World War I Total War

Part 3 World War I Total War World War I: Total War What does a WWI battle look like? What does Total War mean? Who is impacted by the war? How are they impacted by the war? Fill out the following organizer as you read through your resources. A. Explain the idea of Total. What was it? Why did we fight this way? B. Describe the Killing Fields (battles without gain- No Man’s Land). How long did this continue? Why C. Why were people reaching a Breaking Point (Desertion and Mutiny in Russian and France)? Assessment (Learning Target 3) You will explain how Total War impacted the lives of different people from different “walks of life.” For each person, explain how their lives were impacted using at least three pieces of historical evidence. (That is nine pieces of historical evidence total.) You will be assigned a person from each of the grouping below to analyze. a- British Soldier at the Battle of Somme, French Soldier at the Battle of Verdun, German Soldier at either Battle, or Russian Soldier who deserted b- a soldier from China, Vietnam, India, Japan, Canada, US, Latin America, Tanzania, South Africa, West Africa, or Australia c- a woman supporting the war effort, a child supporting the war effort, or an animal caretaker supporting the war effort 1 Part A: Total War What are human rights? Is it ever okay to violate someone’s human rights? When/why might it ever be considered okay? What do you think Total War means? Who could be affected by total war? When might total war be appropriate (if at all)? Do you think during war time women and children, or non-military men be treated differently than soldiers? Why or why not? Directions: Look at/read/analyze the following images and documents to answer the questions below. 2 Children in War: The Boy Scouts' Association was one of the first youth organizations to provide practical assistance to the British war effort. The Boy Scouts in this photograph are guarding a railway bridge and tracks in Britain. Scouts also guarded telephone and telegraph lines, railway stations, water reservoirs or any location that might be militarily important. From late 1917 many Scouts assisted with air raid duties, including sounding the all-clear signal after an attack. Some Scouts were even trained in firefighting. The Scout movement's handbook, published before the war broke out, instructed all Scouts to 'be prepared…to die for your country if need be'. The Girl Guides Association was formed in 1910. During the First World War, Girl Guides took on many roles. They packaged up clothing to send to British soldiers at the front, prepared hostels and first-aid dressing stations for use by those injured in air raids or accidents, tended allotments to help cope with food shortages, and provided assistance at hospitals, government offices and munitions factories. The Girl Guides in this photograph are on a drill, carrying a stretcher and other equipment in readiness to provide emergency help after an air raid. Children also collected scrap metal and other essential materials that could be recycled or used for the war effort. In this photograph, children from Buckinghamshire are salvaging valuable materials at a local depot. During the First World War, factories employed women, refugees, volunteers from the Empire, men too old to be conscripted and children. Children younger than the school leaving age of 12 also worked in factories or on farms. In some cases, a child's earnings could be a helpful addition to a family's 3 income. In 1917, Education Minister H A L Fisher claimed that as many as 600,000 children had been 'prematurely' put to work. Animals in War: Horsepower: Both sides soon realized men on horses could not win the war in the trenches. The muddy ground, barbed wire and machine guns made it very difficult for horses, so they were used for transportation instead. Cars and tanks often went wrong but horses and mules could be relied on to get food and equipment to the front line. Ambulance horses carried wounded soldiers and artillery horses carried weapons, ammunition and other heavy loads. They had to be strong. Soldiers were not small and light like jockeys - most weighed around twelve stone. Fully armed and equipped, they were a lot heavier. In total, around 8 million horses from all sides died during the war. Horses had a food ration of 20lbs of grain per day. When grain was in short supply, German horses were fed sawdust cake. Other Animals: Donkeys and mules were sometimes used to pull heavy equipment, including artillery. Elephants were taken from circuses and zoos and photographs of them pulling heavy guns were used to show people back home that even exotic animals were 'doing their bit' in the war effort. - Imperial War Museums: http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/10-ways-children-took-part-in-the-first-world-war - Why would/could industrial cities become military targets? - In what ways were the lives of women and children impacted by WWI? - How did WWI impact the role of women in the workforce? - What role did women play in the military? Why? - How are women and children the targets of war? Part B: Killing Fields- Directions: Complete the following tasks over each of the 2 WWI battles. Summarize your impressions of these war battles in the drawing conclusions section, after you have completed the tasks below. Battle of Verdun - Watch the following video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oabxoP_jVM - Read the following handout: Battle of the Verdun - Answer the following questions: o When/where was the Battle of the Verdun? 4 o How was this battle fought? o What was the outcome of this Battle? Battle of the Somme: - Watch the following video clip: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history/videos/1916-battle-of-the-somme? m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false - Read the following handout: Battle of the Somme - Answer the following questions: o When/where was the Battle of the Somme? o How was this battle fought? o What was the outcome of this Battle? Drawing Conclusions: - What was different about the two battles above? - What was consistent throughout the battles above? - How did these battles represent how this war was fought? Based on what you have learned so far, how would you describe WWI? Battle of Verdun: The longest WWI Battle https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Verdun Battle of Verdun, (February 21–December 18, 1916), World War I engagement in which the French repulsed a major German offensive. It was one of the longest, bloodiest, and most-ferocious battles of the war; French casualties amounted to about 400,000, German ones to about 350,000. Some 300,000 were killed. 5 French soldiers resting away from the front line at the Battle of Verdun, 1916. German Gen. Erich von Falkenhayn believed that the war would be won or lost in France, and he felt that a strategy of attrition was Germany’s best hope of achieving its goals. In a letter to German Emperor William II in late 1915, he argued that Britain was the most formidable of the Allied powers, but he conceded that it could not be assaulted directly, save by submarine warfare, as the British sector of the Western Front did not lend itself to offensive operations (an assessment that would be proved correct at the First Battle of the Somme). In Falkenhayn’s view, Britain’s “real weapons” in the war were the French, Russian, and Italian armies. He regarded Russia as already paralyzed and Italy as unlikely to affect the outcome of the war, concluding, “Only France remains.” Falkenhayn stated that a breakthrough en masse was unnecessary and that instead Germany should bleed France to death by choosing a point of attack “for the retention of which the French would be compelled to throw in every man they have.” The fortress of Verdun with its surrounding fortifications along the Meuse River was selected because it threatened the main German communication lines, it represented a salient in the French defenses, and the loss of such an important location would be an enormous blow to French morale. The keynote of the tactical plan was a continuous series of limited advances that would draw the French reserves into the mincing machine of the German artillery. Each of these advances was itself to be secured by an intense artillery bombardment, brief for surprise and making up for its short duration by the number of batteries and their rapidity of fire. Location of French forts in the area around Verdun, 1916, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The initial German attack As early as January 1916, French airmen had detected German preparations for the Verdun offensive, and on February 11, 1916, a French intelligence officer discovered a buildup of German troops on the right bank of the Meuse. As French commanders had been almost exclusively focused on their own offensive 6 plans, their hasty efforts to bolster the defenses of Verdun were very nearly too late. Over the next 10 days, thousands of men and dozens of guns were moved to Verdun to oppose the expected German attack. Confronted with a massive logistical challenge—main rail lines to Verdun had been cut or were under constant barrage by German artillery—French officers organized a motorized supply chain on an unprecedented scale, transporting men and material to the front in a fleet of more than 3,000 trucks. The 37-mile (57-km) dirt road connecting the railhead at Bar-le-Duc to Verdun came to be known as La Voie Sacrée (“the Sacred Way”) for its critical role in the French defense.

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