We all know cigarettes are bad, we’ve seen dozens of ads, presentations, posters, and propaganda. We’ve all seen the studies, so to us, 40 cigarettes a day seems like an absurd amount. On average, a cigarette takes about 6 minutes to smoke, times that by 40 and you’ve got 240 minutes and lung cancer. But the soldiers of WWI didn’t know that. They had cigarettes to calm themselves down, they did not know if they would live to feel the long-term effects of cigarettes. People have different reasons for smoking whether it be stress, addiction, or pressure. In this case, it must be because of stress, other additional reasons can vary. The constant bombardment of artillery, the uncertainty that you can be safe one second and killed the next, and hoping that your family just is at home and safe, must have had a detrimental effect on the soldier’s psyche. The sleepless nights and the unexpected gas attacks, being constantly sleep deprived yet having to be at your full attention to survive, it’s hard to imagine becoming accustomed to that after living a relatively calm life outside of war. Expecting to serve your country only for a few months turned into years. Dealing with the disease and filth-ridden trenches. Watching people you fight alongside side everyday drop like flies. He describes feeling like an animal. Relying on basic instinct to get out of the battlefield alive. In this way, I can understand why the soldiers of WWI smoked 40 cigarettes a day.