We are on the final push for our paradigm shift papers and what a process it has been! I have learned more about World War I than I could have imagined, and my research has only reinforced my initial claims about the war.
This project has strengthens both my research skills and my writing. With the help of my peer reviewers, I was able to present the vast amounts of information I gathered on World War I in a manner that was organized for the reader. They gave strong support not only for my evidence and context, but also the transition sentences that I separated different themes with. I was able to identify areas of improvement, such as the introduction from their comments, and I believe their assistance will benefit my final draft immensely.
As I said previously, I have learned a lot about World War I through my large amount of sources. Here is a collection of fun facts that I have learned.
- Gas attacks used to be commenced by releasing canisters from the edge of a trench. However, the wind could change, which would bring the gas back into your trench and bring agony to your comrades. Gas cartridges were redesigned to be shot across no man’s land to the enemy trenches, and the problem was solved.
- Before becoming the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen was enlisted in a German cavalry unit. He was reassigned to the air squadrons when cavalry units were phased out of the conflict.
- A nurse stationed on HMHS Britannic, a sister ship of the infamous RMS Titanic, is the only known person to survive the sinking of both of these ocean liners, she was a steward on the Titanic back in 1912 and would survive both ships and the war.
World War I has often been overshadowed by World War II, an event that is heavily connected to it. The objective of my paper is to remind the reader that if it were not for World War I, the political and military structures of Europe would be much different, and World War II may not have been a reality. World War I brought down centuries of political order in countries through the abdication of their monarchs, and the rules of war were rewritten, a decision that made the campaigns of World War II so destructive.
Many people would still overlook World War I when viewing modern conflicts, citing World War II as the most damaging human conflict in history. It was my mission as a writer to show the audience that the shifts that occurred in World War I has much more dramatic effects on Europe and the rest of the world. I believe that I have succeeded through my extensive research and analysis of the war, the weapons it was fought with, and the monarchs who abdicated because of it.