Essay Questions

Why did Robert Graves' father feel the need to write a book in refutation of this autobiography?

Despite being a clear supporter of his son when it came to his recovery and rehabilitation for an injury so bad that he was assumed dead, Mr Graves Senior was at heart a traditional English man who believed that everything the military leaders told him was correct, and that it was not for the ordinary citizen in the street to disobey them in any way.

At the end of the war, and of his own experience, Robert Graves was becoming staunchly pacifist in his leanings, something which angered his father. The "all that" that he was referring to in the title was the eagerness to go to war, the conscription of men who were opposed to the war, and the gung-ho, jolly-old-England propaganda that was used to make everyone believe that their only choice was to participate in the war effort, without questioning the act of going to war. Both Sassoon and Graves Junior became pacifists after their experiences in France as a direct result of what they had witnessed. Graves Senior was angered by his son's "conversion" to Pacifism because of the way in which pacifists were viewed in Britain at the time; they were viewed generally as cowards, and considered to be hiding behind their "beliefs" in order to get out of fighting, because they were scared.

Graves Senior did not want his son to be seen as a coward, but also wanted to make sure that people were not swayed by his opinions, and wanted to write a book in refutation to try to contradict his views. He did not want the way of the world to change and believed that by debunking his son's trench warfare recollections he might have a chance of doing so.

What was meant by the term "temporary gentleman"?

The British army would fast-track young men from the upper classes to officer school. They were considered "officer class" and although with that came added responsibilities, there were also added benefits, such as better living accommodations, access to water for bathing, and even better clothing - officers were allowed to wear thick, wool overcoats called great coats, rather than the thin coats worn by the junior ranks. To be an officer, or an upper class young man, was to be considered a gentleman.

As the war continued, the percentage of officers who were killed in combat was similar to that of the rank and file soldiers. In short, the army was running out of officers, and troops had nobody to lead them. For this reason, young men from the lower middle and working classes who had enlisted were watched very closely during training, and anyone who showed potential was fast tracked to officer status. They were called temporary gentleman because this elevation in social class was temporary, and would only last whilst the war was on. After the war, they would be expected to return to their original social standing, and would not get the benefits of having served as officers in the war.

What were some of the challenges that faced the allied forces at the Battle of the Somme?

General Kitchener had been the architect of the River Somme offensive, and in theory it appeared to be guaranteed to speed up the Allied victory. Unfortunately, Kitchener had not taken the topography of the region into account, and had strategized that his troops would sneak up on the German troops who were stationed on the top of the Somme valley. This plan would not work, though, because the German side of the river valley was considerably elevated, which meant that they were able to see the Allied troops working their way across the land. The trenches were visible from German positions, making the men sitting ducks for German gunfire. Kitchener basically set up his men to be target practice for the enemy.

Another problem was the weather; it was exceptionally rainy before and during the offensive, which made the trenches flood, and disease spread like wildfire. Given that the corpses of fallen soldiers were often alongside living men in the trench as well, deadly disease was rife. The cloying mud also made movement almost impossible and a march to the next post that was to have taken a day took almost a week. The combination of conditions and geography made Allied victory very difficult and definitely explained why a million Allied troops were wounded and killed during the battle.