What motivated men to sign up and fight? L/O – To describe what propaganda is and to explain the role it played in motivating men to join the war Starter – What was life like as a soldier in the trenches of WW1? Write a sentence describing what you think it was like

How similar is your image of the First World War to the one here?

The Popular Image tiredbattle-weary horrific conditions Many films, novels and poems paint a picture of tired, battle-weary soldiers struggling to survive in horrific conditions. An extract from ‘Aftermath’ by Siegfried Sassoon. Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz – The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets? Do you remember the rats; and the stench Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench – And dawn coming, dirty- white, and chill with a hopeless rain? Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’ How do poems such as this support the popular image of the First World War?

The Popular Image patriotic volunteers stupid generals The popular image is of pointless slaughter, as hundreds of thousands of patriotic volunteers are sent into battle by stupid generals, who live in luxury many miles from the front line.

The Popular Image poor diet unhygienic constantly being shelled or bombed Meanwhile, ordinary soldiers suffer from a poor diet and a lack of supplies. They spend most of their days in unhygienic trenches constantly being shelled or bombed, surrounded by rats, lice and dead bodies.

The Popular Image strict army discipline shot at dawn They are kept in line by strict army discipline – if they refuse to fight, they are ‘shot at dawn’.

What motivated men to sign up and fight? small army not be big enough In 1914 Britain only had a small army and it was soon clear that it would not be big enough to fight Germany and its allies. recruitment campaign Lord Kitchener two million men A recruitment campaign was established by Lord Kitchener. It was very successful. By the end of 1915 nearly two million men had signed up and there were more civilians training to be soldiers than ever before in British history. Why did so many men volunteer to fight? Why did so many men volunteer to fight?

What motivated men to sign up and fight? Kitchener’s recruitment campaign was based on four main aims: patriotism 1.To encourage patriotism heroism 2.To encourage heroism anti-German hatred 3.To encourage anti-German hatred shame people 4.To shame people if they had not signed up Copy the four aims into your books Copy the four aims into your books Explain why each aim was important to the British army Explain why each aim was important to the British army Why is this word used to describe the British soldiers? Why is this word underlined?

What motivated men to sign up and fight? analyse recruitment posters To work out why men signed up we need to analyse recruitment posters from the time to see what effect they had on people. 1.Fill in your hand-outs by analysing Sources A-E. 2.What can you learn from these government propaganda posters about why men signed up to fight? What appears to be the main reason? 3.Can you think of other reasons why men may have signed up to fight? Think back to conflicts you have studied in Years 7 and 8. What motivated people to fight in those wars? Propaganda = a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of people towards some cause or idea

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What motivated men to sign up and fight? patriotism home and country For most soldiers the main reason they signed up was patriotism. Most soldiers felt that they were fighting for their home and country. importance of loyalty nation and their family Schools stressed to children the importance of loyalty to their country and the willingness to defend their nation and their family. honourableglorious To die fighting for your country was seen as an honourable and glorious thing to do. Do you agree that Patriotism was the main reason why millions of men signed up to fight?

Plenary 1.What is the popular image of the First World War? 2.Why did the British government need to recruit more men for the army? 3.Which Lord was responsible for the recruitment campaign? 4.What methods did the government use to encourage people to sign up? 5.What was the main reason why men signed up? Did we meet our learning objective? L/O – To describe what propaganda is and to explain the role it played in motivating men to join the war