Sassoon's Declaration

Sassoon’s declaration is bold and defies the beliefs of political leaders of England at the time. The statement is written in first person, which makes it the more personal and confronting. The title of the declaration, ‘Finished with the war’, is extremely concise and makes one want to understand the reasoning behind such a powerful proclamation. Moreover, the title is immediately supported by evidence within the first line. Sassoon suggests that those who had the power to end the war were intentionally prolonging it. Blaming ‘super-powers’ in a declaration portrays the valiant character that Sassoon is and the extent he will go to share such confronting views. He continues by stressing how the war has changed. He says he entered the war trusting that he was defending and liberating, but he questions his role in the war, by saying it has become or always been a war of aggression and conquest.

Sassoon states he has endured and seen the tremendous suffering of troops, however its evident he has suffered much more. He has obviously has been scarred by the horror and consequences of war. Not only has he witnessed loss and suffering but saw the pointlessness of this act, as he states ‘fighting men are being sacrificed’ for political errors and insincerities. This particular quote defiantly challenges the role of soldiers in war. As a society we are lead to believe soldiers are heroes but they are never spoken of as sacrifices for political mistakes. This maybe because the statement is uncalled for, or it maybe because society chooses to ignore and overlook this, as soldiers have been so glorified we couldn’t bear to imagine them as only a surrender. Sassoon uses the term ‘we’ relentlessly throughout the declaration. This makes one wonder whether his declaration did correspond to the majority of the soldier’s thoughts of war, or if he was misusing the term to emphasize his own opinion. The experiences Sassoon provided, as evidence would most likely correlate with the soldiers, as they fought, lived and breathed on the same soil. When Sassoon mentions the impact of ‘agonies’ for those at home, it reinforces the horror of war. This declaration is cry for help because it speaks from the heart and is written with honesty.