Friday, March 02, 2007

parades in world war one

(an image of a send-off parade in 1917)
* Send-off Parades: where the people encourage and wish luck to the soldiers going into battle or over-seas (first picture).

* Victory Parades: held to celebrate a win in a battle. One of the most famous victory parades in history were held in London (1918) and Paris (1919) marking the end of WWI.
A soldier describes a victory parade in Paris as: "In the parade were hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the U.S., England, Canada, France, Australia, Italy and the colonies. Each soldier had his arms full of French girls, some crying, others laughing; each girl had to kiss every soldier before she would let him pass. The streets are crowded and all traffic held up...It is impossible to buy a flag in Paris today. Everyone has one it seems and the old streets are one solid mass of colors from all the allied nations...It's wonderful! So full of feeling and meaning".

* Recruitment Parades: common during WWI, as militia regiments tried to sign up the young men of the community, desperately needed to replenish the supply of men.


- the suffargettes also stated numerous parades, one of the most famous took place in London (1910) where 10000 women marched to support the women's suffrage bill.


- The parades symbolized a break from the war, where the soldiers could leave the battlefield and return to their civilian life. Also, it gave a sense of glory and pride to the soldiers as they saw how much they were respected and appreciated by the civilians. This can be seen on page 314 where the Canadian sergeant-major imagined himself on parade with his leather pocket book, thinking how "very smart it would look on parade, himself standing up straight and tall".


- Therefore, the title, "No More Parades" symbolize the end of glory and no hope of returning. The soldiers were going to be "massacred, by the quarter million...they should be massacred without jauntiness, without confidence, with depressed brows, without parade" (320). In a way, they were betrayed by the government and civilians who held parades for them; there is "no more Hope, no more Glory, no more parades" (330).

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