Navigating the Heartache WWI Brings
Many Christmas carols speak about peace on earth, but rarely does it ever happen. One notable exception is the Christmas truce of 1914. It started with a declaration by Pope Benedict XV that a temporary cease fire should be called in celebration of Christmas. “Pope Benedict XV is urging that an understanding be arranged between…
Care packages and news from home are always appreciated during wartime, but never as much as they are around the holidays. For the men and women serving overseas during World War I, care packages might have been their only means of celebrating the holiday season. When the war began, there was widespread belief that it…
Don’t believe what you see in the movies. Soldiers during World War I were not constantly at the front. Between battles, they experienced periods of painful boredom. To keep themselves entertained, they put on plays and published trench newspapers, among other things. These activities kept soldiers occupied and no doubt kept them from sinking into…
For the first time in history, civilians discovered that it wasn’t just soldiers who were in danger. During World War I, new weapons of war made it possible to conduct air raids on civilians. The majority of these raids were directed at Great Britain, but Paris and other locations also faced bombardment. Zeppelin Air Raids Zeppelins…
The harsh reality of war is that if affects everyone, combatant or not, and compounds misery. The European powers involved in World War I, especially, made great sacrifices. Not only were battles fought on their home soil with horrible death tolls, but citizens faced enemy attack, supply and food shortages, and starvation. Food Rationing Food…
She was RMS Titanic’s sister ship, and like her more famous sister, she ended up below the waves. She was larger than Titanic, once the world’s largest ocean liner, and although she was built as a liner, she never carried passengers. She is HMHS Britannic. Operated by White Star Line, Britannic was launched in February…
Popular music has always been a form of creative expression. During World War I, songs were written to express a variety of emotions – for example, love, homesickness or patriotism – and were used as morale boosters for soldiers and on the home front. Music also served as a means of spreading wartime propaganda. Songs…
When we think of World War I combatants, we remember the brave men and women who fought in the military and served in the medical corps. However, animals played an important role in the war as well. Let’s examine the these brave animals who had no comprehension of what was occurring but obediently served their…
World War I brought about many changes for women, including suffrage and greater workplace freedom. Another area of change during this period was women’s fashion. When the 1910s began, styles were very similar to those of the previous decade. Clothing, however, was beginning to show the shape of the female body, with the S-shape curve…
World War I was a traumatic, world-changing event. While it changed society and the course of history, it also changed the English language. Soldiers invented words and phrases to describe their activities and experiences, and their slang was different from that used by civilians. Many of the wartime slang terms are still in use today,…