WW1 Summary

The Start/facts On the 28 th of July the Austro-Hungarians fired the first shots in preparation for the invasion of Serbia. As Russia mobilised(got its army ready) Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxemburg before moving towards France, leading to Britain to declare war on them. Estimated 37 million all around the world were killed in WW1, about 16million of these were civilians. 140,000 Labourers from China helped dig trenches for the Allies on the Western Front. Over the course of the war the English managed to produce more than 6,500 tanks. World War 1 was the first time aircraft were used in battle. The average life expectancy of a WW1 fighter pilot was just a few weeks. Remembrance Day Remembrance day is a day that every year on Sunday the 9 th of November, there is a one minute silence to remember those who have gave their lives to protect the country in WW1 and WW2. The red poppy resembles this day as the only flower that grew on no mans land(the amount of land between the trenches) were red poppies.

The Trenches WW1 is greatly known for the trench warfare which consisted of both sides, England and Germany, digging into the land to form thousands of tunnels along the French border to protect their claimed land. The trenches had appalling conditions: there were rats, diseases, flooded and unclean water, bodies of soldiers all around and no shelter for what was, in many cases, only 100 yards away from the enemy. The trenches themselves were made from; sand bags holding up the dirt from a hole that the soldiers would have dug, barbed wire on the edges stop people climbing in so easily and wooden supports to keep the wells from caving in when a shell hit. Both the English and Germans built trenches and stayed in them for the majority of the war as no advancement could be made without having huge amounts of casualties. One of the diseases that was most common was trench foot, this was caused by the dirty/murky water that flooded into the trenches by rainfall getting into the men's shoes and making their feet damp.

Women’s Roles Women in the time of around WW1 could not have worked in any kind of way to do with the army, but once men started being shipped out to fight, there was nobody left to work and run the factories producing the vital materials that the soldiers needed like guns, ammo, vehicles etc. Women saw this opportunity and also wanted to aid their country in some way, so many decided to work in the factories producing these goods. The ‘Canary Girls’ are the most well known workers that made the shells in WW1. They are called this because the TNT they handled is toxic meaning repeated exposure can turn the skin an orange- yellow, like the colour of a canary bird. In some cases the women had to do the jobs of men as they had went to war and, in many cases, died leaving companies needing employment for people to work in the factories. After WW1 around 800,000 women gained the right to work with men and vote, this number increases substantially over the years to come

The Soldiers The soldiers of WW1 were nearly all volunteers that, when war was announced, decided to help aid their country in its time of struggle by volunteering themselves to the army. In the first week the government asked for 100,000 volunteers and got over 750,000 in the first month. This was the fastest and largest military enrolment in the world. By the end of the year more than 1million men aged from 16+ had volunteered to sign up. The soldiers that went to war were equipped with various important items such as; their uniform, gun, ammo, grenades, gasmask, backpack, water canteen (some canned food) and about 1 in 3 had a small shovel attached to their backpack. The soldiers in WW1 greatly depended on the moral of letters from their family members and friends, thousands of letters were shipped and received daily.