Sigfried Sassoon

Sigfried Sassoon and the 20th Century Poets

When War was declared on 4 August 1914 Sassoon had already enlisted enthusiastically, first as a trooper in the Sussex Yeomanry, later transferring to the Royal Welch Fusiliers in May 1915. The death of his younger brother in the Dardanelles in November 1915, his departure for the Western Front and his meeting with Robert Graves in France were significant factors in his changing attitude towards the War. 

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Who was Sassoon?

Despite his courageous, at times almost foolhardy, acts in the face of danger, which won him a Military Cross and the nickname ‘Mad Jack’, Sassoon’s opposition to the War hardened even further as he witnessed first the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, then the Battle of Arras in April 1917.

It was while convalescing from a wound received in the latter and in close contact with Lady Ottoline Morrell and her pacifist circle that he made his famous anti-war protest, which was read out in Parliament in late July 1917 and published in The Times the following day.

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S. Sassoon,Open Letter, published in The Times newspaper, 31 July 1917

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.

I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects witch actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.

I have seen and endured the suffering of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerity’s for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practised on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realise.

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon believe is being practiced on the troops?

• Imagination

• Deception

• Complacence

• Suffering

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon believe the majority of people at home lack?

• Complacence
• Deception
• Suffering
• Imagination

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon believe the war should have been attainable by?

• Deception and complacence
• Negotiation
• Defence and liberation
• Aggression and conquest

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon believe should have been done to prevent the war from changing its purposes?

• Negotiate with the enemy
• Sacrifice the fighting men
• Clearly state the purposes of the war
• End the war immediately

Multiple Choice

What is Sassoon's main role in the war?

• Deceiver
• Soldier
• Negotiator
• Politician

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon believe the war should have been impossible to change?

• The purposes of the war
• The political errors and insincerities
• The suffering of the troops
• The callous complacence

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon believe is being sacrificed?

• The purposes of the war
• The fighting men
• The political errors and insincerities
• The callous complacence

Multiple Choice

What is the main purpose of the open letter?

• To protest against the conduct of the war
• To express Sassoon's defiance of military authority
• To advocate for negotiation
• To criticize the political errors and insincerities

Multiple Choice

According to Sassoon, what has the war become?

• A war of deception and complacence
• A war of aggression and conquest
• A war of political errors and insincerities
• A war of defence and liberation

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon hope to achieve by making this protest?

• Destroy the callous complacence
• Express his defiance of military authority
• End the war immediately
• Advocate for negotiation

Multiple Choice

What is the main reason why Sigfried Sassoon wrote the open letter?

• To express his defiance of military authority
• To advocate for negotiation
• To criticize the political errors and insincerities
• To protest against the conduct of the war

Multiple Choice

What is Sassoon protesting against?

• The callous complacence
• The conduct of the war
• The suffering of the troops
• The political errors and insincerities

Multiple Choice

What does Sassoon believe the war has become?

• A war of political errors and insincerities
• A war of aggression and conquest
• A war of defence and liberation
• A war of deception and complacence

Multiple Choice

According to Sassoon, what are the soldiers being sacrificed for?

• Agonies they do not share
• Political errors and insincerities
• The continuation of the war
• Deception and complacence