World War 1

Question 1

Why is WW1 also known as Great War?

Answer 1

As the world never experienced such a big war before with millions of men,split into alliances spending four years killing each other using incredibly deadly weapons

Question 2

How many people died in WW1?

Answer 2

9 million people

Question 3

Is nationalism a short term or long term cause for WW1?

Answer 3

Long term

Question 4

Is militarism a short term or long term cause for WW1?

Answer 4

Long term

Question 5

Is imperialism a short term or long term cause for WW1?

Answer 5

Long term

Question 6

How did Nationalism cause WW1?

Answer 6

At the beginning of the twentieth century, people started to take great pride in their countries.People of different nations,especially in Europe,were convinced that their people,country and way of doing things were the best.Unfortunately for many leaders of Europe,the best way to prove they were the best was to have a war with their rivals

Question 7

How did militarism cause WW1?

Answer 7

People took great pride in their armies and navies.To make sure that theirs were the best,countries spent more and more money on bigger and bigger armies.Nobody wanted the smallest army,so countries got caught up in an arms race.To many,there was no point in having a big,expensive army if you were not going to use it and whenever countries fell out,the temptation was to always use their weapons

Question 8

How did imperialism become a cause for WW1

Answer 8

It was not just Britain that had an empire,many other European countries did too.The race to gain control of other nations,particularly in Africa,led to tension and fierce rivalries among European countries.They began to see each other as a threat to their overseas possessions and saw war as the only way to remove this threat permanently

Question 9

What was the Triple Entente made up of?

Answer 9

Britain,France and Russia

Question 10

What was the Triple alliance made up of?

Answer 10

Germany,Austria-Hungary and Italy

Question 11

How did alliances cause WW1

Answer 11

As each country began to feel threatened,they looked for friends to back them up in a war known as allies and made up the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance,the idea was to put people off starting a war as it would mean fighting against three nations instead of one.Although this made them feel more secure,it meant it would take one small disagreement between any two nations involved,and all of Europe would be dragged into a war

Question 12

What was the short term cause for WW1?

Answer 12

Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassination

Question 13

When was Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated?

Answer 13

28th June 1914

Question 14

Why did the Austrians murder Archduke Franz Ferdinand?

Answer 14

Bosnia was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire-but only since 1908 when it had been conquered by the Austrians.Many Bosnians were still deeply unhappy about this.They wanted to join with their neighbours Serbia,and many Serbians,known as the ‘Black Hand’ decided to take drastic action to highlight their cause - they planned to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand.His visit to Sarajevo was the perfect oppurtunity

Question 15

Events leading to Archduke Franz Ferdinands assassination

Answer 15

1) Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife arrived at Sarajevo station at 9:28am.They were driven towards the Town Hall to meet the Mayor.Crowds lined the streets and the car drove slowly so that the royal couple would wave to the royal people.
2) Six Black Hand assassins waited for the car by the Cumurja Bridge.As the open-topped car passed,one of the Serbians threw a bomb at the royal couple.The bomb ended up beneath the car behind and blew up,injuring several people.The Archduke’s car sped off to the Town Hall with a terrified Ferdinand inside
3) The Archduke cancelled the rest of his visit,but decided to visit those injured by the bomb before he went home.At 11am,he again got into the chauffeur driven car,but it drove a lot faster this time!As they passed Schillers caafe,the driver was informed that he had taken a wrong turn.He stopped to turn around
4) After the bomb attack,the assassins had spilt up and ran into the crowds.By coincidence,one of the gang members(18 year old Gavrill Princip,was standing outside the cafe.He took out a pistol,walked towards the car and fired two shots.Ferdinand was hit in the throat;his wife Sophie was shot in the stomach.Both were killed

Question 16

What happens on the 28th of July?

Answer 16

Austria-Hungary blames Serbia for killing the Archduke.It attacks Serbia

Question 17

What happens on the 29th of July

Answer 17

Russia,who has promised to protect Serbia against attack,gets its army ready to attack Austria-Hungary

Question 18

What happens on the 1st of August?

Answer 18

Germany,who supports Austria-Hungary,hears anout Russian preparations for war.Germany declars war on Russia.

Question 19

What happens on the 2nd of August

Answer 19

Britain prepares its warships

Question 20

What happens on the 3rd of August

Answer 20

Germany,whose plan if to defeat France BEFORE attacking Russia,declares war on France

Question 21

What happens on the 4th of August?

Answer 21

Germany asks Belgium to allow German soldiers to march through their country to attack France.Belgium says ‘no’.Germany marches in anyway.Britain,who has a deal to protect Belgium from attack(dating back to 1839) declares war on Germany

Question 22

What happens on the 6th of August?

Answer 22

Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia

Question 23

What happens on the 12th of August?

Answer 23

Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary

Question 24

What was the Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 24

The plan was to quickly defeat France with a huge knock-out blow through Belguim before moving the soldiers east to face the enormous but slow-moving,Russian army

Question 25

When was the Schlieffen Plan put into action

Answer 25

3rd of August 1914

Question 26

Why did the Schlieffen Plan go wrong?

Answer 26

Firstly,the Belgian army(which the German army expected to be a pushover) put up fierce resistance and slowed the charge to France right down.Then the BEF(British Expeditionary Force) a highly trained professional army of 125,000 men held the Germans back at Monsterrat.On the 19th of August the Russians launched an attack on Germany.This was far quicker than what the Germans had expected and before they had a chance to capture Paris,they were forced to send troops east to face the Russians and by September the German army retreated 40 miles behind the River Aisne.There they dug trenches and set up macnine gun nests.The British and French couldnt break through as they put their trenches directly opposite them.By the end of 1914 the trenches streched all the way from tne English Channel to Switzerland.Neither side could find a way through.The war was stuck in a stalemate

Question 27

Did the basic training of soldiers prepare him for the frontlines of WW1?

Answer 27

It did not,the deadly fire of the machine guns forced entire armies to live almost underground for months on end.As well as the mud,the cold and the wet,they lived with the knowledge that they could lose their lives at any moment.

Question 28

How did Trench Rats make life in the trenches even worse?

Answer 28

Dead bodies and food scraps attracted many rats to the trenches.One pair of rats can produce 880 offspring in a year and so the trenches were soon swarming with them. Some of these rats grew extremely large.Harry Patch claimed that “there were rats as big as cats” another soldier wrote “the rats were huge.They were so big they could eat a wounded man if he couldnt defend himself”.These rats became very bold and would attempt to take food from the pockets of sleeping men

Question 29

How did Food make life in the trenches even worse?

Answer 29

At the start of the war food was thriving,though as the army grew larger the army had to ration food as change their food supplies.It changed from bully beef bread and biscuits(usually stale) to pea soup with horsemeat with weeds and nettles as the kitchen staff had no fresh vegetables.As the kitchen staff only had to 2 large pans,everything had to be cooked in them meaning everything the men ate tasted of something else because of how poorly washed they were.For example,soldiers often complained that their tea tasted of vegetables.By the time the food reqched the front line it was always cold

Question 30

How did Daily Life make life in the trenches even worse?

Answer 30

In the trenches,each day was the same as the last unless there was a battle.The average day began with stand to before dawn.Gathering their weapons soldiers took a place on the fire stop and as the sun rossmdired towards enemy lines in a daily ritual called morning hate,The order stand down was then given and knowing that a threat of a night raid is over.The sentries could relax.The day to day work consisted of repairing damage to the trench,filling sandbags,carrying supplies,running errands,writing letters etc but the most common was cleaning your weapons to make sure you could use it at any vital moment.The stand to was also repeated at night fall and people would be sent to no mans land.Another problem was water as it was sent in petrol cans ans chlorine of lime was added to kill bacteria though in winter it was easier as snow fall.The most consuming part of a soldiers daily routine was battles but to keep morale up the army rotated its soldiers round other sections like support and reserve trenches.In all most battalions rarely spent more than 5 days a month in the line of fire

Question 31

How did disease make life in the trenches even worse?

Answer 31

Many soldiers fighting in WW1 suffered from trench foot.This was an infection of the fert cause by the cold,wet and dirty conditions.The feet would go numb thrn turn red or blue.If untreated,trench foot could turn gangrenous and result in amputation.Trench foot was an extreme problem in the early stages of the war.For example,during the winter of 1914-15 over 20000 men in the British army were treated for trench foot

Question 32

What were duckboards in British Trenches?

Answer 32

These were placed on the ground to stop troops from sinking in the mud

Question 33

What was the fire step in British Trenches?

Answer 33

Soldiers stood on these to look and fire ‘over the top’

Question 34

What was the periscope in British Trenches?

Answer 34

Enabled troops to see over the top without risk of being shot

Question 35

What were barbed wires in British Trenches?

Answer 35

Slowed down attacking troops.Millions of miles of barbed wire was used

Question 36

What were sandbags in British Trenches?

Answer 36

Reinforced the walls,muffled explosion and soaked up moisture

Question 37

What were communication trench in British Trenches?

Answer 37

Linked the front line trench to the reserve trenches

Question 38

What were gas bells in British Trenches?

Answer 38

Would be rung to tell troops to put on gas masks

Question 39

What were reserve trenches in British Trenches?

Answer 39

Soldiers went there to rest or to wait to go to the front line