Year 9 First World War Project
This project is all about how we remember the First World War and the soldiers who
fought in it.
You will complete 2 different tasks:
1. A local history study based on your local war memorial (2 hours)
2. A look at how the British Army recruited its soldiers.
How you can make sure that you do well:
 DO NOT COPY AND PASTE from the internet! Some of these tasks are research
based but you have been asked to complete them in a certain way and have
definite questions or layout to consider. You will not gain marks from
information that is not in your own words and you will have some very upset
teachers to deal with…we can tell if it is not your own!
 Make use of the school library and computers at school if you do not have
access to these at home.
 Present your work as well as you can. Type up your work where possible.
 Do not leave it to the last minute, follow the time guidelines, this should take
you 5 hours to complete in total.
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Local History
For this task you will need to visit your local war memorial.
 Make a note of some of the names listed on it of those soldiers who died in
WW1. (You should aim for between 5 and 10 names)
 Either take a photograph of the memorial or draw a picture to show what it
looks like.
Questions:
1. Does the war memorial have the names of soldiers who died in other
wars? If so, which ones?
2. Did more soldiers die fighting in the First World War than in any other
on the memorial?
You are now going to research their deaths using the Commonwealth War Graves
commission website. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is the
organisation that looks after all of Britain’s war graves across the world. This amounts
to over 1.5 million graves from China to France. Its website has over 250, 000 visitors
a week and contains a register of all the soldiers’ graves that it looks after.
As you are looking up each soldier on your list, enter their details into a table
like the one below. An example has been filled in for you. Draw the table with
a ruler and a pencil on paper or use the table function on Microsoft Word.
Name
Age
Joe Bloggs
19
Date of Death Where they
are buried
29/10/14
Pas-de-Calais
Other
information
Born in
Tamworth, the
son of Anne
Bloggs.
Step by step instructions for using the CWGC website.
1. Go to the Wargraves website www.cwgc.org
2. Click on ‘Search our records’.
3. You should see in front of you a table for you to type the information into
about the soldier you are looking for.
4. Once you have filled in his details including his Surname, initials and the
war that he served in (make sure you select first world war), click submit.
5. You should now have in front of you a table of soldiers with the same name
as you are looking for. Double click on the soldier you think might be the one
you are looking for. (It helps if you know the area your soldier lived in before
the war)
6. The details of the soldier that you have selected should now be displayed in
front of you. You can now begin to fill in the table you have drawn.
7. You can view the soldiers Record of Commemoration if you want by
clicking on the Certificate button.
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8. Once you have finished viewing the soldier’s details click the back button
on the toolbar. You are now ready to begin searching for another soldier’s details.
Now answer the following questions:
Q1. Look at the ages of the soldiers in your table. How old is the youngest soldier? How
old is the eldest soldier? Do these ages surprise you in any way?
Q2. Where are most of these soldiers buried? Why do you think so few soldiers were
returned home for burial?
Q3. Why do you think a resource such as the Common Wealth War Graves Register is
useful to Historians? What have you found out about the people who fought and died in
wars from using it?
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Local History: Commonwealth War Graves Research
Name
Age
Date of
Death
Where they are
buried
Other information
The youngest soldier is _______________________
The eldest soldier is _________________________
Do these ages surprise you in any way?
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Most of the soldiers are buried in ___________________________________
Why do you think so few were returned home for burial?
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
How is the Commonwealth War Graves Register useful to historians?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
What have you found out about the people who fought and died in wars from using it?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________
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Why did so many people volunteer to join up at the start of the War?
When Britain declared war on 4th August 1914, the Government asked for volunteers
aged between 19 and 30 to join the army. At first, there was a great rush to ‘join up’
as a wave of patriotism and excitement swept the country. By Christmas 1914, over a
million men had enlisted to ‘do their bit for King and country’ It soon became clear
that this wasn’t going to be enough and the enthusiasm of 1914 didn’t last long. So
how did the Government encourage more men to join up?
1. Propaganda Posters.
As you will have seen in lessons the government produced posters designed to
encourage people to join the army. These posters were designed to get very powerful
messages across. White propaganda posters played on peoples’ feelings to make them
think that, if you were a man, joining the army was the ‘right thing to do’. Black
propaganda posters tried to create hatred towards the Germans. The government
believed that if people hated the Germans they were more likely to agree with the war
and join the fight. Look at the following posters and then complete the tasks below.
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2. Pals battalions……
In addition to posters the government created Pals Battalions. This allowed men to
join up and fight with their friends and neighbours rather than strangers. This was
really effective as towns competed with each other to provide the most men and show
how patriotic they were. Brothers, cousins, friends and workmates joined up together.
There was a footballer’s battalion in London, alongside battalions of bankers, railways
workers and even former public schoolboys. Although they were very successful there
were tragic consequences. Of the 720 Accrington Pals who fought 584 were killed in
one attack. The Leeds Pals lost 750 of their 900 men. This robbed communities of
many of their young men and the idea of Pals battalions was abandoned and they
were broken up in 1916.
After 1916 there was no
need for propaganda as
the government introduced
conscription (forcing people
to join the Army).
Dedicated to men of the 11th (Service) Battalion East Lancashire
Regiment "The Accrington Pals", many of whom fell in this area
during the opening phase of the Battle of the Somme6 in 1916. The
memorial is constructed of Accrington Brick.
The Empire…..
In addition the government recruited from all over the British Empire asking people to
fight for the ‘mother’ country. Around 1.4 million men from India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh joined up convinced by posters that they would have an ‘easy life’, ‘good
pay’ and ‘very little danger’. 53,000 of them died and 64,000 were injured. 12 were
awarded the Victoria Cross. In addition 61,966 Australians and 64,976 Canadians died
fighting for Britain.
Tasks.
1. Which is the most effective poster? You should include



Explain each poster, including whether it is white or black propaganda. Explain
who Edith Cavell was. (You will need to research her)
How all of them are effective in their different ways
Come to a conclusion about which is the most effective.
2. Were Pals Battalions a good idea? You should include:




What a Pals battalion was
How they helped recruitment
What problems they caused
Why the government ended them.
3. How did the Empire help provide troops? You could research the numbers from
other countries in the Empire.
4. Design your own recruitment poster. Be sure to decide who your target audience
are.
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