13


DiScOvErInG HiStOrY The ‘Great’ War


The Great War, as World War I is also called, was the most violent and destructive war the world had ever seen. The Central Powers saw the war as a chance to expand their empires west into France and east into Russia. However, the war soon became a stalemate (a situation in which neither side wins). At the Eastern and Western Fronts (the area in which opposing armies face each other), the soldiers dug trenches (long deep ditches used by the troops as protection from enemy fire) facing each other with a strip of land in between called no-man’s land. Soldiers were expected to run across no-man’s land and try to push the enemy back. However they were usually killed by machine guns and shelling as they ran towards the opposing army’s trench. Battles like those in France at Verdun (700,000 casualties) and the Somme (600,000 casualties – 19,420 were killed on the first day of the battle) and Passchendaele in Belgium (560,000 casualties) were particularly bloody.


The war dragged on for four years before the arrival of over one million American soldiers in 1917 and 1918 turned the tide. Germany and the Central Powers surrendered to the Allies on 11 November 1918.


Weblink For more information about World War I search:


■ British – library – world – war – one – themes ■ Imperial – war – museum – battle – of – the – somme – injuries – treatment – trenches.


Or read some of the poetry of World War I by searching: ■ Poetry – foundation – world – war – 1


✣ By the way


Armies sometimes used poisonous gas against the opposing trenches but this was not always successful, especially if the wind changed direction.


✣ By the way


Trenches were often dug into farmland so the soil contained manure. This resulted in tetanus and disease. Because of the conditions, minor injuries often resulted in death if they became infected.


Fig 13.2 The Western and Eastern fronts in World War I with some of the key battles labelled.


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