In 1918, 500 aircrafts were used each month in the war as they played a crucial role in the offensive. The planes then were more resilient and performant. They were made of steel and the motor was now air cooled to avoid overheating engines and the new rotary motors, using gasoline, gave more power to the propeller.

         Light weapons, such as arrows, small bombs and grenades were carried on board then tossed out by the passenger. Also later, voluminous shells, called "obus" in French, were launched, weighing a ton or more (1000 - 1500 kg). These shells were made to slaughter hundreds of soldiers at a time, to destroy the enemy's base, trenches, or weapons, to inflict havoc, and to sabotage their organization. The shells could explode on ground or in the air to project bullets but they could also contain asphyxiating and highly toxic gases. During every month of 1918, at least 3 million bombs exploded and 40 million shells were launched.

One of the first airplanes used during the Great War

 Anti-German nationalist poster   from the Musée de la grande guerre a Meaux.

 In 1905, a two year military service became an obligation for young French men as the government was getting men trained and ready for an imminent war. Everywhere, uniforms were seen and admired as military service was an honor. 

These countries, and especially France, got their populations exited for war by manufacturing children’s toys, like small potato throwers, mimicking cannons and song books with war chants in them. Games also were in boxes with messages like: “this is the game of French patriots” to reinforce civilians nationalistic feelings and get them impassioned to fight for their country. 

 By 1905, mobilisation posters were already being printed and ready to be deployed in the city streets. The town halls kept them stocked until the moment was right, which happened to be about ten years later.

Each soldier had to carry a lot of equipment. Gas masks, weapons and ammunition such as a rifle, bullets, a bayonet and some grenades. Protective clothes that were suitable for the trenches like boots and a helmet. There were different types of helmets. France’s was called “The Adrian” and it only appeared in 1915 and Germany’s was one with a spike and a cover. Then there was “webbing equipment’. This included a haversack containing personal items such as shaving kit, soap and towel, paper, envelopes and pen, or even cards or small board games. They also had a shovel. Soldiers could have two types of shovels. One had the shape of a face with two holes on the bottom for the eyes to see the enemy coming, it was made in Italy. And the second one had a side in the form of a saw.

A soldier’s bag weighed minimum 16kg or more.

Every country had a different military uniform. 

Japan’s outfits were called M.45, they wore a black cap with a red line, which we saw a miles away, with a star made in copper, a blouse and pants in khaki. 
Russia wore a outfit color grey and green, a flexible hat that was absolutely not protective and a traditional blouse called gymnastiorka. They also wore a diaper pants with boots. Italy wore a uniform color grigio-verde, grey-green, close to the Germans’ feldgrau. The color is matched to the green leather equipments. 
At first the Frenches’ outfits were the color of their flag: blue top, red pants, and everything was sewed with white strings. The problem was that red could be seen miles away so the French were a perfect target. Only in 1915 the French government decided to change their red pants by blue but they still kept the red on the color of their blue blouse. 
New Zealand had a normal khaki outfit but was the only armie to have a helmet they called a: “lemonsqueezer” because it had the form of a lemon that was squeezed between two palms.

Camouflage was at first used only to hide the soldier and nothing else, but as the evolution of aviation came along so did camouflage. The reconnaissance airplanes pressured all of the military to develop their camouflage. Such as the navy, who put non distinct colours or camo patterns on their ships, the British even invented “Dazzle” a system used in order to distort the ship's physical form from submarines. All domains used some sort of camouflage.

Actif camouflage is a type of camouflage used to hide observation points, weaponry, and to create lures. The army’s would create fake trees where a human would hide inside in order to observe the opposite side. They would also have the tanks covered in camouflage patterns and would hide the planes with colossal covers fitting the surroundings. They would even hide their artillery in artificial rocks, or hay! 

Another type of camouflage is passive camouflage, this would apply to cloaking bridges and strategic points. They needed to hide their bridges and strategic points in order to avoid that the enemy understand their plans and to avoid destruction of these areas.

The camouflage section of the army was created in 1915, she was dependent on the “Grand Quartier General”.  They had their own symbol a chameleon. To produce all these sorts of camouflage there were around 10 000 women who would work in the camouflage workshops. At the same time, the French army decide to finally change their glaring uniform from red pants to blue pants. However they still kept the red on their blouse!

They were also charged with the task of working in factories to make weapons, they worked in terrible conditions for a job for which they were ill-qualified. During World War I, about 400 women died in these factories due to the lack of protection when handling TNT. These women were called the “munitionnettes”. Due to the increasing need of munition, these factories became the number one employer of women in 1918.

 Women had to replace men in other fields such as postal employees or as tram conductresses. In the countryside, women worked in the police force and also had to do farm work that had been done by men for the longest time, like wood cutting and jobs that required heavy-lifting. These responsibilities were excruciating and the fact that their farm animals had been requisitioned did not help.  

Women learned to adapt to their new conditions, they struggled to participate in France’s victory, and they showed incredible resilience. They were confronted with many hardships such as food shortage, separation from their loved ones, and mourning their dead sons, fathers, and brothers. Their strength and courage remains inspirational; an object of pride for this country.

Life in trenches was terrible on both sides. Soldiers didn’t get much sleep. They had only one hour during night and another one during the afternoon. They never all slept at the same time. When they were up, they had to either do daily chores or fight. When they finally get their rest time, they played cards or wrote and read letters. Food was hard to get. They didn’t have much and it wasn’t really good. They got the strict minimum to keep them alive.

There is a big difference between French and German trenches though. In the French trenches, the ground was out of dirt and they used wood to maintain the sides. As a result, water flooded a lot. They had mud up to their knees and didn’t know on what they stepped on. They walked on dead bodies, rats and other things we wouldn’t like to step on. It was so dirty that millions of rats infested the trenches. Some became as big as cats! There was also a big problem with lice. The German trenches had better conditions. The sides were maintained by sheet metal. They made concrete walls and also used it for the ground so it wouldn’t flood much. The German trenches were not muddy and didn’t flood. They did have rats and lice though, but the rats were smaller. The same situation was faced between weapons. The French trenches didn’t have mortars and good equipment; they were protected by simple dirt bags. Whereas the Germans had real mortars, automatic weapons and used concrete bags. 

Technological advances produced more and more lethal weapons, tanks replaced horses and devastating cannon shells could wipe out a house from up to 130 km away. There was a constant impetus during the war to invent new and more efficient ways to kill people: semi-automatic rifles turned into fully automatic machine guns, toxic gasses were used to trap the enemies in their trenches where they would suffocate, or they try to escape only to be shot down across the no-man’s land. 

These breakthroughs encouraged a slow-paced war, soldiers would stay in their entrenched positions and would fire shells away until the enemy position was destroyed. The only way to takeover an enemy’s position was to dash across the no-man’s land, a strip of dirt soiled with bloody corpses of fallen comrades. These attempts were met by a wall of enemy bullets and seldom succeeded. This is a major cause for the war’s length, the two sides could stay at a stand still for weeks before eventually gaining some ground on the other.

World-War-1 changed the way war was fought, it was the first “modern war” where technological advances developed devastating weapons of great lethality. Core values of any army became endurance and a superior arsenal. War was fought slowly, trying to outlast the enemy, holding back until the final push, sending a slew of men across the no-man’s land so that only a few of them could make to the enemy trench. That was the terrifying reality of World-War-1.

At the beginning of the war, French troops dispatched the food among their soldiers thinking they would have time to prepare their meals during ceasefire. Unfortunately, the infantry quickly realized that a period of truce was extremely rare. They observed that the German army used a “rolling kitchen” and decided to imitate them. In fact, it was an indispensable and very popular tool, whereby the cook and soldiers, who worked in field kitchens at the back of the trenches, would prepare the soldiers’ diner in it at once. They then distributed the food amongst the military. The rolling kitchen could nourish approximately 200 soldiers and was equipped with two stoves, four cauldrons, one chimney and two fireplaces. It weighed 992 pounds in total and measured 11 feet long. 

At the very beginning, soldiers got one pound of meat and bread and eight ounces of vegetables a day. As the war progressed, fresh fruit, vegetables and meat became extremely rare. Bread and flour were also in shortage and government posters encouraged people to eat less bread. During the winter of 1916, there was a major lack of flour. It was replaced by dried, ground-up turnips which produced unpleasing, diarrhoea. 

Wartime cookbooks had  recipes that used leftovers and rationed food like ‘potted cheese’: leftover crumbs of cheese, mixed with mustard and margarine, baked in the oven and served with biscuits or toast. Another recipe used cooked fish, rice, and bread crumbs to make fish sausages.

Food transportation was another issue. By the time it reached the front, bread and biscuits had dried. Soldiers had to crumble the hard food that arrived and add potatoes, sultanas, and onions to soften the mixture up. This concoction would then be boiled in a sandbag and eaten as a sandy stale soup.

During WW1, people would use all sorts of weaponry to defend themselves. They used tanks, machine guns, artillery, aircrafts etc...

Tanks were the biggest symbol of the Great War. They were especially used in the trenches, where many soldiers died. “Tanks were invented because they were needed. They were needed because the invention of machine guns and barbed wire gave the defence a huge advantage.” People had to figure out an arm that would be able to cross safely the “no man’s land.” Therefore, the British and French both began building tanks, each on their sides. The British decided to call them tanks because they wanted their plans to stay "top secret". They disguised them by naming them after the water tanks that were already used during the war.

British tanks appeared for the first time at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, a part of the Battle of the Somme, in September 1916 . The British sent 49 tanks into battle. Of all, simply thirty-two were able to begin the first attack, and only nine made it across "no man's land" to the German’s limits. The tanks had been rushed into combat before the design was mature enough to endure the combat. Many broke down, but nearly a third succeeded in breaking through, which wasn’t that bad for a first try. 

WW1 tank from the "Musée de la Grande Guerre à Meaux"

31 of may 

Not many people realize that war at sea was a major aspect during World War 1, especially for Britain. It was the only way to avoid a shortage of food and goods.

One of the most important battle during the war was “the Battle of Jutland” which started on the 31rst of may 1916. Jutland was the last great battle at sea during world war 1 and is a good example of the significance of strategy at sea. 

Reinhard Scheer, was at the head of the german High Seas Fleet while Admiral Beatty and Admiral Jellicoe were fighting for the British Royal Navy.

On the 31st of may Reinhard Scheer send a coded message to all the german ships from the High Seas Fleet to attack Britain on the east coast.

Even though Scheer thought that only the Germans could read his secret code, the Britain Fleet had figured them out and left the cost in time to intercept the german Fleet before they could reach the British costs.

Admiral Beatty managed to push south the german battle cruiser but he had to go sail back north because he was attacked by german battleship Dreadnoughts. 

Admiral Jellicoe arrived and bombarded the german battleships forcing Scheer to sail back south. On the last day, Scheer found himself stuck between the two British Admirals, the battle lasted all night.

Although the British were much stronger, Reinhard Schneer managed to escape while Jellicoe’s Fleet was trying to avoid a torpedo.

The Battle of Jutland was a pure Naval battle because their were nor planes or submarine involved. Both the German and British Fleet lost many people and ships but at the end, the British remained at the command of the sea and after the Battle of Jutland the german never again attacked the Royal Navy again. 

 The danger didn't only come from these trenches, but also the no man's land, where a constant, deafening noise would always be heard

In an attempt to make these conditions better, soldiers on both sides made makeshift items such as forks and knives . If all went well, they could cook to keep themselves warm, although it wasn't rare for the soldiers to eat what they called  "Bully Beef", more commonly known as corned beef, in tin cans. These scarce moments of pleasure did not last long as soldiers would always have to work, in order to keep the trenches running. This would mean cleaning the trenches or weapons routinely.

The planes would throw darts on the ground threw little holes to guide the soldiers marching. However, when a frenchman Roland garros attached a machine gun to his craft, the idea of aerial combat emerged. At first, pilots threw little bombs and darts made of steel from their crafts. Their bombs and weapons were still very elementary . It's only towards 1917 that the little bombs became blasting and explosive bombs. The bombs would weigh a lot ( 650-1200 kilos). Being a pilot at that time was very dangerous, in fact many of them died during the trainings. As a result, being a pilot was very recognised and distinguished.  During the end of the war, aerial combat technology and weapons had developed and over a hundred planes could work on the same attack plan. To conclude, aircrafts were a vital piece of modern war machine.

Aerial Bomb 

I am very glad that I was given this theme because it was a theme that I was interested in and one that I wanted to know more about.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, war was a very important part of everyone’s life. After the Franco-Prussian war, France was devastated by the loss of Alsace and of Moselle. This changed the way France thought of war. After that day, France decided to militarise everything. Boys played with little soldiers and girls with dolls dressed up in the Alsace and Moselle regional clothing. In schools, children had military training during their sport classes. They would fight with sticks and have to perform in gymnastics to improve their agility. Everything they were thought was based on war. They learned to read and write with war texts and learn arithmetic with math problems about bombs or soldiers... 

While their fathers, uncles and brothers were away for what they thought would be all summer, the women and children had to take the place of men and keep the country going. This means that during WW1, it was hard for kids to go to school because they had to work to get food on the table. During WW1, a lot of teen boys lied about their age so that they could fight in the army. This meant that a lot of children died to save their country. I think that children played a very important role during the war: even though the soldiers were the ones actually at war, the children were making the guns, ammo and armor that the soldiers needed. I am not sure that the France would’ve won the war if it wasn’t for all the hard work the kids did. The children of WW1 are the soldiers are WW2, they will spend all their life at war, war will be all their life. 

           

War uniform costume for boys.           School notebook with a war illustration as the cover

Before World War I, many nations increased their military and naval forces along with their military spending. From 1870 to 1871, France and Prussia, which later became part of Germany, went to war. The French lost the war and Alsace together with a part of Lorraine (Moselle). Everyone born after this war was raised to become part of the military for the next war, in order to conquer the land the French lost. Children were taught the vocabulary of the military and played with war-related toys, such as toy machine guns. Uniforms were sold to children so they could wear them alongside their father or older brothers who would already be in the military. For about 40 years, France prepared for the following war which was long expected. Many European nations decided to expand their militaries. In 1905, an obligatory two-year military service was imposed for every healthy Frenchman. 

At that time, men were raised for war. However, when war finally came, everyone assumed it would last only the summer of 1914 or, at worst, they would be home by Christmas. In reality, this became a 4-year engagement. 

Soldiers had to walk for weeks with clogs because military boots were not supplied. This resulted in foot injuries which led to many infections. Despite having had 40 years to prepare for such basic army equipment, they overlooked the essentials. Even though these soldiers had been educated to become part of the military during the years leading up to WWI, they were not mentally prepared for the horrors of the war.

In an attempt to make these conditions better, soldiers on both sides used makeshift items such as forks and knives. If all went well, they could cook to keep themselves warm, although it wasn't rare for the soldiers to eat what they called  "Bully Beef", more commonly known as corned beef, in tin cans. These scarce moments of pleasure did not last long as soldiers would always have to work, in order to keep the trenches running. This would mean cleaning the trenches or weapons routinely. Although the work was never ending,a lot of it was pointless, it was sometimes more of a distraction than labour, meant to keep the men awake, as sleep deprivation was another one of the problems, along with sounds of bullets,that would affect their health. The rats. lice, and dead bodies certainly didn’t make the living conditions and health concerns any better. Ultimately, soldiers on the western front would sleep (for a few hours ), clean their rifles, eat, clean the trenches, eat clean some more and so on until the cycle got interrupted by their rotation of trenches, and removed them from the front line

            Propaganda was usually presented under the form of posters but it was as well represented throughout speeches and films such as it is today. Behind the colorful and advertising posters, the events that were cited in them were often exaggerated and the truth was twisted. This technique was called atrocity propaganda. It was used to change and go beyond the truth to therefore lower the enemy. For example, the Germans and Austro-Hungarian soldiers were shown as inhumane savages as a way to justify the war. The written details, descriptions and titles on the posters were accompanied by graphic illustrations which as well described in an exaggerated way the events happening.

        With time, throughout the war, propaganda therefore became and was used as a weapon that each side used to recruit more soldiers into the armed forces and to convince civilians that if they joined, their sacrifices would be rewarded.

    Luckily for them, soldiers rotated in cycles between the three trench lines : the front line, the support line and the reserve line. They would also have a period of time at rest, outside of the trenches. Thanks to this cycle, soldiers actually spent little time in the firing line.

  In the front line, there was a specific daily routine that would be repeated over and over again. A soldier’s day began before dawn with the “Stand-to-Arms”; a process in which they would guard the trenches against raids from the other side. Then, soldiers would fire directly in front of them to reassure their safety; it was called the “Morning Hate”. Afterwards, the men would have breakfast whilst cleaning their weapons. Following breakfast, officers would inspect the soldiers’ weapons and clothes but would also occasionally look for signs of “Trench Foot”. Various duties were then assigned to each man. When they finished their chores, soldiers had some free time in which they would write letters home, play games but most importantly try to get as much sleep as they could. At dusk, the Stand-to-Arms was repeated as it was believed surprise attacks were carried out at both dawn and dusk. Finally, supply and maintenance duties were given out and some soldiers were put on sentry duty : the observation of the enemy whilst standing on the fire step of the trenches. Then, night time came and the routine would repeat itself until troops were changed.

  Moral is a big factor in a soldier’s life, who strives everyday to win an atrocious war and who mentally needs their family's support.  Staying in touch with their families was a way for soldiers to remember their lives before the war and a hope that it will soon be over. It is also a calming reminder that they will reunite with their family and go back to their lives before the war. 

  Writing letters for soldiers itself was a way for them to express what they were feeling, to tell their wives, children and parents what war was like. After having experienced such terror and death surrounding them, soldiers wrote letters to aware their families of the atrocities of the war. Receiving letters from the front meant their husband, son or brother was alive; it was a way to affirm their close ones hadn’t passed away. It was also a way to know from an internal point of view what war was truly like. 

     With propaganda controlling the citizens view of life at war, sending letters was a way to stay informed  by soldiers on what was truly happening at the front.

 Here is an image of a soldier writing a letter:

Firstly, there was the noise: the continuous sound of grenades exploding, guns firing and people screaming. These noises were eventually tuned out by the soldiers, but for the first few days spent at the front, a soldier could barely sleep.

The stench of rotting corpses, urine, mud, filth, and blood filled the trenches at the front. If a soldier put his head up too high, he was immediately shot by the opponent. These men could be buried, unlike the soldiers shot in no man’s land, who were left where they were and slowly decayed. Also, the trenches were rarely dry in winter. The rain created mud, which made walking around the trenches difficult, and was the source of illnesses like trench feet.  

Death was everywhere. A lot of people died because they were shot or blown up, but not only. Illnesses were also very common, and spread quickly, especially in the living conditions, and proximity of people in the trenches. 

There were not only the men on the front that were haunted by the threat of imminent death. Women working in the war industry, in shell factories, had to carry or touch at least 600 grenades every day. These shells would explode if they were dropped, which would cause severe injury or death.

  This boredom took up most of a day in the trenches. This added to the despair that the soldiers experienced. They would often spend this time cleaning their weapons or writing to their families and wives. Writing to their loved ones back home helped the soldiers with their morale. These letters kept them connected to the life that they had left behind.

  During this period of the day soldiers also played games. The most popular games for the soldiers during World War 1 were card games, jacks, dominos and checkers. The industrials adapted to the demands of the front lines and created easily transportable games for the soldiers. These games helped the soldiers forget about all the horrors of the war that they were living.
However the most important activity of the soldiers during this long period of the day was resting. The soldiers did not have much sleep during the night because they were often awoken for chores or fighting. Because of this they slept mostly during the daytime in these hours when they did not have much to do.

Soldiers had lot’s of equipment that they had to carry around like a riffle such as a Breathier Riffle, food for the day, and various other objects that could be helpful to them. The french soldiers were allowed to stop shaving for conditions were to harsh.

Food in the trenches wood be served by canteens on wheels. Food was often rare and soldiers were often hungry, usually later in the war

French soldiers had bright red and blue uniforms and no helmets while german troops and brown grey uniforms and helmets with spikes.

When the war broke out in summer 1914, the airplane was barely 10 years old. Although people were fascinated by airplanes, they were fairly skeptical and the idea of using airplanes in the war seemed pretty radical. But all of that quickly changed at the beginning of World War One because army officers realized airplanes could be used to their advantage.

 At first, warplanes were used as reconnaissance crafts, to observe enemy troops and spot their artillery or obtain photographic mapping. As these aircraft became more common they began to evolve and became stronger, faster and more maneuverable. The need to stop enemy observations became imperative and antiaircraft guns were developed, guns designed to hit aircraft from dry land. Military strategists also ordered pilots to shoot enemy aircraft (dogfights). 

 Bombing was an obvious offensive tactic used during the Great War. At first, pilots content themselves of simply throwing hand bombs and steel arrows over the side of the aircraft. Soon, specialized bomber aircraft were created with bombsights, bomb racks and a release system. The size and damage of the bombs continue to increase throughout the war. 

 Pilots flew in open cockpits. To protect themselves from the harsh weather they wore leather coats, face masks, gloves and boots, all lined with sheepskin. 

 World War one lead to a rapid improvement of aircrafts with better stability, safety, speed and power.

 Leather clothing that the pilots wore on the airplanes