4 years. Casualties were so catastrophic that the numbers border on the unbelievable: Great Britain, 35.8% of the forces; France, 73.3%; Belgium, 34.9%; Germany, 64.9%; Austria/Hungary, 90%!
Battle of the Somme, 1916
Of the over 65 million troops fighting in that war from all over the world, including India and North Africa, nearly 60% were killed or wounded (PBS). Add to this total the killing of innocent civilians and animals, the destruction of villages and farms in Belgium and Northern France, the enormous debt and resulting poverty that European nations faced, and one can only shake one’s head and wonder how the world could have plunged into a second world war a mere 30 years later.
Here then are only a few features of a war which is still remembered for its destructiveness one hundred years later
Barbed wire
The Battle of the Somme was supposed to have gone smoothly after the British artillery spent a week shelling German trenches. Bombardment commenced on July 1st, 1916 and could be heard across the Channel in Britain: 1,738,000 shells rained upon German territory. It was believed that such continuous and massive bombing would open up gaping holes in the barbed wire that protected enemy lines, allowing British cavalry to rush through and overwhelm the Germans who survived the destruction of their trenches. This did not happen. German trenches were dug much deeper than was thought and were not pulverized. To their horror, the English immediately realized that the barbed wire also remained largely intact. This meant that soldiers could not storm the battlefield, but would be fatally delayed as they tried to cut through the barriers, allowing machine gunners to mow them down. And this is what happened. Over 60,000 British troops were lost that first day. At the end of the campaign, the British had lost 420,000 men (the French 200,000 and the Germans 500,000).
A wiring party going forward. Image @Daily Mail
Barbed wire had been used for the first time in the Spanish-American War and Boer Wars, but World War One brought its use in the battlefield to a new level. As soon as territory was conquered, a “wiring party” would go out to lay out barbed wire and protect their hard won land. Barbed wire was almost impossible to deal with until tanks were invented, although this piece of equipment was highly unreliable at first.
Modern weaponry
In my opinion, war has never been civilized or gentlemanly, but World War One raised the brutality to a new level that the stodgy British generals, in particular John French and Douglas Haig, were unable to fathom. The invention of machine guns allowed a single gunner to mow down hundreds of men within minutes. Flame throwers, known as Flammenwerfers in German, were portable and were first used by the Germans to terrify the British and French soldiers. The allies quickly learned to retaliate in kind.
Lady Sybil with soldier blinded by mustard gas. Credit: Courtesy of © Carnival Film & Television Limited 2011 for MASTERPIECE
In 1914, the French were the first to unleash poison gas on the enemy. This gas was more an irritant, much like pepper spray is regarded today, and did not maim or kill. In 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas on the unsuspecting British, which leads to a slow and torturous death by asphyxiation. There were other gases. Phosgene gas would first go unnoticed and by the time the damage was felt, it was too late to save the victim. Mustard gas caused blistering both on the face and inside the respiratory organs. Many who survived mustard gas were permanently blinded. The vagaries of the wind often carried gas back to the troops who had unleashed it on the enemy. Over time both sides learned to wear gas masks, providing them for their horses and messenger dogs as well. However, the gas cloud killed any animal indiscriminately – horses, birds, wildlife, rodents that happened to be in its path died horrible deaths. Airplanes made their first appearance, dropping bombs from the sky and on civilians, and the mortality rate of fighter pilots was extremely high, ranging in the suicidal. German U-boats (early submarines) were amazingly effective in sinking ships and preventing food and ammunitions from reaching the allies.
Trench Rats
The rats were as big as cats some soldiers swore. Millions infiltrated the trenches, running over sleeping men and raiding their pockets or foodstuffs. Rats swarmed the battlefields, feasting on rotting corpses, first going for the eyes, then gorging themselves on the rest of the body until their bellies were swollen.
There was no proper system of waste disposal in trench life. Empty tins of all kinds were flung away over the top on both sides of the trench. Millions of tins were thus available for all the rats in France and Belgium in hundreds of miles of trenches. During brief moments of quiet at night, one could hear a continuous rattle of tins moving against each other. The rats were turning them over.” – Private George Coppard, Royal West Surrey Regiment
Rats can multiply by the tens of thousands in no time (one pair can produce 880 offspring per year) and there was no way to escape them. Although ever present, soldiers never quite became inured to these bold, opportunistic rodents.
Matthew on leave, with his fiancee Lavinia Swire, greeting Sir Richard Carlisle. Credit: Courtesy of © Carnival Film & Television Limited 2011 for MASTERPIECE
In Downton Abbey Season 2 Matthew Crawley leaves the front and visits England quite frequently. The reality was that the men spent only part of their time in the trenches, rotating to different sectors. Typically they would spend 2 weeks in the trenches, a week in support lines or support trenches, two weeks in reserve, and then one week resting. Out of a year, a soldier would spend about 4 months in the front lines. This was about all they could stand. Living with the constant fear of death by shelling, sniper, or disease drove some men out of their minds. It must be added that as in all wars, the men spent countless days, even weeks, living lives of boredom which were interspersed with moments of sheer terror. The problem that many faced was that at any day their number could be up, and with odds worse than Russian Roulette, for there was a 1:3 chance that the next battle would be a British soldier’s last.
Thomas, now a medic, in the trenches. Credit: Courtesy of © Carnival Film & Television Limited 2011 for MASTERPIECE
Shell shock
A society known for its stiff upper lip would have a hard time admitting that its finest and brightest men could suffer from shell shock. During the early 20th century, shell shock was not yet clearly defined. Men suffering from shell shock exhibited a variety of symptoms, ranging from psychological blindness to stomach cramps and diarrhea, as well as facial twitches, uncontrollable sweating, nightmares, tremors, and an inability to eat or sleep. By 1917, as many as 1 in 7 men, or 80,000 British soldiers, were discharged from service for emotional disorders related to the war. Sadly, many were regarded as malingerers and sent back to the front. Some committed suicide, others deserted or refused to obey orders, in which case they were court-martialled or shot.
In Downton Abbey, Lord Grantham’s new valet, Andrew Lang obviously suffered from shell shock. O’Brien, Lady Grantham’s lady’s maid, shows uncharacteristic sympathy when she realizes Lange’s condition, because her brother suffered from the same malady and was misunderstood. Mrs. Patmore’s nephew, Archie, must also have experienced the same fear and panicked. He was not quite so lucky and was caught and shot for desertion.
Also read:
Life in the Trenches: Edwardian Promenade
Season 2, Episode One Recap on Austenprose
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Images Credit: Courtesy of © Carnival Film & Television Limited 2012 for MASTERPIECE
Jane Austen's World 
It was a great episode and your post is very informative. A great novel set during WWI that has a graphic depiction of phosphene gas is Water Song : A Retelling of “The Frog Prince” (Once Upon a Time) by Suzanne Weyn.
A novel which mentions young men like Mrs. Patmore’s nephew is Without warning : Ellen’s story 1914-1918 by DennisHamley
For those interested in Lady Sybil’s experience, the YA novel Remembrance by Theresa Breslin is also about WWI in the UK
Thanks for these references to related novels! I will check them out.
I would add a recommendation to a British period drama which is available on YouTube — it’s called Lilies, and is set immediately after the end of the war. Soldiers’ emotional difficulties, white feathers, and social change all play a part — and (rather like Downton) it focuses mostly on the lives of three sisters. Unlike Downton Abbey, however, the characters are all working-class, and the sisters’ lives from the very beginning are both more diverse and more challenging.
I really enjoy these posts, thanks.
Thank you for the posting! It enriched the episode after I watched it. I’m looking forward to more.
Enjoyed the new episodes very much. Your Posts have some interesting and valuable information. Thank You
Excellent description of what trench warfare was like, Vic.
I’ve been to Northerm France many times and seen some of the War Commission Graveyards, looked after meticulously and with love by the French people, sprinkled about the countryside in the area of the Somme.The countryside is so beautiful. I always cry.
I visited my own great uncles memorial, he was 19 years old when he died, at the cemetery in Arras. His body was never recovered. The graveyard has about 3000 graves with headstones. But, the memorial has 35,000 names on it of soldiers who were never recovered. Many would have been buried alive in the trenches or vaporised by shelling. The Arras graveyard is only a memorial to those who died nearby. The numbers beggar belief.
I couldn’t wait until Downton Abbey began and watched it last night. World War I was never studied in depth at the school I attended, so thank you for sharing more information about this cruel time in human history.
Excellent post, but I might suggest that Germany did not start WWI, though the Treaty of Versailles that they were forced to sign at the end of the war said they did. That same Treaty, it can be argued, set the stage for WWII. Of the countries involved at the beginning of the war, Germany was actually the last to mobilize their army. You also made reference to Germany’s building up their war equipment. They had been building up their navy for a while, but they did this to copy the European powers, mostly Britain, who rather took the place of a parent to the European countries. Germany, as we know it, was a new country. The separate German states had been united by Otto von Bismarck in the late 19th Century into the Second Reich. They were building their navy to prove their worthiness as a ‘real’ (civilized) European country, and not some little rag-tag group of states. They had no intention of starting a war, and were in fact, quite anxious to avoid one as they had allied France and Russia on either side of them.
I don’t mean to be a know-it-all or start any kind of argument in the comments section…just thought I’d throw my 2 cents out there. I enjoyed your post and can’t wait to watch Downton Abbey tonight (I’ve got to wait for it to come online).
Evelyn, I appreciate your correction. I simplified the history in this post and was probably as guilty as most in attributing the cause of the war, which was extremely complex, as you say. The British had the mightiest navy in the world and the largest Empire, and could draw from it many resources. And it was the Treaty of Versailles that not only laid the blame for the war on Germany but made the conditions for peace so difficult for the German people that it cleared the path for World War II. I must add, however, that the Krup war machinery went into overdrive during the war years to create weapons of war and that the Germans were armed to the teeth with weapons whose sophistication often confounded the allies at first. Also, when I attributed the start of the war to Germany, I was thinking of the German invasion of France through neutral Belgium, which triggered all sorts of reactions. I have clarified this point in the post. As you remarked so accurately, there were many complicated political roads that led to this juncture. Not one of the countries involved in this war could have predicted that the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife would have led to such unimaginable destruction.
This site offers an excellent explanation in a section entitled, One Thing Led to Another – http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm .
Yes, I agree with you; It was a sad business, and none of the countries knew what they were in for. And I’ll paraphrase one WWI historian, ‘very few would come out of it with honor completely intact’. It was a difficult time with difficult decisions to make all around. We’re all only human, and many of those politicians and generals made some very human mistakes, the cost of which was heartbreaking.
I very much enjoy your blog! Thank you for all the time you spend researching and sharing this information!
Evelyn it is a little disingenuous your comment about the reason for Germany building it’s navy. There is evidence from 1912 and before that it wanted to fill the power vacuum that was being created by the failure of the Austro Hungarian Empire. The Kaiser wanted to pursue aggressively the building of a German Empire. Circumstances presented themselves and he took them.
I suppose it depends on which historian one reads and how much benefit of the doubt one wishes to give. I’m sorry if I came across the wrong way. I meant no disrespect.
Does anyone know if the U.S. version of Downton Abbey season 2 being broadcasted right now is edited and different than the U.K. Version available next month on DVD? I waited last year for the UK version. Thanks
According to my sources, the US version this season is the same as the UKs
We think competition for men is tough now. Imagine what it would have been like in France or Austria after the war, when women outnumbered men by the millions.
I love the set up to this season: Thomas in charge, Robert feeling useless, Matthew’s engagement, Edith’s burgeoning independence, Sybil’s relationship with Branson, etc etc–it’s all rife with plenty of delicious conflict, and WWI is a perfect backdrop.
A wonderful series of books that tell about WWI and life in England afterwards are the Maisie Dobbs mysteries. They take place after the war but Maisie and other characters often look back on their wartime experiences. The first book is a bit slow from all the flashbacks that recount her journey from housemaid to PI, but it’s worth it. Check your library.
Downton Abbey is, without doubt, the best thing on television now. And aside from a few Masterpiece Theaters, tv will again become the ever increasing vast wasteland when Downton 2 has concluded.
Hi Vic,
Je n’ai toujours pas vu cette série et j’enrage!
Je suis impatiente de la voir en France!
Thanks for sharing!
Have a good evening!
It is so easy to forget the real horrors of war. Thank you for reminding us of the realities that get glossed over.
Thank you for this thoughtful, informative look at World War I.
When I was in school, World War II was the Big One, and WW I was sort of laughed at by people in the US — We after all only participated during the last year, and were the tipping point that made the Alllied victory possible. My first inking of the real horrors of World War I were the British poets (Wilfrid Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke) who, I think, are still unparallelled in their portrayal of the massive horrors. In the past decade, I have read a number of books, some fiction and some histories, that clarify the War even more. Anyone wanting a clear picture of the run-up to the War should read Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August. The Kaiser assuredly enjoyed his sword rattling; he may have wished at the very last minute to pull back, but the German politicos kept him going forward. By that time, it is true that everyone was ready for a war — tensions being so high. But no one knew the level to which all would sink. Whenever I hear now people sneering about an Appeasement policy — that was less than 20 years after the end of WW I without remembering the sheer numbers of those who died or recognized that no one then got student or marital deferments — really have no idea of what they are talking about. No one who has traveled in France or England and has seen the monuments listing huge numbers of Dead can misunderstand the high cost all the European countries paid in leadership for the next generation. The only thing the US has to compare is the Civil War, and the total losses, both sides, amount to less than the first days of the Battle of the Somme.