Soldiers Fear during World War I – Continuity of an Emotion Culture

The sources and manifestations of human fear are so manifold that they cannot be fully explored in a short text. The aim of this article is rather to give a picture about how soldier’s fear was judged during the First World War. Furthermore, I will also discuss the history of the attitude toward soldier’s fear. Understanding the relevant aspects of its discourse could help us to understand why guns were blessed by the churches and why soldiers were expected to sacrifice their lives without fear. In addition, this short article aims to show that researching the history of collective emotion provides not only insights into the hidden mental structures of a society, but it sheds light on human motivations and on the “rationality” of emotions as well. Although emotions can be considered as anthropological constants, their naming and expression are always shaped by the written and unwritten rules of communities. Culture and language provide a frame in which the basic emotions vary and differentiate from each other. Every culture has its own set of emotions, and they play an important role in communication processes and in the maintenance of norms. In every society, there are emotions that receive positive social recognition, but there are also some with negative connotations or taboos. Soldiers fear is also one of the collective feelings that has long been denied and tabooed. But is it even possible to ignore or even forbid a feeling? History shows the consequences that the suppression of fear has had.