The Era of the Great War Flashcards
What was Scotland like before the war?
- Coal, mining and engineering business was booming.
- The Clyde built nearly a third of all ships in the world.
- Scotland’s railway system sent fish all over the country.
- The jute industry was very popular in areas such as Dundee.
Who was Lord Kitchener?
The secretary who was responsible for recruiting soldiers.
Why did people join the army (from Kitchener’s campaigns)?
- Guilt
- Patriotic duty
- Kitchener was very convincing in his campaigns
- National duty.
- Fear of invasion.
- Ability to join with friends through Pals Battalions.
- Pressure - Espec. from women (white feather campaign.)
Why did Scots sign up for war?
- Opportunity of travel and adventure.
- Job/wage.
What was the layout of the trenches?
- Zigzag shape - to confuse the enemy.
- Drainage ditches called a sump to get rid of water.
- Dugouts for people to sit in, some were more elaborate than others.
- Barbed wire outside, to protect.
- Sandbags to protect soldiers.
What were the conditions like in the trenches?
- Shell bombs destroyed drainage system, led to muddy water in the trenches and men getting trench foot.
- Water was hard to transport to the front line, old petrol cans were used and the water tasted like petrol.
- Bodies of dead soldiers decomposing led to a horrible smell.
- Maintaining good hygiene was hard, led to the spread of diseases such as lice.
- Rats were attracted to the decomposing bodies, which led to disease.
- Healthcare wasn’t sufficient, many men died from their wounds
- Shell-shock was common and many men began to react violently to oud bangs.
What was a rifle & bayonet?
A rapid gun, could fire 15 rounds per minute.
What are the advantages of the rifle & bayonet?
- Could fire 15 rounds per minute,
- Rapid.
What were the disadvantages of the rifle & bayonet?
- Could only be used in hand to hand fighting (not much of this during WWI.)
- Some officers did not like them.
What are the advantages of machine guns?
- Could fire 500 bullets per min.
- Devastating effect.
What are the disadvantages of machine guns?
- High casualties
- Heavy
- Barrel would often overheat.
What was an advantage of artillery?
- Terrible effect on their targets.
What were the disadvantages of artillery?
- Effects were overestimated.
- Larger guns were heavier.
What were the advantages of gas?
- Some were undetectable.
- At first, Germans had no protection against it.
What were the disadvantages of gas?
- A change in wind could blow the wind back to the point of origin.
What was DORA (Defence of the Realm Act.)
- Restrictions on discussing the military and spreading rumours about the war was banned.
- Buying binoculars was banned to ensure no one could spy for the enemy.
- No trespassing on railway lines as they were vulnerable for the enemy to attack.
- Ban on fireworks as they could be used to send a signal to the enemy.
- No feeding bread to animals as it contributed to the food shortages.
- Newspaper censorship meant that the government could take control of what the public were being told about the war.
- Factories could be taken control of by the government and forced to make munitions at any time.
- British Summer Time, to maximise efficiency of production.
- Alcohol restrictions.
- Controlled freedom of “aliens” (foreigners)
How did Germany hope to get Britain out of the war?
By starving them.
What was the U-Boat campaign?
- Germans used U-Boats to sink British merchant ships, to starve Britain into surrendering.
- Britain fought back with a convoy system, by having warships that would protect merchant ships, this was partly successful.
- In 1917, Germany announced Unrestricted Submarine Warfare - they began attacking any ship heading to or from Britain.
What were the positive effects of rationing?
- Fairer supplies.
- Some people’s health improved.
- Largely accepted by Scottish people.
- Poor people could afford food more than before.
- Temporarily solved the issue of rising food costs.
What were the negative effects of rationing?
- Longer queues.
- Malnutrition.
- Rich people could still buy more on the black market.
What was it like for women during the war?
- Needed to fill the gap on the home front, especially after conscription was introduced.
- Industries which had previously excluded women, now welcomed them.
- Many women worked on the Western Front as nurses and ambulance drivers and often faced grave danger.
- The biggest increase in female employment was in engineering.
What jobs did women do during the war?
Ambulance drivers
Cooking, cleaning and running errands
Industrial work
Bread-making
Mechanics
Dentists
Coal workers
Window cleaners
Footballers
Bankers
Post office workers
Transport workers
Ammunition factories
Nurses
How was women’s work jeopardised by dilution?
- Not paid the same amount as men, for doing the same amount of work.
- Employment wasn’t permanent.
- Repetitive days as they were only trained for some things.
What was dilution?
Trade unions were worried about dilution.
When men returned from war, employers might try to reduce their wages or even worse, employ female workers instead.
Dilution Scheme – broke a job down into stages and women would be trained to do a stage each.
This reduced concerns that women in the workplace would undermine
What was a conscientious objector?
Men who refused to enlist as it was against their religious or moral views.
Why did some men oppose war?
- Some men were part of the Independent Labour Party, who believed that the war was unfair to those who did not want to fight.
- Religion.
- Moral views
- Socialism - some believed that the war was started by capitalists.
- Some became conscientious objectors after their own experiences at war.
- Some thought it was wrong to fight because Scotland wasn’t being directly targeted.
How were conscientious objectors treated?
- Prison
- Called a coward
- White feather campaign
- Refused service in shops
- Assault
Was propaganda to encourage voluntary rationing successful/unsuccessful?
unsuccessful
