1. SOURCE 1 A German cavalryman ready for battle. Notice that he is wearing a gas mask. Each side expected cavalry charges to be a key part of winning the war.

2. SOURCE 2 Especially at small stations, the Russian leave-taking was an almost joyous affair, with the reservists dancing away to balalaika music and raising dust on the trampled earth... From Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914, a novel written in 1972. Solzhenitsyn is a Russian writer. I discovered to my amazement that average men and women were delighted at the prospect of war. Bertrand Russell, a British intellectual and writer, describing the mood in Britain in 1914.

3. SOURCE 3 Excerpt from a Modern History Textbook describing European Attitudes towards war. There had not been a war in Europe involving the major powers since 1871. That had been a lightning German victory against France. Most civilians were untouched by that war and the young men joining up in 1914 had not even been born at the time. There had been more recent wars overseas. The British had sustained heavy casualties in the Boer War in South Africa. Both soldiers and South African civilians had suffered greatly. Artillery bombardments in the Balkan wars of the previous year had resulted in heavy casualties. But if anyone did bring these wars to mind, they were not voicing their doubts publicly in 1914 as the young men of Europe flocked to join up. They had been persuaded that a modern war would be swift. A few lightning marches and a great battle would settle the matter.

4. SOURCE 4 Young Austrian soldiers setting out for the war in August 1914.

5. SOURCE 5 A group of British recruits who had just joined up in August 1914. Half a million young men signed up in the first four weeks. You can tell from the variety of hats and clothing that this group includes both middle-class and working-class people.

6. SOURCE 6 Britain’s empire also contributed troops. Around 1.5 million Indians and 15,000 West Indians fought in the British army. Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops also fought.

7. SOURCE 7 Such enthusiasm! – the whole battalion with helmets and tunics decked with flowers – handkerchiefs waving untiringly – cheers on every side – and over and over again the ever fresh and wonderful reassurance of the soldiers. Letter from a young German who had been called up and was about to travel to the front. Thirty years of life would not be worth all that we are going to accomplish within the next few weeks... I wish you could share in some measure the peace we experience here! A letter from a young Frenchman. France had been defeated by Germany in a humiliating war in 1871. In France, there was a strong sense of settling old scores.

8. SOURCE 8 You must all keep cheerful for my sake and it will not be long before I am back again, at least the general view is that it will not be a long show. Letter from a 30- year-old British officer to his parents, August 1914. It is a heady atmosphere to move in, & it’s infected me with a strong desire to do something more than stay in London & wait for a bunch of men to tell me what to do. I have heard of an ambulance corps which is going straight out to Belgium & shall apply to join it. A young British woman writing in August 1914. She went on to serve through the whole of the war. Thousands of women served in the forces as nurses, drivers, clerks and in many other roles.