PBS VIDEOdatabase Resource:The Great War: Module 5: Mutiny

Bodies awaiting burial. The Imperial War Museum

VIDEO PROGRAM

Volume 187

CONCEPTS AND THEMES

Collapse in Morale, Disillusionment, Escape, Strike, Rebellion, Revolution, Desertion, Abdication, Mutiny

KEY GENERALIZATIONS AND IDEAS

Weapons can affect an individual in a variety of psychological, physical and emotional ways. There is no way to predict many of these effects or the extent to which a particular individual will be able to recover from using or being wounded by a particular weapon.
People have different ways of coping with and adjusting to traumatic environments.
People have different ways of coping with and adjusting to the death of a loved one.
Different societies have different ways of treating people who become dysfunctional in response to traumatic events and environments.
People may withdraw from or rebel against existing conditions for many reasons.
The conditions and events that will lead to the breakdown of a person, group or society cannot be predicted, so the critical moment tends to catch those involved by surprise.
Leaders use many methods to control the actions of those who seek to challenge their authority. These methods may not be successful.

STUDENT LEARNING EXPECTATIONS

MUTINY emphasizes a variety of ways that people in different nations--with different backgrounds and roles, and with different relationships to what was happening on the battlefields--tried to adjust to and cope with the conditions brought on by the war. Some individuals escaped from the war by psychological and emotional means. Others challenged authority, went on strike, deserted, mutinied or rebelled. This video presents ways that people sought to cope with the effects of the war and to challenge the way the war was being fought. At the end of this lesson, students should be able to do the following:

1. State at least five reasons soldiers on the battlefield in 1917 might have questioned the continuation of the war and the way the war was being conducted.

2. Define "mutiny" and "strike," and explain the similarities and differences between the two actions.

3. Define "shell shock," and describe the effects of this condition on a person's psychological, physical and emotional abilities.

4. Describe the battlefront conditions that might lead a person to "break," to succumb to shell shock or battle fatigue.

5. Describe the various treatments that were tried to "cure" soldiers of shell shock.

6. Explain how the dead "continued to visit the living" and describe how people tried to cope with these "visits."

7. Cite examples from the war literature that capture the conditions, thoughts and feelings of the timeÑboth of the soldiers at the front and of the people back home.

8. Describe at least four conditions in the military and on the battlefield that would lead soldiers to mutiny or desertion.

9. Identify at least five reasons the soldiers and civilians in two different nations, such as France and Russia, would demand that their country conduct the war differently.

10. Describe how the reactions in 1917 of nearly half of the French army to their conditions differed from the reactions of the Russian army to similar conditions. 11. Describe the specific results of the 1917 mutinies in France and Russia. 12. Identify at least five conditions and factors that led the Russian people and army to support revolution in 1917. 13. Explain how the tsar's decision to abdicate in March 1917 might be considered mutiny. 14. Describe the events in Russia that led to the abdication of the tsar and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks. 15. Explain how the pursuit of "total war" led directly to the mutinies of 1917, the massive desertions in the Russian army, the labor strikes by civilians and such mental conditions as shell shock.

BACKGROUND DISCUSSION

In 1917, after three years of war, the loss of millions of lives, the stalemate on the front lines, and the disruption of nearly every aspect of daily life in all the combatant nations, many people--civilians and soldiers alike--still wanted to continue fighting to victory. The combatant nations rejected all the peace initiatives that were proposed in 1917. Why did the civilians, government leaders, generals and men on the battlefield want to continue the war? They were partly motivated by the traditional values that had emerged with the growth of nationalism during the 1800s. Such values as national honor and patriotism, duty to one's country and camaraderie were strongly held throughout the war. These values--coupled with hatred, revenge and expectation of victory--led the people to continue supporting the war efforts, even in the face of evidence that their leaders' strategies were grossly inadequate and inappropriate. As the months passed, however, people on both sides of the conflict began to question the violence, terror and massive slaughter on the battlefields, the growing suffering among civilians and the way the generals conducted the war. People everywhere sought ways to cope with, if not escape, the environment of war. Many soldiers "escaped" the front lines through injury, disease or death. Others escaped psychologically and emotionally; still others deserted or mutinied. In 1917, the front-line soldiers of France and Russia grew increasingly disillusioned and apathetic. They began refusing to obey orders, retreating when commanded to advance; they deserted the military and engaged in open rebellion and mass mutiny. This video describes some of the ways that people escaped from the horrors, violence and senselessness of the war. It also describes the government and military responses to these efforts.

LESSON PLAN SUGGESTIONS

1. Write the Concepts and Themes words on the board or overhead. Ask students to define each. Help them to list the characteristics of a mutiny and why people would want to separate themselves from a war effort. Unless students consider these concepts immediately before, during and immediately following this video, they will miss many details. Also, the Concepts and Themes will help them see the video segments as related, complementing one another to describe the moods, events and contexts of the period.

2. Using an overhead or handout, ask students to consider the Key Generalizations and Ideas for this module. Ask them to paraphrase the ones that you want to emphasize. Ask them to watch the video with these points in mind, looking for relevant information.

3. Distribute Student Handout 5-A, Questions. You may want them to pay particular attention to specific questions, stopping the video after a segment to give them time to make notes.

4. Distribute Student Handout 5-B, Context and Overview of the Great War. Ask them to read this summary and answer the questions before watching the video. You might supplement this reading with textbooks, other readings or a lecture.

5. Distribute Student Handout 5-C, Shell Shock. Ask students to read about the neurosis that was labeled "shell shock" in the Great War and how this affected men along the battlefront. The video will provide vivid examples both of its effects on some men and of what was tried to treat this mental disorder. Additional research on battle fatigue could complement this narrative. Ask students to answer the questions included on the handout.

6. Distribute Student Handout 5-D, An Act of Wilful Defiance. This page quotes a protest against the Great War by a decorated war hero and noted British poet of the time. Tell the students that the Army assigned Siegfried Sassoon to psychiatric treatment at a mental ward in Britain rather than court-martialing him. Sassoon later returned to the front and survived the war. Ask the students to consider the mood and focus of Sassoon's writing, as well as its relationship to the major theme of this video.

7. Distribute Student Handout 5-E, The Best Kept Secret of the War. Ask students to define the term "mutiny" and to list the conditions that might lead a person to mutiny. Ask the students to research the events and circumstances that led to the French mutiny and to decide whether the soldiers had a right to mutiny. Ask them to evaluate how the French commanders dealt with the mutineers.

8. Ask the students to consider the title of the module, MUTINY, and ask them to watch for the personalities, events, attitudes, emotions and decisions that contributed to individuals--both civilians and military personnel--disengaging from the war.

9. Ask students to reflect on one quote from Student Handout 5-F, Noteworthy Quotes. Ask them to interpret the quotation in the context of the person speaking and the situation in which the statement was made. You might want to ask them to interpret these both before they watch the video and afterward, and then to compare the differences in their interpretations. Students might also offer their personal reactions to particular quotes.

ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES

1. Ask students to investigate the history, methods and effects of electric shock treatments and to research present uses of this treatment.

2. Ask students to investigate the theories and methods associated with Sigmund Freud's psychotherapy method and to report on the advantages and disadvantages of using these methods to treat people with mental problems. They may interview psychotherapists in their community or you may arrange for one to come into the class as an invited speaker.

3. Ask students to define "mutiny" and to list the factors that might lead people to mutiny. Ask them to read excerpts from Mutiny on the Bounty (or watch the video) to determine whether the men had grounds to mutiny. They may also study other mutinies, evaluating the conditions that brought each about and what was done to the mutineers.

4. Ask the students to pick a key figure in the March and November 1917 revolutions in Russia and to report on that person's major ideas and actions during this year, describing how these contributed to the success or failure of the person's efforts in the revolution.

5. Ask students to study the civilian strikes in various European nations and the U.S. during the war and to compare these strikes in terms of their causes, the activities of the strikers, the reactions of the government, and the short- and long-term effects. Ask them to identify which causes of these strikes were generated by the war.

6. Ask students to research why the governments of all the nations of Europe and the U.S. were afraid of the Bolshevik revolution and of the communist movement. Ask them to research why the British extended their blockade of Russia for almost a year after the November 1918 armistice and why Great Britain and the U.S. sent troops to fight the Bolsheviks on Russian territory.

7. Ask students to research General Robert Nivelle's plan for the April 1917 battle that led to the mutiny of the French army. Have them evaluate his decisions and the actions of the French army during this offensive. Ask them to decide who was more deserving of court-martial, the troops that mutinied or Neville himself.

8. Ask students to investigate the conditions and circumstances surrounding the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in March 1917 and to suggest what he might have done to prevent the social unrest and mutinies that led to his abdication. Ask them to list the factors that prevented Nicholas from taking actions that might have prevented his downfall.

10. Ask students to locate and study one or more war poems written during the war. Ask them to describe the poem's images of the war, as well as the what poem says about the feelings, thoughts and experiences of the men and women who lived at the time. Students might separate the poets according to nationality (French, German, British, Australian, American, etc.) or by status (soldier, officer, mother, wife, husband, etc.).

ADDITIONAL POST-VIEWING QUESTIONS

In addition to the questions on the student handouts and in the section on Student Learning Expectations, the following questions may be asked:

1. Define "mutiny" and "strike." What are the similarities and differences between the two actions?

2. How did the reactions in 1917 of nearly half of the French army to their conditions differ from the reactions of the Russian army to similar conditions?

3. How might the tsar's decision to abdicate in March 1917 be considered an example of mutiny?

4. If you had been a Russian civilian in Moscow or Petrograd, how might you have reacted to the news that the tsar had abdicated?

5. How did the pursuit of "total war" lead directly to the mutinies of 1917, the massive desertions in the Russian army, the labor strikes by civilians, and such mental conditions as shell shock?

6. If you had been in command of the French armies when nearly half the soldiers mutinied, what actions would you have taken to end the mutiny? How would you justify those actions?

7. Name at least six of the major ideas in Sigmund Freud's view of human personality and behaviors. Which of these ideas are used today by psychotherapists?

STUDENT RESOURCES

5-A. Questions. This resource provides a set of questions to focus students' attention on the important content in each segment of the video.

5-B. Context and Overview of the Great War. This resource provides background details to help the students understand the ways that people--both in and out of the military--reacted to the war. It includes questions to be answered before seeing the video, questions that you may ask them to reconsider after the viewing.

5-C. Shell Shock. This resource provides details about shell shock as a reaction to the conditions of the battlefield.

5-D. An Act of Wilful Defiance. This sheet contains a statement of protest against the Great War by Siegfried Sassoon, a noted British poet and war hero.

5-E. The Best Kept Secret of the War. This resource provides information on the mutiny of the French army in the late spring of 1917.

5-F. Noteworthy Quotes. This resource provides a number of quotes from individuals whose words express the thoughts and feelings of people in reaction to the Great War.

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