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MULTIPLE CHOICE AND SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS- WWI
Historical context - M.A.I.N
Term Definition
Militarism A belief that glorifies the military ideals
and argues that is is necessary to have a
strong armed forced and to use them to
win political or economic advantage
- Everybody wanted to have the
stronger military
Alliances- In international relations, a formal
Caused agreement between two or more states
broken for mutual support in case of war.
relationship
within europe - Everybody wanted someone else
supporting and backing then up in
case of war
Imperialism The activity and belief in empire-building;
where one country rules another country,
often using force to gain control of them
Nationalism A strong identification with others who
share a common language and
background and a belief that one's nation
is of primary importance
- Everybody thought their country
was the best
TRIPLE ENTENTE
Britain- King George V , France- President Raymond Poincaire, Russia- Tsar Nicholas II
TRIPLE ALLIANCE
Germany- Kaiser Wilhelm II, Austria-Hungary- Kaiser Franz Joseph, Italy- Victor Emmanuel III
When talking about WW1
● Germany was competing with the UK
to build battleships.
● The British feared an attack on their
Empire because Kaiser Wilhelm
announced his intention to build a
bigger German navy than Britain
● Germany was competing with Russia
and France to expand their armies
● By 1914 all the major powers were
linked by a system of alliances.
● The alliances made it more likely that
a war would start.
● Alliances prevented larger stronger
states from pursuing war on the
smaller weaker states in europe.
● Alliances made nations over confident
and reckless.
● All the great powers were competing
for colonies / territory.
● The British feared Germany in Africa.
● The Austrians feared Serbia / Russia
in the Balkans
● nations wanted to assert their power
and independence.
● In Europe Slavs, aided by Serbia and
Russia, wanted to be free of Austrian
rule.
Nature of WW1
Important battles
Verdun (1916):
Longest and bloodiest battles in WW1
Almost a year long
Germany wanted to inflict as many wounds as they could on the French
Both sides lost over 300,000 soldiers
To relieve pressure off the French, the English instigated the Battle of the Somme
Experiences of Soldiers:

● No trenches: didn’t have time to build them because of constant bombardments

● No food or letters: mental, emotional and physical health deteriorated
● Loss of morale for both sides as they lost much but did not gain anything

Somme (1916):

● Breakthrough the German frontline

● 750 000 men
● Moral was high amongst the British
● Machine gun bombardments killed 1/3 of the British.
● 58,000 casualties
● Aim was to have a breakthrough

Experiences of Soldiers:

● Soldiers were more determined with the introduction of tanks and new weapons
● The British gained more but at a large cost
● War of attrition
● Loss of enthusiasm by the end

Passchendaele (1917):

● The battle was preceded by a 10 day bombardment of guns to break through the
German front line.
● The battle decimated the land causing it to become muddy
● Offensive came to a stalemate and the Canadian forces tried to divert German troops
● Aim was to destroy German submarine bases

Experiences of Soldiers:

● Extremely muddy; could not move

● Many men and horses drowned
● Constant and heavy bombardments; PTSD

Changing nature of warfare

 ● Trench warfare began as both sides ‘dug in’ to defend their positions. Trenches were
built by the Germans and Allies from Belgium to the Swiss/French border, an area of
approx. 750 km long.
● The Western Front stretched from the English Channel near Ypres to Switzerland.
● Both sides expected the trench lines to be temporary until the next offensive – whereby
the war of movement would again be started.
● Both sides found it was it was easier to defend a position, rather than launch an
offensive which resulted in a stalemate
● Attrition warfare developed – the aim was to wear down the enemy. The war became a
contest to decide which side had the greatest military capacity and
technological/industrial resources to maintain the war, and eventually win.

New artillery developments

- Metal Helmets, german had steel helmets that were lighter than the british and
french helmets.
- Gomez gask, a rubber mask with a filter of active charcoal- german
- Flamethrowers, tanks, light machine guns, rifle grenades, mortars and light field
guns.

Changing attitudes of soldiers

● Soldiers wanted to experience a comfortable and traditional christmas

● December military personal started to negotiate on the western front about a ceasefire
(temporary stoppage in war)
● Resulted in christmas truce december 1914- described as the “last trace of humanity” in
the war- not condoned by commanding officers
- Soccer match
- Singing christmas carols

A soldier named private kemp said “there were a lot of soldiers wounded which caused other
soldiers to become sad” and that the christmas truce caused loss of hatred from the enemy.

Reason for Allied victory

● Allied economic and military superiority
- They were able to combine resources from colonies they ruled over such as
australia, canada, pakistan, bangladesh
 - British colonies sent over 2.5 million men into war - more manual labourers (e.g
trench diggers) and soldiers

● Entry of USA into the war

- Allied with britain
- USA had resources and strong army

● Improved allied generalship

- Appointment of General Foch was positive
- Effective decisions and tactics in battle
- He help achieve the final breakthrough in september
- Use a combination of tanks, aircrafts and artillery
Reason for Axis loss
● USA entering the war
- Allied with britain
- USA had resources and strong army
● Strains on german homefront
- Resources had to be stretched e.g Food difficulties
- Development of war weariness
- Increased strikes and decline of morale e.g increased crime
● Ludendroffs role
- Failed to develop tank warfare
- Lacked military knowledge but was a brilliant soldier
- Described as “wild” and “charging buffalo who attacked wildly”
● Exhaustion of german army
- No reserve soldiers

Impact of the war on civilians

Attitudes before and after war

● In both Britain and Germany, the reaction of the civilian population was to support the
war and bury political differences. They had patriotism and idealism beliefs
 Britain
Attitudes in 1914 before war:

● Britain: The leader of the labour party had to resign as he did not support the war while
the rest of his party did.
● Used propaganda to maintain public support
- They used children to symbolize that everyone was involved in the war
- Examples are babies in soldiers uniforms and children standing in front of their
house after it has been bombed.
- Used racist, devil, derogatory terms to portray the enemy.
- propaganda is stating that the Germans burned chiderneds feet before they were
killed.
- Sayings like ‘God save the king’, an expression of one's patriotism and hope for
the long life of the monarch

Attitudes of civilians:
● Couldn't understand experiences of the soldiers
● Censorship kept the public misinformed
● Attitudes changed later as expressed by the media through:
- sassoon letter publish in the london time 1917
- The film Battle of Somme showed real footage of the war and allowed the
civilians to see how bad the battle of somme was. Over 20 million people saw it.
Film was supposed to encourage people to enlist but had the opposite effect.

Attitudes in 1918:

● Britain: The victory was a surprise in Britain. Only at the end of August had the
newspapers begun to speak of the flowing tide of success, and when the armistice came
there was an outpouring of joy and relief.

Germany
Attitudes in 1914 before war:
● Massive spread of enthsim
● Strict government of modia control
● Most were eger

Attitudes from 1916- 18

● Strikes across germany began to unfold
● Peace demonstration (30,000 people attended)
● Food shortages start to cause starvation
● Inflation rate at destroyed german economy
● Ended in exhaustion and impoverished /poor
Role of women - britain Conditions in factory

When WWI started women stopped protesting for the right to Dirty and smelly
vote to help the men e.g donating socks, books, cigarettes Skin turned yellow

Women worked as munitions were needed on the front line Injuries ranged from minor to life- threatening
e.g shell making

1 million women worked in munitions factories Went insane

The biggest munitions factory was the royal arsenal, Lost feeling in their bodies
woolwich

Women wanted to support their husbands, brothers, uncles TNT poisoning caused women to get sick
etc.

Female police to keep the women in the factories in order 16-18 casualties per night , Many killed

WOMEN STILL RECEIVED SUFFRAGE E.G NOT HAVING THE VOTE AND LESS RIGHTS
Role of women- Effects
Germany

Political Involvement and

Unrest ● Women took part in protests, both for and against the war e.g food riots
● supported war however work conditions, famine changed their opinions

Domestic Roles
● factory labour for urban women
● They were allowed to take allocated time off work to do shopping
● war-related work drew on domestic expertise- sewing military uniforms.
● Be creative when cooking with substitutes

Labour and the

Workforce ● Women took the jobs left vacant by men going into the army
● Nursing movement in the army recruited around 800,000 women.
● Machine shops: 400,000 women, Ammunitions plants: 600,000 women

Struggle to survive:
Economic Impacts.
● Became financially independent
● Earned more than in pre-war times
● Soldiers’ wives received separation allowances, but these were not
sufficient to replace their husbands’ pre-war wages
● Many war widows and their children fell into extreme poverty

Life in the Trenches

Conditions:

● Constant fear of going over the top into No Man’s Land

● Sources of conditions include Photographs, Journals, Poems, Letters home
● Mud was thick slime
● Food: contaminates
 ● Wounds: Infects it
● Clothing: always wet
● Sickness and Disease
● Lack of drainage and rain meant trenches were frequently full of water (knee-high)
● This caused ‘trench foot’: painful swelling, toes fall off before the disease progressed to
gangrene
● There was human debris in the water
● Decomposing bodies were allowed to float on the surface of the water until a safe time
could be found to dispose of them.
● In summer swarms of flies.
● The stench of the trench often induced vomiting
● Most men had to urinate where they stood
● Diarrhea and dysentery were common
● Lice
● Tortured them at night
● Constant scratching caused skin to break
● Rats
● Trench Rats or corpse rats were vermin the size of small dogs or cats
● Bought out the humour of men (competition of killing rats)
● Carried diseases
● Cold
● Temp would fall to about -15 degrees: unbearable conditions

Psychological Angle

● Long- and short-term effects

● Constant artillery bombardments
● Paranoia
● Shellshock
● Was not recognized as a psychological illness till after the war
● Some became violent
● Others refused to communicate
● Some would gaze blankly or shake, mumble and slobber.

Total War on BOTH SIDES

Main Elements of Total War:

● Government direction of the nation’s labour resources e.g rationed food, manufacturing
● The mobilisation of previously unused resources
● E.g. Female labour
● Leads governments into non-economic areas of population control
● E.g. Conscription, propaganda, censorship and security.
● Government control of all the allocation of scarce resources.
● The government taking on functions that previously would not have been considered.
● The development of government control over the means of production, communications
and marketing of the country’s resources.
Impacts:

● Wars had traditionally been fought by men, often in distant lands. But during WW1, the
communities left behind were active participants in the war effort.
● Maintaining the home front was vital to the outcome of the conflict.
● The growing demand for ammunition, men and machinery forced more government
intervention in the management of the economy and the lives of its citizens.
● The result was total war, with all activities of civilians and industries directed towards the
war effort.

German Home front:

● More profound impact on the German home front than Britain.

● Severe food shortages, regulation and control of domestic labour, extensive industry and
agricultural activities.
● Over 3 and a half million civilians engaged in the war effort.
● Food and fuel rationing eventually led to a breakdown of the economy, strikes, and
revolution.

British home front:

● 1915 German zeppelins (planes) flew over London and dropped bombs on innocent
civilians and factories.
● Zeppelins killed 2,000 civilians injured or killed
● Total war demened all the resources of the nation, everyone to do their part and fight e.g
women working.
● 1.5 million men enlisted at the start of war
● There was hardly a family who didn’t have someone serving in the war.
● Almost every family lost someone due to the war.

QUOTES

“The man lived like rats among the rats” - soldier

“You could throw a shovel full of quick lime on them to take some of the smell away, but the
odor of the trenches was appalling” paul fussell

“Those boys up there were still in that Hell, and the end wasn’t in sight yet.”- soldier Morris
Albert Martin,

“This is a war to end all wars.”- Woodrow Wilson, 1917

"The First World War was a horror of gas, industrialized slaughter fear and appalling human
suffering." - british novelist Nick Harkaway,

“We must get women back into the home as soon as possible. That they ever left is one of the
evil results of the war!” - factory time magazine 1916

“ I can never describe that faint, sickening, horrible smell which nearly knocked me up
altogether.”- British Captain Leeham

“Hell is not fire; that would be the ultimate in suffering. Hell is mud.”- the Wipers Times

“all our faces were bright yellow they used to call us canaries.”- Caroline Rennles, a worker

Sentence starters
- This source suggests that…
- Therefore shows….
- It suggests
- This source is very effective
- This source is useful because
- Historian describe the working conditions for women in world war one as

Words to describe source - pride, nationalism, inspired, persuasion, engaging, absorbing and
essential
uses psychological tactics, guilt, and emotions to appeal to the patriotism and loyalty words to
describe tactics

Treaty of versailles
- Peace treaty signed in 28th june 1919
- Allied powers and germany
- Blamed germany
- When german representatives signed they looked “isolated” and “pitiable”
- Hd to pay $31.4 billion us dollars
- Colonies taken away restriction to amount of men in their army
- Left europe torn and germany humiliated and angry