The twentieth century saw extraordinary advances in science and technology that would transform people’s lives. However, it was without comparison in human history for the sheer scale of destruction and misery that people inflicted upon each other in war.
Over the four years of World War I, 18 million people died and there were profound changes in governments, societies and technology. The war’s aftermath shaped a world which would see even more devastating conflicts.
World War I Type of source
Primary Primary
WORKING WITH THE EVIDENCE! —————————————
Category Visual Written
—————————— Example
World War I was the fi rst confl ict to be extensively photographed and fi lmed by both the media (journalists) and private soldiers
Offi cial documents from the governments at war: war reports, speeches by political leaders. Newspapers carried detailed coverage of the war from reporters at the front
Letters, diaries and books written by people of the time. Writers like Siegfried Sassoon, Ernest Hemingway and Wilfred Owen wrote memoirs, poetry and novels that portrayed the lives of ordinary soldiers
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using poetry or fi ctionalised accounts of a soldier’s life?
A novel presenting a fictionalised account of Sassoon’s own experiences at the front
A soldier photographs the reality at the front 328
