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Sinking of the Lusitania

On February 19, 1915, Germany announced that it would begin a submarine campaign against all

enemy ships. President Wilson said the U.S. would hold Germany strictly "accountable" for its

actions. The following month, Great Britain announced that it would blockade all ships carrying

goods for Germany, including ships owned by neutral nations that were sailing in the Atlantic

Ocean and North Sea. On March 8, 1915, a German submarine sank the Lusitania (which was

alledgedly carrying American munitions and weapons to Britain), killing 139 Americans,

including many women and children, who had been warned not to travel on the ship. Altogether

more than 1000 passengers and crew were lost.

faculty.umf.maine.edu/.../Luisitania.jpg

Bayonet

At the end of the seventeenth century the French introduced the socket bayonet. This contained a sleeve fitting round the barrel and was locked into place with a slot and stud. This enabled the gun to be fired with the bayonet firmly secured in place. This type of bayonet was adopted by nearly all the Europeans armies. The bayonet was originally a defensive weapon. Infantry standing two or three deep, who adopted a square formation, could defend their position against a cavalry charge. Bayonet charges were rarely attempted until the enemy was retreating.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWbayonet.htm

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Gorizia

In 1915 the chief of staff of the Italian Army, General Luigi Cadorna, had failed to break through

the Austro-Hungarian lines during the Isonzo Offensive. By the summer of 1916 Cadorna was

ready to try again and launched an attack at Gorizia, 15km inland from the Adriatic coast. The

town was eventually captured in August 1916, giving Cadorna his only major success of the

First World War.

http://www.freepedia.co.uk/FWWgorizia.php

American Navy

The US Navy inflicted few losses on the German Navy - one definite U-boat plus others possibly mined in the huge North Sea barrage laid in part by the US Navy between Scotland and Norway. Also few major ships were lost to enemy action - one armoured cruiser and two destroyers. However the large and still expanding US Navy came to play an important role in the Atlantic and Western European waters, as well as the Mediterranean after the declaration of war in April 1917.

Most of the battlefleet stayed in American waters because of the shortage of fuel oil in Britain, but five coal-burning dreadnoughts served with the British Grand Fleet as the 6th Battle Squadron (US Battleship Division 9) tipping the balance of power against the German High Seas Fleet even further in favour of the Allies. They were also present at the surrender of the German Fleet. Other dreadnoughts (Battleship Division 6) were based in Berehaven, Bantry Bay, SW Ireland to counter any break-out by German battlecruisers to attack US troop convoys. Some of the pre-dreadnoughts, armoured cruisers and protected cruisers were employed as convoy escorts, 1917-18 both along the coasts of the Americas and in the Atlantic.

http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyUS.htm

Diseases

In the spring of 1918 large numbers of soldiers in the trenches in France became ill. The soldiers complained of a sore throat, headaches and a loss of appetite. Although it appeared to be highly infectious, recovery was rapid and doctors gave it the name of 'three-day fever'. At first

doctors were unable to identify the illness but eventually they decided it was a new strain of influenza. The soldiers gave it the name Spanish Flu but there is no evidence that it really did originate from that country. In fact, in Spain they called it French Flu. Others claimed that the

disease started in the Middle Eastern battlefields, whereas others blamed it on China and India. A recent study argued that the disease was brought to the Western Front by a group of USA

soldiers from Kansas.

The first cases of the influenza epidemic in Britain appeared in Glasgow in May, 1918. It soon spread to other towns and cities and during the next few months the virus killed 228,000 people in Britain. This was the highest mortality rate for any epidemic since the outbreak of cholera in 1849. In Britain desperate methods were used to prevent the spread of the disease. Streets were sprayed with chemicals and people started wearing anti-germ masks. Some factories changed their no-smoking rules under the mistaken impression that tobacco fumes could kill the

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virus. Others believed that eating plenty of porridge would protect you from this killer disease. However, despite valiant attempts, all treatments devised to cope with this new strain of influenza were completely ineffectual.

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWinfluenzia.htm

Endurance Antarctic Expedition

Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctica expedition of 1914 - 1917 is one of the most incredible adventure stories of all time. It is remarkable even for an era and region that already has far more than its fair share of incredible tales of heroism and fortitude in the face of appalling hardships. The intention was to cross the Antarctic continent from one coast to the other via the South Pole.

In the event, the expedition never set foot on continental Antarctica. The expedition managed to survive the loss of their ship in the middle of the Antarctic pack ice at a time when there was no chance of contacting the

outside world, let alone of being rescued www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/.../Ernest%20Shackleto

n_Trans-Antarctic_expedition.htm

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Parachutes

The parachute concept was valid, but technique needed improving. A way was needed to be clear of a plane before a parachute was actuated. But World War One ended without a solution. However, lives of airmen were saved with even rudimentary parachute systems. On October 22, 1922, 27-year-old Lieutenant Harold R. Harris, Army Air service, entered aviation history as the first person to use a manually operated parachute to make an emergency jump from a powered aircraft. In the peacetime years that followed World War One, "Lucky Lindy" was another nickname earned by six-foot-four Charles "Slim" Lindbergh, Jr. long before his famed, daring solo flight in May 1927 across the Atlantic Ocean in the "Spirit of St. Louis." In the two and a half years before then, in emergency situations, he parachuted to safety four times, once as an army student pilot, again as a test pilot, and twice as a contract pilot for the U.S. Air Mail service.

Parachutes were given attention by American, British, French, Italian, and German civilian and military organizations, primarily as a life-saving device. It was decades later before parachutes were developed for delivery of military battle personnel and supplies.

www.globalsecurity.org/military/.../parachute-history.htm

No Man’s Land

No Man's Land is the term used by soldiers to describe the ground between the two opposing trenches. Its width along the Western Front could vary a great deal. The average distance in most sectors was about 250 yards (230 metres). However, at Guillemont it was only 50 yards (46 metres) whereas at Cambrai it was over 500 yards (460 metres). The narrowest gap was at

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Zonnebeke where British and German soldiers were only about seven yards apart. No Man's Land contained a considerable amount of barbed wire. In the areas most likely to be attacked, there were ten belts of barbed wire just before the front-line trenches. In some places the wire was more than a 100 feet (30 metres) deep.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWnoman.htm

Homefronts

The American Home Front During World War 1

(Just as a side note, I had pictures of the posters in the original paper but

couldn't transfer them to here. The first link in the bibliography has tons of

WW1 propaganda posters you can use.)

World War I changed America greatly. It had an obvious effect on the way we handle business on the

home front. Propaganda, rationing, and political views all played a part on American citizens in World

War I.

"Propaganda was a huge tool used to sway citizens toward a particular political view. "The U.S.A. entered

World War One in April 1917, but lost no time in producing many more propaganda posters than any

other single nation. These encompassed recruitment to the various armed services, plus - frequently - the

raising of war finance via the hugely successful liberty bond issues." (firstworldwar.com)

http://www.oppapers.com/essays/American-Home-Front-During-World-War/82990

Music

Songs Sung In The Trenches Mademoiselle From Armentieres

Bombed Last Night

Where Are Our Uniforms?

Gillymong

When This Lousy War Is Over

Forward Joe Soaps Army

Fred Karno's Army

When Very Lights Are Shining

Raining And Grousing

The ASC To War Have Gone

Old Gallipoli's A Wonderful Place

Now I'm A General At The Ministry

If You Were The Only Boche In The Trench

I Wore A Tunic

When They Asked Us

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Bombed last night lyrics:

Bombed last night, and bombed the night before

Going to get bombed tonight

If we never get bombed any more

When we're bombed, we're scared as we can be

Can't stop the bombing sent from higher Germany.

They're over us, they're over us,

One shell hole for just the four of us,

Thank your lucky stars there are no more of us,

'Cause one of us can fill it all alone.

Gassed last night, and gassed the night before

Going to get gassed tonight;

If we never get gassed anymore.

When we're gassed, were sick as we can be

For Phosgene and Mustard Gas is much too much for me.

They're warning us, they're warning us,

One respirator for the four of us

Thank your lucky stars that three of us can run,

So one of us can use it all alone.

http://www.ww1photos.com/WW1MusicIndex.html

Uniforms of World War I

The British soldier went to war in August 1914 wearing the 1902 Pattern Service Dress tunic and trousers. This was a thick woolen tunic, died khaki green (not the brown khaki of WW2 battledress fame). There were two breast pockets for personal items and the soldier's AB64 Pay Book, two smaller pockets for other items, and an internal pocket

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sewn under the right flap of the lower tunic where the First Field Dressing was kept. Rifle patches were sewn above the breast pockets, to prevent wear from the webbing equipment and rifle. Shoulder straps were sewn on and fastened with brass buttons, with enough space for a brass regimental shoulder title. Rank was sewn onto the upper tunic sleeves, while trade badges and Long Service and Good Conduct stripes were placed on the lower sleeves.

A stiffened peak cap was worn, made of the same material, with a leather strap, brass fitting and secured with two small brass buttons. The stiffener was often removed on active service, during the Winter of 1914/15. Puttees were worn round the ankles, and B5 ammunition boots with hobnail soles on the feet. Normally black, they were made of reversed hide and had steel toe-caps, and a steel plate on the

heel.http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/uniform1.htm

Women During the War

In secret, Lucy Brewer became the first woman to serve in the Marine Corps. Disguised as a gung-ho

man, she served in the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Constitution during the War of 1812.

Over 100 years later on 12 August 1918, the Secretary of the Navy granted authority to enroll women for

clerical duty in the Marine Corps Reserve. The next day, Opha M. Johnson enlisted and became the first

official Woman Marine. During the remainder of World War I, 305 women enlisted to "free a man to

fight." Over 20 years later during World War II, roughly 1000 officers and 18,000 enlisted women

served, led by Col. Ruth C. Streeter. During the last year of the war, all available male Marines were

battling the Japanese in the Pacific. In their absence, Women Marines represented over half of the

personnel at Marine Corps bases in the continental United States.

A year after the end of the war, the Marine Corps retained a small nucleus of Women Marines in a

postwar reserve. But, in 1948 Congress passed the Women's Armed Forces Integration Act, which

authorized women in the regular component of the Corps. At the time, women could not constitute over

two percent of the total force and could not hold permanent rank above lieutenant colonel. Katherine A.

Towle was appointed Director of Women Marines with the temporary rank of colonel. The following

year the Corps set up a recruit training battalion for women recruits at Parris Island, and a women's officer

training class at Quantico. http://www.usmcpress.com/heritage/women_marines.htm

War Heroes

George Wyatt, the son of a groom, was born in Worcester on 5th September 1886. After attending Holloway School at Droitwich, Wyatt enlisted in the Coldstream Guards at Birmingham in November, 1904. After serving in Egypt for two and a half years, he left the British Army in November, 1904. Wyatt joined the Barnsley Police Force but on the outbreak of the First World War he was recalled as a reservist. He rejoined the Coldstream Guards and as a member of the British Expeditionary Force left for France on 14th August, 1914. Soon after arriving on the Western Front Wyatt took part in the Battle of Mons. On two occasions he displayed outstanding bravery and was awarded

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the Victoria Cross. It was presented to him at Buckingham Palace on 4th March 1916. Wyatt returned to France and on 28th February was promoted to Lance-Sergeant. He was wounded on two occasions but survived the war. Wyatt returned to the police force and in June 1924 bravely stopped a runaway horse. He retired from the police in February 1934 and took up farming. George Wyatt died on 22nd January 1964 and is buried at Cadeby Cemetery near Doncaster. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWwyatt.htm

Peace

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

There were a total of 440 clauses in the final treaty. The first 26 clauses dealt with the establishment of the League of Nations. The remaining 414 clauses spelled out Germany's punishment.

General Clauses

The establishment of the League of Nations

War Guilt clause - Germany to accept blame for starting the war.

Financial Clauses

Reparations - Germany was to pay for the damage caused by the war. The figure of

£6,600 million was set some time after the signing of the treaty.

Military Clauses

Army - was to be reduced to 100,000 men and no tanks were allowed

Navy - Germany was only allowed 6 ships and no submarines

Airforce - Germany was not allowed an airforce

Rhineland - The Rhineland area was to be kept free of German military personnel

and weapons

Territorial Clauses

Anschluss - Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria.

Land - Germany lost land to a number of other countries. Alsace-Lorraine was

returned to France, Eupen and Malmedy were given to Belgium, North Schleswig was given to Denmark. Land was also taken from Germany and given to Czechoslovakia and Poland. The League of Nations took control of Germany's colonies http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/versailles.htm

Statistics and Costs of World War I

Military Casualties in World War I

1914-1918

Belgium 45,550

British Empire 942,135 http://www.teacheroz.com/wwi.htm

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France 1,368,000

Greece 23,098

Italy 680,000

Japan 1,344

Montenegro 3,000

Portugal 8,145

Romania 300,000

Russia 1,700,000

Serbia 45,000

United States 116,516

Austria-Hungary 1,200,000

Bulgaria 87,495

Germany 1,935,000

Ottoman Empire 725,000

How much did world war 1 cost? By the end of world war 1 the United States had spent about $32 billion. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_did_world_war_1...

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Art, Poetry, Photography & Music of the Era

Web Gilbert and Louis McCubbin, Mont St Quentin diorama (detail). ART41018 Counted

among the greatest treasures of the Memorial, the First World War dioramas were constructed in

the 1920s: two new Korean dioramas were completed in 2007. Visitors are drawn to them as if

by magic, and memories of them often last a lifetime.

The idea for the dioramas came from discussions during the First World War between Charles

Bean, one of the Memorial’s founders, and a group of war artists and others. Bean wanted the

dioramas to be more than simply battlefield models. He saw them as works of art, a way of

helping people in Australia to understand the devastation and danger of battle, and the sacrifice

and sufferings of the people to whom the Memorial is dedicated. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.awm.gov.au/visit/images/ART41018.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.awm.gov.au/visit/visit-mustsee-dioramas.asp&usg=__K1bwAj84u0aMl4JZcBdoRW5uC9w=&h=414&w=414&sz=30&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=62LCRMdlaviFuM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dworld%2Bwar%2B1%2Bart%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2ADRA_enUS392%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=9gBtTeyqBIOClAfS88jjBA

Influenza Pandemic 1918

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War

I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating

epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of

the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the

influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster.

In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the horizon. The Americans had joined in the fight, bringing the Allies closer to victory against the Germans. Deep within the trenches these men lived through some of the most brutal conditions of life, which it seemed could not be any worse. Then, in pockets across the globe, something erupted that seemed as benign as the common cold. The influenza of that season, however, was far more than a cold. In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world's population was infected. The flu was most deadly for people ages 20 to 40. This pattern of morbidity was unusual for influenza which is usually a killer of the elderly and young children. It infected 28% of all Americans (Tice). An estimated 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic, ten times as many as in the world war. Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy (Deseret News). An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza (Crosby). 1918 would go down as unforgettable year of suffering and death and yet of peace.

The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years. The influenza virus had a profound virulence, with a mortality rate at 2.5% compared to the previous influenza epidemics, which were less than 0.1%. The death rate for 15 to 34-year-olds of influenza and pneumonia were 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years (Taubenberger). People were struck with illness on the street and died rapid deaths. One anectode shared of 1918 was of four women playing bridge together late into the night. Overnight, three of the women died from influenza (Hoagg). Others told stories of people on their way to work suddenly developing the flu and dying within hours (Henig). One physician writes that patients with seemingly ordinary influenza would rapidly "develop the most viscous type of pneumonia that has ever been seen" and later when cyanosis

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appeared in the patients, "it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate," (Grist, 1979). Another physician recalls that the influenza patients "died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth," (Starr, 1976). The physicians of the time were helpless against this powerful agent of influenza.

virus.stanford.edu/uda/

Inventors

Although chiefly renowned for designing small arms John Moses Browning's M1917 machine gun

was adopted by the U.S. government following America's entry into the war in April 1917. Prior

to the armistice tens of thousands of recoil operated, belt fed, water cooled M1917 machine guns were manufactured for use by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) from 1917.

Immediately following US entry into the war however, the Browning machine gun - superficially

similar to the Maxim and Vickers guns, although its pistol grip and internal mechanism

differentiated it from both - was not initially available. In the interim while production was

ramped up the AEF meanwhile deployed the French Chauchat gun.

Weighing some 24kg the Browning 0.30-inch was actually developed in 1910 from late 19th

century designs but was not bought by the U.S. Army until 1917; thereafter some 57,000 were

manufactured by the end of the war in November 1918.

www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_browning.htm

Women: Doctors and Nurses

One gray, dismally wet night in November 1914, two British soldiers in disguise were guided

through the silent side streets of German-occupied Brussels by a patriotic Belgian civilian.

Herman Capiau was an engineer by trade, but since the outbreak of World War I he had played

a key role in an escape organization that was sheltering British and French soldiers trapped

behind the German lines after the Allied defeat at Mons.

The three men were admitted into the building, and Capiau handed a letter of introduction to the

school's matron, a British nurse named Edith Cavell. There was a brief, hushed conversation,

then Capiau left the matronR17;s office and slipped away into the night. It was 8 p.m. Sister

White, the assistant matron, was summoned. 'These men are fugitive soldiers,' Cavell told Sister

White. 'Give them beds in the empty surgical house.R17; Both men, Sister White later recalled,

looked dirty and tired, and she put them to bed immediately.

Boger and Meachin were the first of more than 200 British, French and Belgian troops who

would be hidden and cared for by Cavell and her staff during the next 12 months.

http://www.historynet.com/edith-cavell-world-war-i-nurse-and-heroine.htm

War in the Air

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Germany had two dirigible manufacturers, the Schutte-Lanz Company, and the larger and better

known Zeppelin Company. The latter was headed by Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the world's

foremost designer of airships. To this day his name remains synonymous with dirigibles in

general.

Airships of his design had already proven themselves capable of flying as far as England and

back. This fact was not lost on the Allies, who from the very outset targeted the airship

sheds. It was also not lost on the British public, where rumours and reported sightings of

Zeppelins were frequent, though unfounded, throughout 1914.

At the outbreak of the war the German army had six operational dirigibles, and the navy

had one. The army was quick to experiment with them - bombing Liege and Antwerp -

despite the fact that at this stage no specially designed aerial bombs existed. But the

army's initial experience was not encouraging - they lost three airships in the first months of

the war to anti aircraft fire.

Despite this the navy was very enthusiastic. They saw the Zeppelin as a solution to their

reconnaissance problems. If the army traditionally used the cavalry for reconnaissance, the

navy traditionally used the light cruiser. Germany had very few such ships, and an airship

was viewed as being cheaper and less vulnerable.

Under the command of Korvettenkapitan Peter Strasser

the navy quickly acquired more airships. Throughout

1914 these were used for reconnaissance patrols over the

North Sea, but the German Admiralty was pressing for

permission to use them for attacks against England. The

Kaiser, somewhat reluctantly, granted such permission

and on the 19th of January the Germans carried out the first Zeppelin raid against Britain,

killing two and injuring sixteen.

This was the first of many raids, which continued at a rate of about two per month, in

parallel with the continuing reconnaissance patrols. The German Admiralty was very

enthusiastic about the results, and asked for permission to bomb London. This was only

granted by the Kaiser after a series of raids by French bombers on German cities. On the

31st of May 1915 the first raid was carried out against London, killing seven and injuring

thirty five.

The most successful Zeppelin raid on London in the entire war was on the 8th of September

1915. This raid caused more than half a million pounds of damage, almost all of it from the

one Zeppelin, the L13, which managed to bomb central London. This single raid caused

more than half the material damage caused by all the raids against Britain in 1915.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/bombers_zeppelins.htm