Rats weren’t the only problem concerning infection. Lice were common and cause a disease called Trench fever. Trench fever caused severe pain following a high fever. Recovery for this took up to twelve weeks but many soldiers didn’t make it considering the cause of Trench fever wasn’t discovered until 1918. Trench foot was another deadly disease caused by cold and wet conditions.
( Christopher Culpin, Making History, chapter 3. ( N deMarco and R Radway, The Twentieth Century, pages 144–8. ( J Traynor and I Dawson, The Struggle for Peace, chapter 4. ( Tony McAleavy, Modern World History, pages 12–29. |Q | |New Words | |Share what you remember about the First World War.
Men stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches, unable to remove socks or boots. Soldiers feet would soon start to numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, the foot usually needed amputation, due to gangrene. A lot of disease in World War 1 was spread by rats. Another disease soldiers caught during World War 1 is dysentery.
3. What event triggered the outbreak of World War I in Europe in 1914? 4. What was the German strategic plan for a simultaneous war with France and Russia? 5.
“The peace treaties achieved a just and reasonable settlement of the First World War” The peace treaties did not achieve a just and reasonable settlement of the First World War. How could placing the entire blame of a ‘World War’ onto a single country possibly be just? The peace treaties would have had a virtually impossible task to agree upon a peace settlement that everyone, victors and the defeated find acceptable and fair. No matter how hard the world leaders were to try, not every country would have found the settlement fair. This was especially the case for Germany as she was to reap the blame for the First World War.
Schlieffen’s plan aimed to counter a joint attack and then later in the Great War the Schlieffen Plan was used as a strategy to ensure a swift victory and avoid fighting two-fronted war. In 1914 as war broke out the Schlieffen Plan was put into action but the results were not as hoped, instead the plan failed miserably. Many questioned why Schlieffen had opted to attack a powerful France first instead of a weaker, less mobile Russia which could have been defeated quickly before turning on the more threatening French army. The
Explain why Germany was bankrupt by 1923. At first, Germany’s main problem was that its government was bankrupt. The cost of the war was so great that that all of the German gold reserves had been put towards the cause. After the Weimar Republic had made the decision to surrender, The Treaty of Versailles had made things considerably worse. It deprived Germany of wealth-earning areas, such as the coalfields in Silesia.
In the early stages of the war the Army saw success at Galacia, but they saw heavy losses at Tannenburg and the Masurian Lakes. The next six months of the war was a disaster for the Russians. They suffered many defeats and were pushed back 200-300 miles, losing Poland, Lithuania and parts of Ukraine. The losses for the Russian army were overwhelming. There were nearly 4 million dead, wounded, captured or missing.
Though the Italians had a victory at Vittorio Veneto in 1918, the psychological impact of Caporetto was huge. The retreat brought shame and humiliation to Italy. By the end of the war in 1918, 600,000 Italians were dead, 950,000 were wounded and 250,000 were crippled for life. The war cost more than the government had spent in the previous 50 years – and Italy had only been in the war three years. By 1918, the country was hit by very high inflation and unemployment was high.
“A compromise that satisfied nobody.” How far do you agree with this verdict on the treaty of versailles?’’ The treaty of versailles was the peace settlement signed after the WWI between the allied powers and Germany which aimed to make Germany accept the responsibility of causing the war and therefore pay for its consequences. It took six months of negotiations to conclude the treaty as nations had different aims. France urged to cripple Germany thoroughly through maximum reparations and disarmament while Britain and USA were on a more lenient stance. As a result, the final treaty failed to satisfy their individual aims completely. The peace treaty did not satisfy France as it was not harsh enough in the eyes of France.