3.3 The smokey trenches (part 2)

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3.3 The smokey, smokey trenches

Part 2

At the end of this lesson...

• You can explain The Schlieffen Plan in your own words. 
• You can explain what life was like in a trench. 
• You can name which new weapons were used during WW1.
• You can explain what effect the war had on the soldiers. 

What do you remember from the last lessons?

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. 

Von Schlieffenplan

• Germany was caught between two enemies: France and Russia.
• To prevent a two-front war, the Germans wanted to quickly defeat France so they could defeat Russia afterwards.
• The French border was heavily fortified so the only way to get to France was through Belgium. 

The Schlieffen Plan

General Alfred von Schlieffen

Problems

The Schlieffen Plan went south because of four reasons:

1. The Russian mobilization went faster than expected. They had to send a bunch of soldiers over to the eastern front.

2. The Belgians put up a much bigger fight than expected. 

3. Great Britain (France's ally) joined the fight, because Germany had attacked a neutral country. 

4. The French army was able to bring soldiers to the northern front to defend Paris. 

Explain the Schlieffen Plan in your own words.

Trench war

• The Schlieffen Plan fails: The German advance fails and they get stuck in northern France and Belgium.
• Trenches are dug on both sides of the front. 

Trenches

• The weapons have become so powerful that fighting on an open field would be suicide. 

• Trenches help shelter the soldiers.

• They are dug in a zig-zag shape: this prevents a grenade impact from causing (even more) victims.

Trenches (2)

• Generals believe that massive attacks from the trenches are effective. This is rarely the case: many soldiers die trying. 

• The area between the trenches was completely ploughed over: The land between two trenches became no-mans-land. 

Zandzakken waren gevuld met aarde en modder, en waren bedoeld om de soldaten te beschermen

In het begin van de oorlog waren de rantsoenen nog wel redelijk, maar naarmate de oorlog langer duurde, was er ook steeds minder (goed) eten.

Als de soldaten niet hoefden te vechten, speelden ze bijvoorbeeld met kaarten.

Behalve de vijand hadden de soldaten veel last van ongedierte, zoals ratten en vlooien. Sommige soldaten kwamen de tijd tussen de gevechten door met het doden van ratten.

Honden hielden de soldaten niet alleen gezelschap, ze bezorgden ook boodschappen tussen de verschillende loopgraven.

Soldaten konden vaak alleen maar overdag slapen, omdat 's nacht een goed moment was om de loopgraven van de vijanden te bespioneren. 

Met een periscoop konden de soldaten de vijand bekijken, zonder grote risico's te nemen. Een periscoop werkt met spiegels.

Er zijn duizenden brieven en dagboeken van soldaten uit de Eerste Wereldoorlog bewaard gebleven. Dit zijn tegenwoordig belangrijke en waardevolle bronnen.

Voor de veiligheid van de soldaten waren de loopgraven in zigzag-vorm.

Tussen de Noordzee en de Zwitserse grens (Westfront) wordt 40.000km aan loopgraven aangelegd.

Het gebied tussen de loopgraven wordt in vier jaar tijd compleet omgeploegd. Er ontstaat een niemandsland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/

Op wacht staan was één van de belangrijkste taken die je kon krijgen. Op het in slaap vallen tijdens de wacht stonden zeer zware straffen.

Behalve vechten en wacht houden, waren er nog genoeg andere vervelende klusjes in een loopgraaf, zoals zandzaken bijvullen, prikkeldraad repareren of het leegmaken van de latrines (wc's)

Explain what life was like in a trench.

New weapons

• During World War 1 many new weapons were invented such as mustard gas, air planes, submarines and flame throwers.

• The First World War became the war of the inventors.

Poisonous gas 

• Poisonous gasses like mustard gas had to make sure that soldiers would panic leave their trenches.
• Most gas attacks weren't as effective because of gas masks (and the turning of the wind....). However they did cause fear, temporary blindness and burns. 

Planes

• The first planes were too primitive to make a difference in the war.
• However this still led to dogfights and bombings.

Tanks

• Tanks were made in secret and were supposed to help soldiers reach the trenches of the enemy. 
• They were first used in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Approximately 1 milion soldiers died, but neither the Central Powers nor the Allies had won any ground. 

Submarines

• Submarines had already existed since the 19th century, but were massively used (by Germany in particular) during WW1. 

Effects

• Many soldiers came home disfigured or traumatized.  

• Traumatized soldiers were called shell shocked, but the government ignored these problems. 

What happened if you didn't go?

Homework

paragraph 3.3 exercise 5 and 7

Extra information and video's

Following this slide you will find several video's that will give you some extra information about this paragraph. 

Video 1: The Schlieffen plan

The following video will give you some more in depth information about the Schlieffen plan. 

ATTENTION: This video will not be on the test. It gives some extra information to those of you who are interested.

Video 2: Life in a trench

The following video will give you more information about what life was like in a trench.