King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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The Great War 1914-1918

Why did they fight?

“A Rational Army would run away.”

Combat is against all ideas of self preservation and any soldier who thought about the actions he was engaged in would probably have refused to fight.

Why soldiers risk everything and fight is a very complex issue. There are a number of possible reasons as to why a man would go into battle.

	1. Forced to do so by the system of discipline, which ultimately shot deserters.
	2. Greater fear of being killed by the enemy - kill or be killed.
	3. Moral desire to fight - a sense of honour 'a just war', and the thought that the war was for good sound reasons - in the First World War to uphold Democracy and Freedom.
	4. Rewards from fighting - gallantry awards and looting, although trench warfare did not allow for the same booty which could be collected in a mobile war.
	5. Fear suppressed by alcohol. It was common to issue the Rum ration before the men left the trenches in the First World War.
	6. Following the example set by a 'big man' who set a good example to follow, there were many heroic acts in war, and many men were themselves encouraged by the heroic acts of a few brave soldiers.
	7. Primary Group Theory - a loyalty to the comrades who you fought along side. If you failed to fight it would be your friends who you would be letting down.

Overcoming Fear?

We assume that soldiers must have been frightened during the war, but evidence collected by oral historians speaking to soldiers sometime after the war had ended has revealed interesting results.

Fear could be overcome:

	1. Sense of excitement and adventure was greater than the fear of the unknown or death and injury.
	2. In the heat of the battle soldiers were often too busy to be frightened.
	3. Soldiers were often too tired to be frightened.
	4. Some held a great desire to revenge the death of comrades.
	5. Sense of solidarity with comrades overcame the fear of fighting.
	6. Some simply accepted the risks they faced.
	7. Often soldiers were only aware of a small part of the war in which they were involved, and would probably have been very frightened to realise the full scale of the actions taking place.

© Images are copyright, Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum.
You must seek permission prior to publication of any of our images.

Only a proportion of our collections are on display at anyone time. Certain items are on loan for display in other institutions. An appointment is required to consult any of our collections which are held in store.