The First World War – By Esther MacCallum-Stewart.
A while back I found my old schoolbooks in the attic. This webpage reproduces my work on the Great War when I was ten. I remember being taught about the war and I also remember being very interested in it. The pictures testify to this my artistic skills were about as good then as they are now. However, the amount of pictures in the book (which I remember slavishly reproducing) demonstrates how I was prepared to spend time over pictures which elsewhere in the exercise book look more like accidents than drawings.
Although obviously very basic, it is interesting to see how the war was taught to me and the understanding I had of it. Teaching methods have changed a great deal in the last fifteen years, but the types of work, the frequent use of phrases such as “endless fighting”, “losses were terrible” and “slaughter was unavoidable”, all demonstrate how I was taught the standard view of the war myth. The Eastern Front and the war in the air are mentioned, but it is the Western Front and the Battle of the Somme that are covered in more detail. Although the pictures are of paraphenalia and map diagrams, there is no mention anywhere of recreation or popular culture; subjects which may have had a more pertinent appeal to a child not yet in secondary education. Books such as Micheal Foremans War Game, and of course Deary’s The Frightful First World War were not available, and the accepted historical reading appears to have been entirely that of the war myth.
The Great Powers and What They Wanted.
A Crossword on Guns.
Note. Spelling and punctuation have been left verbatim.
The First World War started with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife by Gavrillo Princip, who was from Bosnia. He wanted Bosnia to be independent.
Serbia, Bosnia’s neighbouring country wanted to be united this was known by Austria and so Serbia was blamed for the murder. Austria attacked Serbia and the Russians stepped in to back up Serbia. The Germans backed up Austria. The Germans wanted war and were happy to fight. France began to worry and so got invaded.The Germans decoded to attack France and passed through Belgium attacking them on the way. Britain helped the French and on August 4th 1914 they declared war. At first Italy kept out but joined in later to fight with France and Britain. This was strange as Italy supported the other side.
Even though the countries around it were raging, Swizerland stayed neutral throughout both wars.
(Map of Pre-War Europe, 1914)
The Great Powers and What they Wanted.
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The Triple ALLIANCE |
The Triple ENTENTE |
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6 |
6 |
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Germany wanted an Empire |
France wanted revenge |
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6 |
6 |
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Austria wanted the balkans |
Britain feared the new Gernam navy |
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6 |
6 |
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Italy wanted Tunis |
Russia wanted the Balkans |
(A cross-section of a Trench)
After the Dardanelles campain failed, the allies sought to win the war by trying to break through the trench-lines in France. For the rest of the war the western front was the main battlefield.
By 1916 the trench lines were well-established. Each trench was about 2.50m deep. On either side sandbags were placed and in front of that, facing the enemy, were posts with iron wire attached. Theses could be lifted in and out of the ground to be moved. Beyond the wire was what the soldiers called “No-mans land”. This was about a few hundred metres to the enemy trenches. It was muddy and bare where endless fighting had torn the ground apart.
From 1916-1918 quite a few great battles took place on the Western front and the loses were terrible on the first day of the battle of the Somme, a battle which raged for four months, 60 thousand men were killed or wounded. These battles began with about a weeks of shooting that was supposed to soften the enemy lines. Then the officers would jump out of the trenches and tell the men to follow them. For many people this was the worst part of the war and the saddest.
The men who organised the battles had their headquarters miles away from the battlefields and were disliked intensely by the men but often they believed they had not choice and that the slaughter was unavoidable.
(The Famous Recruiting poster)
The war opened when the Germans smashed their way through Belgium, which was neutral.
The British Expeditionary force (B.E.F.) was sent in but could not do much to stop them. They fought a battle in Le Mons, against Kaiser the German leader but the enemys continued and it was feared Paris would fall. But as the army closed upon Paris they tired and slowed down. After this it changed direction towards the South. This gave the French general a chance to attack the armie’s weakest point, its flank. It developed into a full scale battle to save Paris and drive the Germans back. The fighting lasted for days and slowly the Germans were pushed back to the river Aisne witch was about sixty mils away from Paris. There they dug trenches. Paris had be saved and the war of movement on the Western front had ended.
The war on the Eastern front also started quickly. The Russian army mobilised first, much to the Germans surprise, and was soon advancing in two places. The first was towards Austria and Galicia and the second was against the Germans in East Prussia. The Austrians could not halt the Russians and lost much of their territory. The Germans suffered badly because they had a lot of setbacks early on. Troops had to be sent from France because the situation was so serious. With the new troops were two new commanders, Hindenburg and Ludendorff. They prepared for a counter attack against the Russians at Tannenberg. The German plan worked and they won a great victory. The Russian commander, Samsonov, rather than face defeat, commited suicide. His army retreated from German land to its own territory. The Germans won further battles after Tannenberg, but by the end of the year the war of movement had ended on that front too.
Aircraft in 1914 were still in a stage of early development. They were made of wood and canvas which was held together with piano wire. The first flight, by the Wright brothers had only been eleven years previously.
The men who flew these things were open to the weather with only leather helmets and goggles to protect them. They did not have any parachutes and very faulty engines. The men who piloted these craft had to be very brave.
Despite of this the aircraft did a very good job. They patrolled around the trenches collecting information about the enemy and dropped bombs onto the supply dumps. As well as this they fought in dog fights which became a great feature of the war. As the value of the machine increased so did the men and aircraft. By 1918 the Royal Flying corps had become the RAF with over 210, 000 men.
(First World War Bombs and Hand Grenades.)
(A Crossword about guns)
In July 1918 Marshal Foch launched several counter-attacks. This, as far as Germany was concerned, was the beginning of the end of the war. From then the German armies began to retreat and Ludendorf could not stop it.
The bad news from the front had a bad affect on the population in Germany. They were suffering from shortages of food and feul. When the news of the summer defeats were known the anti war feeling became very strong. In the end the sailors went on strike. The feeling that had been mounting in Germany was what put the end to the war. The generals feared a takeover in Germany more than the allies. In early November Kaiser was persuaded to give up his throne so that a president represented the people could take over. When this was done they asked for peace and the fighting ended 11.00am 11th Novemeber 1918. This was called Armistice Day.
(An Earl Haig Poppy)
The Settlement that had closed the war was made in 1919 in Paris and the one between Germany and the allies was signed at Versailles. The leader of the victorious nations demanded the conference and “the big four” dictated the terms for the defeated prisoners to accept.
The terms were harsh and it was really a mistake because it stored up bad feeling for the future. The war had cost many lives and pounds. Austria became a small republic. In its place were Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Hungary became a compleatily separate and republic.
(The New European Map)
When the war started the British people got very enthusiastic the men marched off to join the various armies thinking it was going to be wonderful. Women haded white feathers but to people they thought should be fighting.The people felt that it was the beginning of an adventure.
The early excitement did not last. People began to wish the war would end. Food became short and rationing had to be introduced. Most families had someone fighting and were always worried that they would either not return or become a cripple.
To add to this there was the danger of air raids. The people of Britain could be wounded just as they could in the areas of fighting.
The Ambulances.
A depressing sight during the war was the soldiers being taken to the hospitals by train and ambulance. The trains came in at night to Victoria station and were ferried to the hospitals by ambulance. In this way it was hoped that the people would not realise how many had been killed.
(Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Form 2, Balfour Junior School, 1985)