11 to 14 years

Spartacus, USA History, British History, Second World War, First World War,
Wed Directory, Teaching History, Education on the Internet, Search Website, Email

 

First World War Encyclopaedia: A comprehensive encyclopaedia of the First World War. Each entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization, etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on: Chronology, Outbreak of War, Allied Armed Forces, Central Powers, Important Battles, Technology, Political Leaders, British Home Front, Military Leaders, Trench War, The Soldiers, Major Offensives, War at Sea, War in the Air, War Artists, War Literature, War Heroes, Women at War, Organisations, Strategies & Tactics, Weapons & Machines, Inventors and the War, Theatres of War and War Statistics.

Trenches on the Web: Trenches on the Web is an evolving project being developed by Mike Lavorone in the USA. New material is being added all the time and this reflects the concerns and interests of the people who use the site and are willing to send information to the webmaster. Lavorone describes himself as the trench-keeper ("a history technician, not a historian, recording these events with the tools currently available"). Students can explore a wide variety of themes and topics. It is also possible to look at certain issues in great detail. The range and display of statistics in this website is especially impressive. The visitor is never allowed to forget the human tragedy of this conflict and heart-rendering photographs appear next to the tables and graphs on the screen.

First World War Open Directory: The Open Directory follows in the footsteps of some of the most important contributor projects of the 20th century. Just as the Oxford English Dictionary became the definitive word on words through the efforts of a volunteers, the Open Directory follows in its footsteps to become the definitive catalog of the Web. The Open Directory was founded in the spirit of the Open Source movement, and is the only major directory that is 100% free. Its directory of the First World War contains 356 websites: General Accounts (29), Armed Forces (12), Personalities (113), Theatres of Operation (51), Regional (85), Aviation (25), Art and Literature (24) and Aftermath (11).

The Aerodrome: Aces and Aircraft of World War I: Scott Hamilton is responsible for this beautifully designed and easy to use website. As the title suggests, the website contains details of all the main First World War aces and aircraft. The database includes biographies of aces from sixteen different countries. The entries are extremely detailed and very good use is made of hypertexted links. Other features include a Discussion, Forum and Today in History, where information is provided on all the significant events that took place on that particular date during the war.

BBC History interactive: World War One: This BAFTA award-winning BBC History interactive website offers the chance to explore the human face of the First World War. Discover what life was like in the trenches and on the Home Front through dramatizations of original diaries, letters and photographs through interactive movies. Leading academics such as Gary Sheffield, Joanna Bourke and Stephen Badsey answer the key questions: why did the First World War start? Were the men really lions led by donkeys? And, ultimately, what was the impact on society? You can explore original documents and take a virtual tour of a 3-D trench system, whilst animated maps of the Western Front highlight the movements of the armies and the key battles.

Cecil Slack's War: Andrew Moore has producing an outstanding website on the letters and diaries of Cecil Slack, a soldier who took part in the First World War. As well as Slack's own writings the website also contains photographs of the man and his family. There is also a wealth of ideas on how you can use the material to teach History and English to students aged 9 to 14.

Art and the First World War: This is an excellent website devoted to the art produced during the First World War. Created to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Armistice, the database includes 54 artists and images of 100 pictures from museums in London, Paris, Berlin, Bonn, Vienna, Caen and Verdun. All the exhibits includes background details of the work and a brief biography of the artist. The paintings are listed under seven different categories: War Declared, Fighting Men, Age of Artillery, The Battlefield, Total War, Suffering and Death.

BBC: Art and the Front: The Western Front was a short train journey away from central London. The British government took advantage of this by commissioning the leading artists of the day to make eye witness accounts of the events of the war. Initially, the intention was to reproduce images for propaganda purposes, then to commemorate and record the service and events of the war. This BBC website enables you to explore the battleground terrains through artists' eyes and to find out how events of international significance were recorded.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) was established in 1917. Its duties involve marking and maintaining the graves of the members of the forces of the Commonwealth who were killed in the two World Wars. The CWGC is also responsible for keeping records of those who lost their lives and over the years has become an important source of information for those carrying out historical research. The CWGC has now made this material available on the Internet. It is now possible to obtain details of the rank, regiment, date and burial of all members of the armed forces killed in the First World War.

Canadian Air Aces and Heroes is a set of biographies on Canadians who distinguished themselves in military aviation from WWI through WWII and Korea. Linked with the biographies are technical pages on the aircraft they flew and fought against. It is continually being updated and added to so check back occasionally to see if anything new has been added.

Women in World War One: It was not until the United States got involved in the World War One that some parts of the government got serious about using women power. During the conflict nearly 13,000 women enlisted in the Navy and the Marine Corps. This website, produced by Barbara Wilson, a former captain in the USAF, contains information of these women and the large number of nurses who served in Europe during the conflict.

Godfrey Chavasse: Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse was Britain's most highly decorated serviceman in World War One. He was not however a soldier, being Medical Officer to the 10th (Liverpool Scottish) Battalion. When the Great War started, Noel went with his battalion to France, arriving there in November 1914. Noel won his first medal (a Military Cross) at the Battle of Hooge in June 1915. Noel's first Victoria Cross was gained at Guillemont on 8th August 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. When the Third Battle of Ypres started on 31st July 1917 Noel was in the front line with his men. For nearly two days he went out into the battlefield rescuing and treating wounded soldiers. It was during this period Noel performed the deeds that gained him his second VC. Unfortunately he was never to know about the award as he was killed in his aid station when a shell came through the door and exploded.

Canadian Military Heritage Project: This website is dedicated to presenting Canadian military history - the wars, uprisings and conflicts in which Canadians participated. The goal of the project is to preserve the records and memories of Canadians who served their country, and to ensure that their sacrifices are not forgotten. The website provides historical background for each conflict, chronological timelines, statistics, battles, weaponry, uniforms & equipment, famous Canadians, biographies of soldiers, heroes and their stories, contributions of women, other countries who participated, muster rolls for conflicts before 1900, letters from soldiers at the front, music and poetry, guest authors' submissions and links to other online resources.

Shot at Dawn: When the British Army went into action in the summer of 1914, a number of offences were punishable with death. This included mutiny, cowardice before the enemy, self-inflicted wounds, disobedience of a lawful order, desertion or attempted desertion, sleeping or being drunk on post, striking a superior officer, casting away arms or ammunition in the presence of the enemy, leaving a post without orders, abandoning a position, and treacherously communicated with or in any way assisting the enemy. This website, Shot at Dawn, provides details of the 346 British soldiers who were executed during the First World War. It also includes information on German, French and Belgian executions.

The Austro-Hungarian Army: The aim of this website is to document the organizational history of the land forces of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy from just prior to the outbreak of the Great War until the collapse of the monarchy in 1918. The subject is huge and therefore the site will be a continually evolving project. The authors intend to produce as time goes on not only the organization of the land forces, but also biographies of senior commanders, individual regimental histories and details of particular engagements and battles in the Italian, Galician, Carpathian, Rumanian and Serbian theatres of operations.

Zeppelin Raids in the First World War: Count von Zeppelin, a retired German army officer, flew his first airship in 1900. They were lighter than air, filled with hydrogen, with a steel framework. When the war started in 1914, the German armed forces had several Zeppelins, each capable of travelling at about 85 m.p.h. and carrying up to 2 tons of bombs. With military deadlock on the Western Front, they decided to use them against towns and cities in Britain. This website produced by the Public Record Office looks in detail on the Zeppelin raid on Hull in June 1915.

Voluntary Aid Detachments: During the Great War over 6,000 men and women in the county of Kent in the UK joined Voluntary Aid Detachments to help care for sick and wounded soldiers. They set up and ran over 80 auxiliary military hospitals, to which over 125,000 men of many nationalities were admitted. This site has a list of military, VAD and other hospitals in Kent used for military patients as well as information about some of the detachments, activities and the people involved.

First World War Poetry: This seminar is intended as an introduction to First World War poetry. As well as the poets Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon and Edward Thomas the seminar looks at women poets in the First World War. Each poet and topic includes the following: (a) an introduction, (b) a featured poem, appropriate to the seminar's theme, (c) some literary criticism of the featured poem, (d) other relevant information or texts, (e) a selection of other poems appropriate to the poet/topic.

Wilfred Owen: This website includes four of Wilfred Owen's most popular poems: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce et Decorum est, Strange Meeting and The Parable of the Old Man and the Young. There are also links to other websites on Wilfred Owen and his poetry.

One Time, One Place: Mouse Trap Farm is a place in Flanders near the Belgium town of Ypres. During the Great War of 1914 - 1918, it became part of the front line between the two great armies. In it's vicinity, hundreds of thousands of men died. On the 26th April 1915 the 6th battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, made a suicidal attack at Mouse Trap Farm. Brian Grieves, whose grandfather was killed in the offensive, has created a website on the events of that day. It is designed to be of use in many teaching contingencies. It an be a simple but gripping display - or an individual investigation for the older, more able student. For the creative, involved teacher it is a deep repository of ideas and stimulus which can be teacher - led with a wide range of groups.

The Trench: What might everyday life have been like in the trenches of World War One? The Trench recreates the experience of the 10th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment in the Autumn of 1916 on the Western Front. Modern-day volunteers from Hull and East Yorkshire spent two weeks in an authentically constructed trench system in northern France. This BBC website also includes a virtual tour of a First World War trench.

The Great War 1914-18: As well as general information on the Ypres Salient the site includes an innovative detailed study of the Second Battle of Ypres, 1915. The study so far consists of 80 pages of text and maps for the Prelude to the Battle and the battle from 5.00pm to midnight. It also features unique map and timeline windows. The next phase of the battle study for 23 April 1915 will be added to the site shortly.

One Day's Fighting on the Western Front: This website looks in great detail at what happened to the men of the 2/8th Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) during one day's fighting on the Western Front in September 1917. Produced by the Great War Family Ancestry and Research Services, the website also provides an illustrated account of the Polygon Wood battlefield today.

54th Canadian Infantry Battalion: A website devoted to the activities of the 54th Canadian Infantry Battalion that fought in France and Belgium during the First World War. This includes photographs and biographies of a large number of the volunteers who fought in the regiment.

First World War.com: This is a wide-ranging frequently updated website providing information on a variety of Great War topics. Containing some 500 biographical sketches and over 100 battle summaries from all fronts of the war, the site also offers an extensive (and eclectic) collection of short memoirs penned by participants (from nurses to infantrymen to prisoners). A special section addresses the impact of much of the prose and poetry written during and as a consequence of the war's effects. Archive photographs are set alongside pictures of the battlefields today, each with a short summary describing its significance. A timeline is available detailing events for every day of the war from the July Crisis to the Armistice. Special features deal with given aspects of the war, from its planning and origins to the curious Christmas Truce of 1914. Archive songs and speeches from the 1914-18 era recall the popular tunes of the day in audio. Finally the site offers a collection of key source documents associated with the conflict, including treaty texts (Versailles, Brest-Litovsk) and diplomatic agreements.

Experience of War: An anthology of over 100 extracts, both prose and poetry, dealing with war - with particular reference to the First World War. Maintained by Steve Brown, the website includes work by Rupert Brooke, Julian Grenfell, John McCrae, Isaac Rosenberg, W. B. Yeats, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Edmund Blunden, Edward Thomas, Charles Hamilton Sorley, Robert Graves, Rudyard Kipling, Ivor Gurney and Carl Sandburg.

The Great War in Flanders Fields: From 1914 to 1918 the 'Westhoek', the western part the Province of West-Flanders, i.e. the area of Nieuwpoort, Diksmuide, Leper (Ypres), Poperinge, was the scene of the Great War. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers of more than 20 nationalities fell in this conflict. After the often pointless battles and vast destruction, the Westhoek rose from its ashes. This interactive website gives you the opportunity to learn more about World War I in the Westhoek. The central database includes all monuments, sites, locations, cemeteries, etc. in the Westhoek. Furthermore you will find all important events referring to the Great War, a reading list, the museums, accommodation, a number of interesting websites and extensive historical information.

Joseph Lesage and the First World War: This website contains the drawings, history and letters of Joseph Lesage, a First World War telegrapher. Together witch two comrades he started in 1915 a soldier -paper for his division. Joseph went through all of it: the first German attacks near Nancy in 1914, the battle of Verdun in 1916 and the offensives at the rivers Aisne and Marne in 1917 and 1918.

The Heritage of the Great War is dedicated to the events and consequences of World War One. This website puts some emphasis on unorthodox and thought-provoking points of view. And it shows people rather than strategic plans or statistics. To this end this site features one of the most extensive and explicit World War One photo collections on the Internet. The articles on this website are mainly in English, some are in Dutch (Flemish) only. There are special sections for English and Dutch speaking students, where they will find help with their schoolwork.

War Medals: A website devoted to buying and selling war medals. Visitors can view a large collection of German, American, British, French, Russian, Belgian and Polish medals. There is also a forum where visitors can ask questions about medals and badges.

The War to End All Wars: The First World War was fought between 1914 and 1918. Even before it had finished people were saying that it must be "The war to end wars". They meant that the war was so awful that nothing like it must ever be allowed to happen again. The seven main galleries in this exhibition will help students to understand why so many people felt like this after the First World War.

The Churchill Era: This educational website has been specially designed to enable teachers and students to make use of archive material in the classroom. The Churchill Era will be divided into units reflecting the great public issues and events which arose during the long career of Sir Winston Churchill, starting with the First World War. Each unit will contain two or three specific enquiries, consisting of exercises which can be addressed using archival material. These exercises include document analysis, comparison of documents, and work with pictures, maps and statistics. The site also features a comprehensive glossary section giving background information, a timeline for each enquiry, listing the key events of the period, and information for teachers. To date, the site consists of the initial unit on the causes and impact of the First World War: the naval arms race between Britain and Germany up to 1914; the Dardanelles campaign of 1915; and Field Marshal Haig's conduct of the war on the Western Front.

The Illustrated Enemy: This website looks at graphic depictions of national leaders and military and civilian life, as illustrated by artists both before and during World War I. These images were originally published in magazines, books, posters and postcards. The artists are French, German, Italian, Dutch, British and American. Many are unabashedly patriotic, even jingoistic; others are just as firmly anti-war.

Battle of Baghdad 1917: In the First World War the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire sided with the Germans and Austrians. The Turks had held Mesopotamia since 1534 and they had a firm grip on many of the Persian and Arabian oilfields. Britain wanted that oil for its large navy. The British gained Basra and its oil wells in November 1914. They also occupied the terminal of the oil pipeline and the refineries on the island of Abadan in the river of Shatt El Arab, in the south-western corner of Persia (Iran). In December 1916 the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force crossed the river Tigris and captured Kut-el-Amara. Over the next few months the British and went on to take Beersheba, Jaffa and Jerusalem. This website takes a look at what happened when the troops reached Baghdad in March 1917.

Wulfrunians and the First World War: This website looks at the lives and experiences of former students of Wolverhampton Grammar School who died in the First World War. It includes the original obituaries from the school magazine of eighty-four of the men killed in the war. Russel Tarr, a history teacher at the school, has produced several student activities to go with this fascinating website.

An Echo in My Heart: This website provides the correspondence between a well educated, articulate couple, Frederick Stanley Albright and Evelyn (Kelly) Albright, who wrote regularly to each other between 1913 and 1917. The correspondence spans the time of their early courtship, engagement and marriage and their separation when Fred Albright went overseas in World War I. Between them, the couple wrote over 550 letters. The correspondence contains absorbing, first hand accounts of life in Canada, before and during World War I, Army training in England and of life behind the lines and on the battlefields of France. Fred Albright was killed at Passchendaele in October, 1917.

The Western Front: The men who signed up to fight in 1914 believed the war would be short and glorious. New developments in military technology soon proved them wrong. By 1915, the armies of both sides had ground to a halt and dug themselves into long lines of trenches - the Western Front - which stretched from the coast of northern France and Belgium to the Swiss Alps. The Front became a hellish wasteland scoured by artillery shelling and machine-gun fire. By the time the fighting ended in November 1918, the war had killed almost 10 million men. This simulation, produced by Rob Fleetwood of Smestow School, is intended to aid pupils' understanding of what the First World War must have been like for the men who fought it.

South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association: The primary objective for this site is to allow the visitor to gain some understanding into the role of the 36th (Ulster) Division in the Great War of 1914-1918 and in particular to expose the awful reality of that tragic and bloody summer of 1916 on the fields of the Somme and the devastating impact it had on a tight-knit community that has since become a core theme in the Ulster Protestant tradition and mythology. The website follows the fate of the Ulster Volunteers who began by forming and arming themselves against the British during the Home Rule Crisis, and finished up fighting and dying as British soldiers on the far away fields of France.

First World War: The new C4 series on the First World War started yesterday. There is an impressive website to go with the series and includes an Overview (A quick glance at the main events of the war); Controversies (key controversies plus video commentaries from the series); Combatant States (profiles of the main protagonists during the war period); Biographies (profiles of the key players during the war period) and a Timeline.

World War 1 Songs: This website contains popular American music from the World War 1 period, circa 1917-1918 as well as Patriotic American music from the early 1900s in MIDI music format, sheet music covers and lyrics. Songs featured include Over There, I Have Come to Say Good-bye, Oh, Moon Of The Summer Night (Tell My Mother Her Boy's All Right), When Yankee Doodle Learns To Parlez Vous Francais, I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm On My Way, Till We Meet Again, Welcome Home, Three Wonderful Letters From Home and Where Do We Go From Here.

World War One: This website includes the causes of the war; major battle fought in the war (Mons, Marne, Gallipoli, Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele, Tannenberg, Cambrai, Caporetto, Jutland); trench warfare; the role of British women in the war; modern weapons used in the war (machine guns, planes, poison gas and gas masks, tanks, artillery etc); conscientious objectors; military figures in the war (Haig, Foch, Joffre, Jellicoe, Petain, Beatty, Falkenhayn); propaganda in the war; Christmas and the war; an A to Z of the war; a timeline of the war and casualty statistic of the war.

First Day on the Somme: This CD-ROM, produced by Film Education, contains downloadable pdf's which take students through the process of constructing their own documentary on these historical events. Rushes from the period as well as contemporary footage allow students to discover ways in which propaganda can be created as well as the ways in which images can be manipulated. It also asks them to question the veracity of the moving image as used within documentary programmes on television. Full details can be found at the Film Education website.

Northumberland Fusiliers: For a number of years now, Neil Storey has been researching the 4th (Territorial) Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers for the period 1908 to 1919. This all began as a family history project, to determine what happened to his Great Grandfather during the 1st World War, but very quickly developed into a plan to publish an account of the 4th battalions' exploits and compile a database of all those who served with the battalion during this period. The website now contains data relating to more than 2,200 men who served with the Battalion between 1908 and 1919 and the day to day location and actions of the Battalion throughout the 1st World War.

First Call: Although they only entered the First World War in 1917 the United States produced thousands of posters were created. The country's top illustrators such as Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, Harrison Fisher and Edward Penfield, became involved in this process. The posters helped not only with the obvious aim of recruiting members for the armed forces, but with the parallel home-front efforts embodied in various conservation efforts, in the multiple aims of the United War Work Campaign and the work of the Red Cross. This Georgetown University Library collection features 25 of these posters.

Truth and Propaganda: The use of propaganda campaigns has been a crucial aspect of modern warfare. Various techniques and media have been employed by governments to attempt to modify their citizens' behaviour and outlook: to encourage recruitment for the armed service, bolster home morale and undermine the enemy. The diverse collections of the Imperial War Museum illustrate many aspects of the history of propaganda in the era of modern conflict. The material is organized under the headings: De-humanising The Enemy (the subtle employment of propaganda strategy), Myths And Heroes (icons, heroes and martryrs) and Machinery Of Delivery (media technology at war).

Great War Photographs: This Dutch website claims to have one of the largest collections of First World War photographs. The material is organized in galleries such as: Tinted War (more than 150 colour photographs of the war), They Die Young (40 photographs of underage soldiers), Shooting-Match (pictures of the Gallipoli campaign), Bloody Picnic (explicit photographs of the death and destruction caused by the war), The Americans are Coming (photographs of the American Expeditionary Force), Unforeseen Epidemic (shellshock victims) and Love & War (romantic postcards from the war).

Imperial War Museum Collections Online: It is now possible to access the Imperial War Museum catalogues online. If you want to browse there are short essays on major historical themes which lead you to selected highlights from all the collections. The Imperial War Museum contains objects and works of art, a library, plus archives of documents, film, photographs and sound. The present database covers the collections of documents, film and sound in detail; other collections will be added over the next few months.

The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century was a co-production of KCET/Los Angeles and the BBC in association with the Imperial War Museum of London. The official site for the PBS documentary on the Great War, provides an online synopses of each episode, an interactive First World War timeline, a book list, an interactive gallery with maps and locations of the war. The site also features interviews with prominent historians such as Diane Atkinson, Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau, Niall Ferguson, Orlando Figes, Paul Fussell, John Keegan, Wolfgang Mommsen, Peter Simkins, Jay Winter and Norman Stone.

Versailles Treaty: This website, constructed by the History Department at the University of San Diego, has the entire Versailles Treaty online. It also has nine maps illustrating the situation before and after the signing of the treaty. It also contains a collection of political cartoons from the era dealing with the treaty and a series of chronologies that give a good overview of significant events during the First World War.

African Americans and the Great War: During the First World War 380,000 African Americans served in the wartime Army. Approximately 200,000 of these were sent to Europe. More than half of those sent abroad were assigned to labour and stevedore battalions, but they performed essential duties nonetheless, building roads, bridges, and trenches in support of the front-line battles. Roughly 42,000 saw combat. This website includes photographs and documents on this subject plus several ideas on how they can be used in the classroom.

Great War in Colour: The first experiments with colour photography were carried out in 1904 near Lyon in France, where father Lumière owned a photographic factory. In 1907 the Lumière brothers patented the autochrome process they had invented. Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud was Chief of the Photography and Cinematography Organization of the French Army during the First World War. Tournassoud and other French photographers visited the Western Front in an attempt to record these events in colour. This website provides a collection of autochrome pictures taken by French photographers during the war.

 

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