Warm Up: 19 January 2016 Look at the first slide of your packet. Read the text then, fill in the blanks with the correct causes of the Great War.

Recap: Reasons for World War One Nationalism: Each country was proud of its military Militarism: Countries were spending record amounts on new technology for war Alliances: Each country had allies who promised to defend them They thought they would win easily

Life in the Trenches of World War One A brief glimpse of Hell

Lesson goals: Why didn’t WWI end quickly? What was life like for the average foot- soldier in the trenches of WWI?

Assignment Pretend you’re a soldier in the trenches of WWI Write a letter home describing a day in your life

Why trench warfare? Battles were fought and not won The world’s first modern war used the fruits of industrialization Stalemate! No progressive action. Time to dig in and not give up an inch!

Weapons of the first ‘Modern War’ How was WWI different from all wars before it?

Daily death in the trenches Shell fire (artillery bombs) Direct attack Rookies looking over the edge Disease

Rat infestation Rats in the millions infested trenches. They gorged themselves on human remains, grotesquely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and liver. Brown rats could grow to the size of a cat! Soldiers would attempt to rid the trenches of them by various methods: gunfire, bayonet, and even clubbing them to death. It was futile: a single rat couple could produce up to 900 offspring in a year, spreading infection and contaminating food. The rat problem remained for the duration of the war In one year!

Trench Fever & Trench Foot Lice caused Trench Fever: pain, fever and 12 weeks of recovery Washing clothes didn’t kill the lice. Trench Foot was caused by puddles in trenches. Infection =Gangrene = Amputation.

Morning schedule Rum after dawn Weapon cleaning Breakfast ‘truce’ (how civilized!) Back to fighting Morning inspection Chore assignment

Daily chores Refill the sandbags Repair the duckboards (wood) on the floor of the trench Drain the water (heavy rainfall filled the trenches with muddy water and the walls would cave in) Cleaning the latrines (bathrooms)

Daily Boredom Snipers and lookouts prevented movement during the day Most operations conducted at night Once you finished your chores you read a book or wrote letters home.

It stunk in the trenches Rotting carcasses Shallow graves Overflowing latrines Dried sweat Smelly feet Poison gas Disinfectant Rotting sandbags Stagnant mud Cigarette smoke Cooking food

British Field Manual Copy of an army field manual showing how to build a good trench system.

Lesson goals Why didn’t WWI end quickly? What was life like for the average foot- soldier in the trenches of WWI?

Assignment Pretend you’re a soldier in the trenches of WWI Write a letter home describing a day in your life (must be in letter format) This is an APPLICATION level question: provide multiple pieces of specific evidence from your knowledge of trench warfare.