How Many People Communicated During WW1?

Telephones were still a new thing to most people at the start of the war. Offices and bigger shops used them but only wealthy people had one at home.

Every call was connected by a telephone operator in an office called an exchange. Operators were almost always women. They sat at a wall of special plugs, connecting cables so people could talk to each other.

The telephone system in Britain was operated by the General Post Office.

During the war, calls were made to raise the alarm when German airships or bombers were spotted. Calls were also possible to army officers on the front line during the war. These calls were for Government and army use only. There were 500,000 telephone users in 1912.

Type-Writer:

Official letters and important documents were usually typed. They needed to be clear and easy to read. Typists used large, heavy machines and had to be very accurate as mistakes were hard to correct.

Old typewriters did not need electricity and were quite noisy to use. Every tap made a metal bar bang against an inky ribbon, transferring a letter onto the paper. At the end of each line, the typist pulled the carriage return lever and the paper moved up ready for the next row of words.

Typewriters did not need to be fixed very often but during the war it was sometimes hard to get spare parts. Factories had stopped making typewriters so they could produce munitions.

Newspaper:

Local newspapers reported things that mattered to the community. They were an important way of passing on information about the war and the local regiments.

The papers were mostly filled with words and only had a few photographs. There were lots of advertisements for shops. Food shortages were common and things were expensive, so people wanted to know about sales or special deliveries.

Stories of the brave soldiers were always welcome, but sad stories were just as important. When things did not go well, the newspapers printed the names of soldiers who had been killed in action.

Every newspaper had to be careful not to print something that would help enemy spies. They were censored by the government, meaning that some stories were changed or removed.

Letters & Postcards:

Letters and postcards were a common way to keep in touch with friends and businesses.

During the war, they brought news from home to loved ones overseas. Each letter was treasured and read many times before the next arrived.

Letters could be read and changed by the government in order to stop vital information about the war being seen by spies - this is called censorship.

In the years before the war, country towns could expect as many as 12 deliveries a day.

Sacks of letters were carried around the country by train. However, once the war started, fuel was scarce and deliveries dropped to one or two a day. Until the last year of the war, posting a letter cost just a penny.

Telegraph Machine:

Posters:

The government found that posters were a useful way of quickly spreading information and propaganda. Posters were put up on billboards in the street, as well as on public transport. They were used to recruit both women and men for the war effort, and to advise people not to waste valuable resources like food and fuel.Posters also helped to raise morale, encouraging people to stay positive and upbeat.The posters and leaflets were so effective that by the end of the war, the government had set up a special central department called the Ministry of Information.

November 3rd Austria made peace

November 9th Kaiser William II abdicated

November  11th Germany signed an armistice with the Allies – the

official date of the end of World War One.

January 4th Peace conference met at the Paris

June 21st The surrendered German

naval fleet at Scapa Flow was scuttled.

June 28th The Treaty of Versailles was

signed by the Germans.

Did You Know?

Historians disagree about what 'caused' the First World War, but most trace it in some degree to the growing power of Germany. The 'balance of power' between the nations of Europe became unstable. This led them to form military alliances:

The Triple Alliance ‒ Germany, Austria and Italy

The Triple Entente ‒ France, Britain and Russia

Did You Know?

An easy to remember list of the most important issues surrounding the causes of the war is:

Militarism - many countries believed it was important to build large armies and navies.

Alliances - the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente were said to have been formed to help prevent war.

Imperialism - European nations were creating empires and coming into conflict.

Nationalism - all countries were looking out for their own interests.

Did You Know?

The Threat of Germany

Germany became a united 'empire' in 1871, by defeating and humiliating France. After 1900 Germany built up its navy – this frightened the British. In 1901, Kaiser Wilhelm II demanded an overseas empire for Germany – this frightened Britain and France.Germany wanted to build a railway through the Balkans to Baghdad – this alarmed the Russians, who said they were the protectors of the Balkans.Germany's military defence plan – the Schlieffen Plan – involved attacking France.

Facts:

Timeline

Home What Life Was Like In The Trenches

Being On Watch:

Many Soldiers had the opportunity

to sleep, but that was not all, each

recruit had to look over and see if

any enemies had past the first line

of defence. Being on watch duty was

a very important job as you needed

to be alert for any sign of attack.

Sleeping at the post was a very

serious crime and a soldier faced

being sentenced to death or

imprisonment if they were caught.

Haversack & Rifle:

Some soldiers found other uses for the bayonet, including scraping mud off boots and opening tin cans!

The haversack held personal items like the soldier's knife and fork, mug, shaving kit and food rations. It formed part of the webbing kit (made up of a belt and straps) that was worn around the body. Attached to the webbing was a water bottle, tools and pockets for ammunition. This was very important for soldiers, unless you don't have that much, Veterans found this very helpful.

Dogs:

Dogs carried messages between

trenches, Scouted for hidden enemies,

carried medical supplies to injured men

and acted as watchdogs. They also

killed rats in the trenches. Dogs

could also detect gas and alert

the soldiers, put their gas mask on.

Sleeping:

Soldiers worked during the night and used the cover of darkness to observe enemy trenches. The only time they were able to sleep was in the daytime, but only after morning duties. Not many times soldiers would sleep staying awake could make their health; a little more risky than it should, many couldn't sleep because of all the rats moving andcrawlng over bodies whom tried to sleep

Periscope:

Periscopes were a trusty tool back in the war because they could see up-coming attacks; each side had one. The periscope standing upright with mirrors at each end, periscopes allowed men to observe the battlefield from the safety of the trench below.

Dirty Work:

Daily duties included cleaning their weapons for inspection, refilling sandbags, fixing barbed wire and repairing collapsed trench walls after bad weather.

Emptying the latrines (trench toilets) was a very smelly and dirty job and everyone tried to avoid getting that duty. In the wintertime, trenches were freezing cold and often flooded with water after rainfall.

'Trench foot' was a condition that many soldierssuffered from as a result of standing in water and mud for a long time. In serious cases, soldiers had to have their feet amputated (cut off).

Sand-Bags:

Trench duties often included the refilling and re-stacking of sandbags after damage from enemy fire. Sand-Bags were only protection (except from the trenches) that could save them from imminent death.

Meal-Tin And Cards:

At the start of the war, soldiers were given a generous Ration of meat and vegetables each day. Parcels from home often contained treats like chocolate, sweet biscuits and tins of sardines.

As war went on, food became more limited and unpleasant. Soldiers survived on stale bread, hard and tasteless biscuits, pea soup and watery stew. Food was never hot and men often felt hungry.

Soldiers were given free time in the afternoon to rest, pick lice out of clothing and write letters home. If they were lucky, some even got to play cards to relax.

Nothing like a good chocolate now and then! Soldiers had the time to eat; that was vital.

Official Cameraman:

Up until 1916, taking photographs on the front line was banned in case they helped the enemy to find out secrets.

From 1916, British official photographers were appointed by the army to take photographs and moving film on the front line.

Tank:

Britain used tanks in battle for the first time on 15 September 1916.

By the summer of 1918 they were commonly used on the front line. Britain produced around 2,600 tanks during World War One.

Signalling Post:

A man, or group of men, would be based at a signal post close to the front line.

They would use a light signal; a light or mirror which was held up to send messages in Morse code back to base.

The men operating signalling posts would watch the battle and report what they saw.

Plane:

Aeroplanes were very recent inventions when World War One broke out. As aircraft technology developed, planes became very important to the war.

France only had 140 aircraft when war began but by the end of it, they had used around 4,500.

Battle-Ship:

Conflicts which took place on the sea were known as naval battles.

These mainly took place in the North Sea (between Great Britain and the rest of Western Europe) and the Atlantic. There were also battles in the Black Sea, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Hand Grenade And Shrapnel Shell:

Shrapnel shells contained lots of little bits of metal or bullets which were fired out at great speed when the shell burst. Shrapnel could inflict great damage to people, animals and equipment.

Grenades (a small bomb thrown by hand) were usedto clear dug-outs and were also thrown into trenches. Most grenades had a delay of five or five-and-a-half seconds before they exploded.

Gas Mask:

Poisonous gas was used as a weapon in WW1.

Gas could affect a person's sight and breathing in just a few minutes so protective masks were given to all soldiers.

As shown in the photograph, many working horses and mules also wore gas masks. These were specially designed for them during the war.

Trench Phone:

This was a telephone used by soldiers to communicate between trenches.

It had a keypad for tapping out Morse code and a handset. Trench phones also had a second earpiece so another soldier could listen to the conversation.

Rifle And Bayonet:

Almost every soldier had his own rifle.

It could fire 15 rounds in under a minute and reach a target over a 1,000 metres away.

Sometimes a bayonet (a sword-like blade) was fixed to rifles and used for one-on-one fighting.

Some soldiers also used their bayonet to open tin cans and scrape mud off their boots.

Pistol:

The pistol was a small hand-held gun.

They were robust and powerful weapons. Unlike rifles, pistols were compact and suited the cramped conditions found in trenches, tanks and planes.

Artillery field gun:

Field guns fired shells that exploded when they hit something. They were large and complicated weapons to operate.

They could fire shells as far as seven kilometres and had to be placed on a flat surface. It was often difficult to find a good position for the guns because the battle field was uneven and muddy. Each field gun needed a team of between four and six men to operate them.

Machine Gun:

Machine guns were very big and heavy and needed up to six people to operate them. They were placed all along the Western Front.

Machine guns fired up to 600 bullets in a minute and were very dangerous. Many soldiers dreaded the enemy soldiers who operated machine guns more than anyone else.

What Weapons & Technology used in WW1?

Home

Glossary

Home

What Life Was Like In The Trenches

Causes Of WW1

Veteran- Synonym for soldier.

Ration- the food allowance for one day.

Scout- A person employed to watch for something to happen.

Alliances - a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes.

Permission- authorization granted to do something; formal consent:

Causes Of World War 1

Here are the mostly believed main causes:

Home

Militarism- Many people thought of building up their weapons not knowing the coincidences of doing it, and adding more and more artillery.

Alliances- This was believed to keep back war, and it utterly failed.

Imperialism- Lots of countries thought that having more countries under their rule thinking that they were powerful.

Nationalism- Many countries except the triple entrant & the central powers were hoping to have independence.

Many things contribute to the start of this unsettling war. No body wanted a war, no-body caused this war; except the cold-blooded, death... To put things on track, the death was the cause, just one thing that happened... caused the massive 'earthquake' of all nations (in Europe) the empires fought... no-body was left behind; every country had to take part in protecting their alliance, and their so called 'relationship.'

Many suspicions were held; especially between both sides, secret messages or put it this way, codes that the enemy/foe wouldn't understand.

Militarism was one of the causes, but I'll explain, the Britons made a dreadnought that would change would change history; in the royal navy of course! Words spread... then eventually Germans got word; Kaiser Bill ordered to make dreadnoughts so that both sides were equal no matter what. Fact: Kaiser was jealous.

Alliances were part of the cause because the triple Entente had: Russia, Britain and France! Unfortunately, Serbia killed the archduke Franz Ferdinand ( of Austria) Austria had the chance to take down Serbia, and they took it. And why was the alliance triple Entente involved? Well, when Austria tried to go to war against Serbia, Serbia had an alliance between Russia. Due to the alliance 'law' Russia had to go and protect Serbia, then Germany got involved but vice versa. Germany declared war on Russia due to the 'alliance.' Speaking of which, Russia 'cried' to the triple Entente and therefore France got involved. Poor Britain had the permission to fight, Britain stayed neutral as usual. Then things got out of hand, Germany knew that France had strong defences across it's western front, knowing that Belgium was near them; their defences weren't the best so far. Germany trespassed Belgium without a care in the world and that made the Britons fight, both countries (Belgium & Britain) had a treaty signed so when in doubt, each country would fight for them. And so that happened; Germany passed their defences so easily I guess 50 soldiers. Belgium begged them to come and therefore declare war!

Imperialism was particularly named for the 'cause,' Germany wanted more and more countries to be specific: Kaiser Bill,who ruled at the time, wanted as I said more countries because in his head: More countries = Power.

Nationalism is not the top cause of the war, but might have effected the path of the war. More countries under countries like the triple entente have a few small countries that they've taken over, the country's itself want independence (not living by their rule.)