The End of the War
- America entered the war in 1917.
- In March 1918 the Germans launched Operation Michael – a huge last-ditch attack.
- On 8 August 1918, the German Army's 'Black Day', their attack was defeated.
- The Allies, with the Americans, began to push back the Germans. The Allies and Germany signed a ceasefire, or 'armistice [armistice: An agreement by both sides in a war to stop fighting.] ', at 11am on 11 November 1918.
  
  Consequences
  In some ways, humankind has never recovered from the horrors of the First World War:
  - Death and destruction:
    - Eight million soldiers died and many more were damaged physically or mentally.
    - Nine million civilians died.
    - Twelve million tons of shipping was sunk.
    - On the Western Front, the war destroyed 300,000 houses, 6,000 factories, 1,000 miles of railway and 112 coal mines.
  - People demanded a lasting peace, which would make it 'the war to end all wars' – this led to:
    - The League of Nations.
    - Remembrance Sunday, every November.
    - The British Field Marshal Douglas Haig set up the Poppy Appeal (1921).
  - Germany had not surrendered and was outraged by the terms of the Treaty [treaty: A formal agreement between two or more countries.] of Versailles – this helped to cause:
    - The Second World War. Some historians suggest that there were not two world wars, but only one, with a long ceasefire in between.
    - The rise of Hitler to power.
  - There was a revolution in Russia which brought a Communist government to power, led by Lenin. This event changed world politics completely.
  - The War helped make Britain more democratic. There was an attitude that Britain needed to be 'a home fit for heroes'. All men and women over 21 were given the vote, and a Labour government was elected in 1924.
  Interpretations: The causes of the war
  The Treaty [treaty: A formal agreement between two or more countries.] of Versailles which ended the war blamed Germany for the outbreak of war (Clause 231).
  
  During the 1920s, however, American historians such as Sydney Bradshaw Fay blamed forces such as nationalism and alliances.
  
  After the Second World War, historians such as the British historian AJP Taylor (1954) and the German historian Fritz Fischer (1961) blamed Germany – they said there was a 'will to war' in Germany.
  
  However, the debate goes on – recent historians have blamed Austria, Russia, and even Britain.
  
  What is your interpretation of the causes of the First World War? Who – or what – do you blame? Was war avoidable?
  Interpretations: The conduct of the war
  In the 1920s, Field Marshal Haig and his generals were praised. Many of the men writing these books were officers or officials - or their friends - who had fought the war.
  The Detractors
  In the 1930s criticisms of the war became popular. The anti-war poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon became widely accepted as representing the typical feelings of men in the trenches. The film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, and remade in 1979) portrayed the war as a pointless waste of young men's lives.
  
  In the 1960s, Alan Clark (1961) described the British soldiers as 'lions led by donkeys', and soon the British generals were mocked as 'butchers and bunglers' in shows such as Oh What a Lovely War (1963). This is the view that most ordinary people still believe, as the TV comedy Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) shows.
  The Revisionists
  However, in 1963, the historian John Terraine set about correcting what he thought were the myths of the war. He argued that Haig was not an idiot, but a good commander who cared about his soldiers. Haig was faced with the problem that there did not exist at that time any weapon which could win the war without the loss of many lives. This is the view that most serious historians take of the war nowadays.
  
  What is your interpretation of the conduct of the First World War? Was Haig a butcher and bungler, or Britain's greatest general?

	Created by Bibi over 12 years ago

Note on World War One, created by Bibi on 07/05/2013.