1 INDEX: Pg. CHAPTER 1. LIFE IN LONDON DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR 4 1.1 Life Before The War 4 1.2 Declaration Of War 4 1.3 Propaganda 5 1.4 Censorship 5 1.5 The Home Front 6 1.6 "When Will This War End?" 6 1.7 Zeppeling Raid 7 1.8 British Air Defence 7 1.9 Law Passed During The War 7 1.10 Transports During The War 8 1.11 Women 8 1.12 Children 9 1.13 Christmas In War Time 9 1.14 Museums In Wartime 9 1.15 After The War 10 CHAPTER 2. THE BRITISH FRONT AND THE ROLE OF MALTA IN WORLD WAR I 11 2.1 Why Did Britain Join World War I? 11 2.2 The Troops: The Most Remarkable Part Of War Experience Was ‘To See The Different Kinds Of Human Races From All Parts Of The World’ 12 2.2.1 Indian Army 12 2.2.2 Gurkhas 13 2.2.3 South African Army 13 2.2.4 Canadian Army 14 2.2.5 Anzacs 14 2.3 The Fronts 15 2.3.1 The Western Front (1914-18) 15 2.3.2 Ypres War 16 2.3.3 Gallipoli Campaign (1915-16) 17 2.3.4 The Somme Campaign (1916) 17 2.3.5 Vimy Ridge (1917) 17 2 2.4 The Role Of Malta In World War I 18 2.4.1 Malta As A Naval Base 18 2.4.2 Malta As A Nurse Of The Mediterranean 19 2.4.3 Its Contributions To The Armed Forces Of The Empire 19 2.4.4 The Effects Of The Great World War 19 CHAPTER 3. THE AMERICAN PARTICIPATION 20 3.1 The United States’ Entry Into The War 20 3.1.1 The Submarine War 20 3.2 The American Supplies Given To The Allies 21 3.2.1 Economic Considerations 22 3.2.2 The Increasing Industry Production: Bethlehem Steel 22 3.2.3 Food Procurements 23 3.3 The Situation After The War 25 3.3.1 The Treaty Of Versailles 25 3.3.2 The League Of Nations 26 3.3.3 What Happened After The Ww1 26 3.4 The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) 28 3 CHAPTER 1. LIFE IN LONDON DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR 1.1 LIFE BEFORE THE WAR The years before the war were characterized by the ascent to the throne of the new King, George V who decided to make his entrance in the war of the twentieth century in order to show London's power as the capital of the largest empire in history, but this decision brought many changes. During the years of the war the King condescended to nationalist English sentiment issuing a royal proclamation by which he was changing the name of his family from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor, because it was known that his grandfather was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and as a result that the king and his descendants also bore the titles of Prince and Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and that the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who for England symbolized all the horrors of war going on, it was the first cousin of the English King. London's population in this year continued to grow King George V rapidly in the early decades of the century, and public transportation was largely increased. During the First World War, London had also the experience of the first air raids made by the Germans with the Zeppelins. They killed about 700 people and aroused great terror among the population. 1.2 DECLARATION OF WAR 3 August 1914 – Britain gave an ultimatum to Germany, demanding that it stopped the invasion of Belgium immediately. That was Britain's protest against the violation of Belgium's neutrality, which had been guaranteed by a treaty time before. The answer received from the German Chancellor was that the treaty was just a scrap of paper. 4 August 1914 – In the morning, German troops crossed the Belgian frontier at Gemmenich. Because of that, the United Kingdom finally decided to declare war on Germany. People's reaction: In London, people's enthusiasm culminated outside Buckingham Palace when it became known that war had been declared. The news was received with tremendous cheering, which grew into a deafening roar when King George, Queen Mary and the Prince of Wales appeared. Westminster, Charing Cross and the main street round Westminster were filled all with excited crowds. Union Jacks were everywhere to be seen, and patriotic songs were played. Trafalgar Square was almost impassable. A hostile crowd assembled outside the German embassy and smashed the windows. In the early stages of the war, many men, for a wide variety of reasons, decided to join up to the armed forces. By 5 September 1914, over 225,000 had signed up to fight for what became known as Kitchener's Army. Over the course of the war, a number of factors contributed to recruitment rates, including patriotism, the work of the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee in producing posters, dwindling alternative employment opportunities, and an eagerness for adventure to 4 escape humdrum routine. Recruitment remained steady through 1914 and early 1915, but fell dramatically during the later years. That's why, in January 1916, there was the introduction of forced conscription for the first time in the Kingdom's history. At the beginning it was only for single men, but then it was extended to all men aged 18 to 41 across England, Wales and Scotland, by way of the Military Service Acts. 1.3 PROPAGANDA In September 1914 the War Propaganda Bureau was established and by the summer of 1915 it had printed over 2.5 million books, speeches, official documents and pamphlets regarding propaganda. It also commissioned films about the war such as”The Battle of the Somme”, which appeared in August 1916, while the battle was still in progress as a morale-booster. In this period sophisticated new techniques started being used to speak effectively to the whole population to support the war. For example the enemy was associated with the evil and Germany with death, destruction and harm. The public was motivated to respond with purpose and urgency against an ‘evil’ enemy. The war was portrayed as a shared endeavour in which every member of society had a stake. Everyone was urged to look around to see what others were doing and work together towards the common Propaganda's material goal of victory, also well-known figures – including King George V himself - lent their support to the campaign, appealing directly to the public. Spurred on by propaganda, nationalist fervour and the promise of adventure, many more eagerly joined the ranks. Government appeals for volunteers began almost immediately. Some poster campaigns urged or shamed men to enlist while others encouraged women to persuade their men to join. Under the motto 'Wake up, London!', columns of soldiers marched through the capital to attract recruits. In 1917 semi-official National War Aims Committee was set it. The NWAC published propaganda material and, through its branches in the Nation’s parliamentary constituencies (often organised by local political party agents), set up meetings and speeches to promote the Nation’s war aims, genrally held outdoors. 1.4 CENSORSHIP From the start of the war British government started to control the flow of information from the front line, passing legislation in 1914 which allowed the War Office to censor the press and raising the death penalty for anyone convicted of assisting the enemy. The War Office also employed thousands of bilingual women to work on postal and telegraphic censorship monitoring correspondence with neutral countries all over the world. Assisted by the Post Office, this censorship was the largest of its kind and helped the government to catch spies, control the dissemination of military information and to compile economic data used to better execute the blockade of vital imports into Germany. Newspapers during the war were subject to the Defence of the Realm Act, which eventually had 5 two regulations restricting what they could publish: Regulation 18,which prohibited the leakage of sensitive military information, troop and shipping movements; Regulation 27, which made it an offence to "spread false reports", "spread reports that were likely to prejudice recruiting", "undermine public confidence in banks or currency" or cause "disaffection to His Majesty". The newspaper editors and owners operated a ruthless self-censorship,and that's why censorship had less effect on the British press than the reductions in advertising revenues and cost increases. Moreover, news magazines were created inorder to satisfy public's thirst of information and which were dedicated to reporting the war and were filled with photographs and illustrations 1.5 THE HOME FRONT The huge growth of munitions output had ripple effects across the war economies: not least on agriculture and food supply. In the Central Powers, the blockade exacerbated shortages of fertiliser, tools, and lighting fuel. Allied farmers suffered less in these respects, but they too were deprived of draught animals and especially of labour. In most countries armies recruited disproportionately from the countryside. Many wartime family farms were run by the wives, assisted by their children and sometimes by migrant workers and prisoners of war. But the war led to inflation and many poorer families could not afford the increase in food prices. The impact of the German U-boat campaign also led to food shortages and this hit home when rationing was brought in by the government in February 1918. 1.6 "WHEN WILL THIS WAR END?" This was a question that was all too often on the minds of soldiers, sailors and civilians during the Great War: when will this war end? Views varied throughout the war on what a realistic answer was.