WWI+Poetry

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 * Question 1: Why, When, Where and How did World War One start and end? What was English Society like before and after the war – how did it change?**

World War One, also known as “The Great War”, took place from the 28th September 1914 to November 11th 1918 and was significant as being the first major mechanized war in History. It took place between two alliance blocs: the triple alliance of Germany, Austria Hungary and the Ottoman Empire and the triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia. It started because of the assassination of Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrio-Hungarian Throne by a member of the Serbian black hand, Gavrilo Princip. The alliance system would then cause all the powers in the alliance blocs to declare on each other after Austria-hungary declared on Serbia. WWI was mainly fought in Europe and the Middle East, although there was some fighting in Africa. In 1917, due to the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia withdrew from the war, and within a few months, the USA joined the war on the side of the Entente. This was due to a combination of the Zimmerman telegram from Germany to Mexico asking it to war US if US declared on Germany and submarine boats sinking US merchant ships. The war ended with the surrender of Germany on November 11th 1918, what is now known as Armistice Day after the war turned against the triple alliance after the surrender of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary in early 1918 and Germany was fighting alone. Before World War One, English society was prosperous, benefiting from the empire. There were no main sources of conflict other than the possibility of an Irish war and the unrest caused by the womens suffrage movement (in particular the WSPU suffragettes). At the start of WWI, most were patriotic but this was to change by the end of the war. At the end of the war, people’s impressions of war were different to the ones at the start and the harsh reality of war was exposed. Also, women started becoming more equal to men, with a women’s franchise bill passed in 1918, allowing women with property or married to men with property to vote.


 * The above has been written by Dylan Atkin**

Why is this war called ‘The Great War’ and why is it considered to have had more impact than any other war of the twentieth century?

War had never been fought in such a massive scale. Almost all of continental Europe were involved, consisting of all the major world powers at that time – Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Britain, France, Italy and United States. As colonial powers, as the European countries fought, so did its territories around the world. The world had never seen a war fought on such a great scale. An estimated of more than 50 million soldiers fought in the war and more than 10 million died. The technology used in this war was also unprecedented. During the war, machine guns were used and wireless technology was employed. Trench warfare was introduced. At its height, German and Allied armies built a pair of trench lines from the Swiss border in the south to the North Sea coast of Belgium. Chemical warfare was also widespread. Gases used included chlorine, mustard gas and phosgene. Aircraft were also deployed on a large scale. German used its U-boats, or submarine, effectively, damaging many Allies’ supply. It was Germany’s unrestricted U-boats attack that drove the US to war. The First World War saw vast improvements in technology. Each country competed to produce the most advance weapons. This war devastated Europe and would take it many years to recover. It ended with the Treaty of Versailles, which was often seen as a document which contributed to the rise of Hitler, and thus the Second World War, another war of a grander scale. The end of the war caused the map of Europe to be almost completely redrawn. New, smaller countries were created, and the powerful Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. International diplomacy was high on every countries’ agenda to prevent another war of similar scale (which obviously failed). League of Nations, the predecessor of the current United Nations, was created. Many attributes of modern world, such as diplomacy and technology were a result of this war. Therefore, many saw it to have had more impact than any other war.