The Changing role of women
Before the war women had been campaigning for the vote. These suffragettes used often-violent tactics to draw attention to their cause. They smashed windows, chained themselves to railings and set fire to empty buildings. One, Emily Davis, killed herself at the Derby by throwing herself at the racehorses. Once the war began the campaign stopped. During the war the number of working women grew by 1 million. Many of these jobs had been thought of as men only occupations. Over 120,000 women trained to be nurses and from 1917 women were allowed to join the army and serve in non-combat roles.
750,000 women worked in munitions factories
Women became firefighters, plumbers, carpenters and electricians, some even served as police officers.
“Shells made by a wife may save her husband’s life.”
First World War Homepage
Causes of the First World War – Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Schlieffen Plan – Public Reaction to the Outbreak of War
British Expeditionary Force – Interactive Timeline of the First World War
Simulation: Life in the Trenches – Statistics
Changing role of Women – War Poetry
British Contribution to Western Front – Development of New Weapons
Creeping Barrage – Western Front in 1918 –
Home Front in the First World War
Timeline Infographic: Causes of World War One – Ludendorff and the Spring Offensive
