World War 1 information report

World War 1

Did you know that World War 1 was the very first war to be fought around many different places  around the world? War is legalised violence.  It is the only time you would be able to kill somebody and not go to jail. War happens when countries do not agree with each other or the same country has two leaders. It always has huge consequences and many innocent people die. World War 1 was also known as the Great War and was the first war to be called a total war.

The conflict began in 1914 after the Archduke of Austria , Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian student. The people of Austria-Hungary were angry and fought back by declaring war on Serbia. Most of the European countries had formed alliances and it only took one week before all of Europe was at war.

The smaller countries fighting for the Central Powers signed the armistice and agreed to follow the rules given by Allied forces in return for peace in their countries. They had to follow these rules as the Allied Forces took away all of their weapons so that they could not support anyone or fight back.  At the Paris Peace conference in January 1919 all the leaders from the countries who were in the war came together and formed the League of Nations. Their job was to stop any problems that might lead to war again.  65 million soldiers fought in this war, 8.5 million people died and over 21 million were wounded.  The main weapon used by British soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle.  Machine guns needed 4-6 men to fire them and had to be on a flat platform. They had the fire power of 100 guns.  Large field guns had a long range and could deliver horrible blows to the enemy but needed up to twelve men to work them. They fired shells which exploded on impact.  Tanks, planes and torpedoes were also used as weapons throughout WW1.

At the Paris Peace conference in January 1919 all the leaders from the countries who were in the war came together and formed the League of Nations. Their job was to stop any problems that might lead to war again.  All the countries in WW1 then signed the Treaty of  Versailles, which is the peace treaty. The treaty was signed between leaders of Germany and leaders of the allied countries. The German leaders did not have enough power and they disagreed with everything because they felt that the rules were too strict so there were some changes that were made that everyone agreed with. On June 28, 1919 the Treaty had been signed, and from then on peace was officially announced and everyone started to feel safe again.

After the conflict  many people were left without loved ones, property and jobs. This meant people got hunger and they couldn’t buy food as they had no money. For that reason there was a lot of sickness around in lots of countries in Europe.

Are you aware that this is the war that showed how brave the New Zealand troops were. They fought alongside the Australians in the Gallipoli campaign. The spirit they showed earned them the ANZAC name.