As one soldier wrote to his wife in November 1916: 'Everyone pretends that the war will end soon, that the longed-for peace will arrive, but that is only to keep their spirits up. People are so worn out and destroyed, they have suffered so much, that's all they can do to stop their hearts from breaking and to keep themselves from losing their mind.. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I don't understand the mood of the men and it only seems to me like this because I myself am exhausted and have come to realize in the past few days that I may lose my own mind in all this chaos.. Liulya, I have written all this to you so that you may understand what sort of a man you love.
Orlando Figes