Keith Thorkildson
Fall 2013
Humanities
The Impact of WW1 and Freudian theories on Western Societies
The twentieth century was a huge turning point for the entire world. Europeans were experiencing something that had never happened in their lifetimes before. Early in the twentieth century WW1 breaks out in Europe and a new way of looking at the human mind emerges. These events and people would really change cultures around the world. Beliefs in the Enlightenment would never be the same and modern day societies are still influenced at what was achieved and destroyed during this time. I am going to highlight the life of Sigmund Freud’s and how his theories impacted how we look at the human mind today. Then I will go over World War 1 and how it completely changed cultures of the west. Finally I will explain how WW1 and Sigmund Freud connected and changed western societies forever.
Sigmund Freud was born in Freiberg, Moravia in 1856. There is not a lot of information on Sigmund Freud’s early life because he chose to keep it out of the public’s eye. “Little is known of Freud’s early life as he twice destroyed his personal paper, once in 1885 and again in 1907” (Psychologist, World). His personal papers were closely guarded in Sigmund Freud’s archives and only available to Ernest Jones his official biographer. Freud published countless theories that created a lot of controversy in his time and still in our modern world today. Sigmund published many works but most of them if not all of them go back to his theory on psychoanalysis, a term he first used in 1896. He explained that you can use therapy as a way to help people emotionally by talking it out which would later be characterized as the “talking cure”. In 1900 he published The Interpretation of Dreams a book about his theory on the unconscious. This would be one of Freud’s favorite works where he brings up his theory on Oedipus complex for the first time. These theories created a whole new way of looking at how the human minds work. “Sigmund Freud was the first westerner to call dreams a window into the unconscious. Contemporary therapists may not see every dream as the fulfillment of a wish, as Freud did, but they do endorse dream analysis as a toll for self-knowledge and growth, as do I” (Reef, Catherine). This quote by Catherine Reef explains the significance of Freud’s works to a modern day psychologist. One of the most controversial theories that Sigmund Freud developed was his theory on Oedipus complex. He believed that young male children between the ages of three and six envy the opposite sex parent due to their unconscious sexual drives. Carl Jung another hugely influential psychologist also developed his own theory based off of Freud’s called the Electra complex. Carl Jung believed that girls also experience sexual drive towards their counter parent and Freud believed it only applied to male children. This would lead to Carl Jung breaking away from Freud’s psychoanalysis and developing his own theory despite Freud not agreeing. Like Carl Jung a lot of the most influential psychologist of the twentieth century worked with Sigmund and learned from his theories. Some of the major psychologists who worked with Freud are Alfred Adler, Erick Erikson, Melanie Klein, Ernst Jones, and Otto Rank. Each of these psychologists play their own unique part in psychology, and all of them learned from Freud. As Freud got older he did not slow down his work. In 1923 Freud published The Ego and the ID. This theory would explain our inner drives and how our mind is divided into three parts the ID, Ego, and Super Ego. This would impact the future greatly, reasons being that we still use this theory today in our understanding of how our minds make decisions. At the time of the book publishing Freud was also diagnosed with Jaw cancer which came from his addiction to cigars. In 1929 Freud published Civilization and its Discontents a book explaining how we humans cannot achieve truly what we desire. Society has rules and regulations that keep us from achieving exactly what we want. This would be Freud’s last book before he had to abandoned his home and move to London. Freud was seeing the effects of WW2 and the rise of communism. Nearing the end of his life he had to abandon his home and fled to London to get away from the Nazi’s. Sigmund Freud would end his life in London on September 23, 1939 dying from lung cancer. WW2 and the rise of communism was a direct effect from WW1. The First World War would lay the foundation for the Soviet Union and communism in Germany to rise up and start another World War. WW1 started on June 28th, 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war a Serbia. This war would change the economics, politics, and social attributes across Europe forever. The impact of WW1 would form new governments and change the world map for good. During the war Russia’s government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks who in the future would let rise to the Soviet Union. Also Austria-Hungary Empire would fall creating the countries Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. One of the significant things about WW1 is that Germany was using a completely new way of fighting. This had an incredible impact on countries like Russia who was not ready for how technologically advanced the German army was. This created a huge amount of casualties on both sides of the war and would later be one of the contributing factors to the future arms race. “World War 1 killed more than nine million soldiers, sailors, and pilots while also killing five million civilians. It involved more than 28 countries and cost more than 186 billion dollars in direct cost and another 151 billion indirect cost” (Mintz, Steven). This greatly influenced the future of European economies because much of their infrastructure was destroyed during the war. This would open the door for the United States to become the world’s next leading industrial power. The war ended on November 7, 1918 when Germany signed the Armistice that would put a halt to the fighting. However, many of the countries involved in WW1 still had ill feelings towards each another. Germany was especially ill minded after signing the Treaty of Versailles in June 28th, 1919. This treaty stated that Germany and her allies would take full responsibility for the loss and damage of the war. Germany would also have to pay a hefty fine for damaging many of Europe’s infrastructures. This devastated the economy in Germany and would be one of the biggest contributing factors to the next World War. It left Germany in a deep depression that would lead to the people of Germany looking for a way out. Hitler would later come to power and eventually give rise to communism and the next World War.
Sigmund Freud and WW1 were two factors that greatly impacted the future of Western societies. Freud and WW1 connected because Freud constantly had to deal with the effects of WW1 and the beginning of WW2. “In 1938 Anna Freud was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo, so Freud moved to London with his wife and youngest daughter Anna.” (Cherry, Kendra). The events of WW1 shaped the views of Freud’s last book Civilization and its Discontents, and likely changed his views on the world forever which would influence his groundbreaking theories. His theories on the Unconscious and psychoanalysis would completely revolutionize psychology and the way modern societies look at the human mind. “Psychologists generally accept that motivation for human behavior are often unconscious, and that past experience can shape present attitudes and actions. Both ideas come from Freud. Simply the concept of talking with a therapist as a way to work through problems is a Freudian innovation.” (Reef, Catherine). This quote from a modern day psychologist explains that we still today use Freudian theories on a regular basis. Like Freud, WW1 also impacted and changed the future of western societies forever. “World War one probably had more far-reaching consequences than any other preceding war. Politically it resulted in the downfall of four monarchies. Russia in 1917, Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1918, and Turkey in 1922. It contributed to the Bolshevik rise to power in Russia in 1917 and the triumph of fascism in Italy in 1922.” (Mintz, Steven). This quote explains the repercussions of WW1 and what it gave rise to in the near future. During the war Europe’s economic progress was severely slowed down, this let other countries like the U.S. past Europe and become the next industrial power. The weaponry used in WW1 would also impact the future, influencing nations like the U.S. to go on an arms race. This would change warfare forever and eventually lead to the creation of the Atomic Bomb. WW1 had way more repercussions then anyone could have foreseen, and the lasting effect it had on Western societies will never be forgotten.
Modern societies today still marvel at all of the achievements and repercussions of the events taken place in the early 20th century. Freud completely changed how psychologist looks at the human mind and created a new way of looking at human therapy. He challenged the views of the Enlightenment and explained that the unconscious is something that neither logic nor science can explain. WW1 changed Western society’s economic, political and social attributes forever. It would later lay the foundation for the rise of the Soviet Union and western communist countries. Both Freud and WW1 played their role in reshaping the Western countries minds and outlooks on life. In conclusion Freud and WW1 will never be forgotten; their lasting effects will forever be studied and applied to our Modern societies.

MLA Citations * "IDEAS AND TRENDS; How Freud Shaped the 20th-Century Mind." New York Times. (1989): 1. Print. <http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/26/weekinreview/ideas- * Reef, Catherine. "Freud's Lasting Influence--A Meditation." Meet Catherine Reef. (2011): 1. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. <http://catherinereef.com/1/post/2011/10/freuds-lasting-influence-a-meditation.html>. * "Psychologist World." Sigmund Freud. 2011. <http://www.psychologistworld.com/psychologists/freud_1.php>. * Cherry, Kendra. "Sigmund Freud - Life, Work and Theories." Psychology. (2011): n. page. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. <http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/p/sigmund_freud.htm>. * "Wikipedia." Elecctra Complex. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra_comple&xgt; * Rosenberg, Jennifer. "WW1 Timeling." 20th Century History. 1. (2013): n. page. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/WWI-Timeline.htm>. * Mintz, Steven. "The Global Effect of World War 1." Institute of American History. 1. (2013): n. page. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/world-war-i/resources/global-effect-world-war-i>.