Expectations v. Reality

World War II was a devastating conflict that destroyed countries like never before and contained a traumatic and disturbing amount of violence and hate. Soldiers on all sides of the conflict were thrilled when the fighting finally ended, but the end of the fighting was not the end of the problems that these soldiers would face.  Across countries, there was an issue of dissonance when the soldiers returned home from war.  Either from state propaganda or looking at how veterans had been received in the past, soldiers expected to be treated with respect and excitement at their return.  However, many soldiers returned to destroyed homelands without enough housing, and a civilian population that was not, in the soldiers’ eyes, thankful enough for their service.  Although the specific experiences depended on the country where the soldier came from, there was a collective experience of dissonance among postwar veterans.

This dissonance is very clearly viewed in the example of the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Union had lots of state sponsored propaganda which portrayed lots of “pomp and circumstance” surrounding the homecoming of their World War II veterans. (Dale, p. 114) Huge parades were thrown, and they depicted soldiers being smoothly reincorporated into society.  This painted a picture of hope for soldiers being demobilized, who found themselves faced with a much different reality once they returned home.  Many major cities throughout the country were destroyed—for example, Smolensk lost 88% of its housing, and Leningrad lost one-third of its population. (Dale, p. 119) This meant that returning soldiers found themselves homeless, dealing with the loss of friends and family, all while dealing with the horrific experiences they had just had during the war.  This was a huge departure from the picture that the government was painting.

This feeling of dissonance was not just apparent in countries where their territory was directly affected by the war.  In Australia, there was a difference between how veterans were treated after World War I and World War II.  In Crotty & Edele’s article, “Total War and Entitlement: Towards a Global History of Veteran Privilege,” they discuss eight different factors that affect veterans’ benefits. (Crotty & Edele, p. 9) In Australia, after WWI, almost all these factors worked in favor of the veterans. One factor that changed how veterans were treated from WWI to WWII was whether the soldiers had volunteer or conscript status.  Civilians were less receptive to veterans who had conscript status, because they felt they were not as committed. After seeing the benefits and claims that the veterans received after WWI, WWII veterans expected something similar.  However, the changes in several factors made the arrival home a lot more difficult than they had expected.

Australian and Soviet veteran experiences were very different, but they both highlighted a major issue: the difference between how they were told or expected to be treated and the reality of their lives once they had been demobilized.