France's Demands during the Two World Wars Essay

France's Demands during the Two World Wars - Essay Example During both the wars they attacked France from fronts where she was undefended. They searched the French people in the newly occupied areas and forced the French coal miners to work under their supervision during the Second World War. The terror and atrocities prevailed all over. Sleepless nights, uncertainty of returning in the evening to one’s home, fear of separation any moment from the family, burning figures everywhere, unable to leave home without a gas mask, German soldiers walking into homes to rape women and cut off children’s arms, dead bodies strewn all over †¦this was the scene that existed during both the wars. The soldiers’ life became secluded in the trenches and food became sparse; medical help and sanitation declined. The troops living in the muddy, rat-infested trenches died due to diseases rather than attack of the enemies. Even then the fellow feeling and the attitude to share prevailed, unlike the Germans where solidarity gave way to soc ial unrest. The atrocities of the Germans on France were not limited to humans alone. They tormented and used the French circus elephants to haul timber as the Germans felled trees for trench props. During the war France lost vital iron ore and coal resources; territory was lost too. Women and children had to take over the farms and agriculture as 41% of the men mobilized for the war were peasants. This caused great losses in cattle and grains too. In the Second World War France lost about 25 % of its wealth and people compared to 10% in First World War. People were either missing or had died during the war. The battlefields were scarred by trenches and littered with dead bodies. France suffered the most as most of the fighting took place on her soil and she lost millions in the trench warfare. The devastation that was left behind after both the wars can move mountains, why just humans.