29th Infantry Battalion advancing over "No Man's
Land" through barbed wire and heavy German
fire at the Battle of Vimy Ridge 1917
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/05/0541/0541060116_e.html
Nov 13 The Great War
29th Infantry Battalion advancing over "No Man's Land" through barbed wire and heavy German fire at the Battle of Vimy Ridge 1917 http://www.collectionscanada.ca/05/0541/0541060116_e.html |
Canadian
soldiers
on the front line 1918
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/05/0541/0541060116_e.html |
Introduction
the Battle of the Somme (420,000 casualties in four months; line advanced 2-3 miles)
the Battle of Passchendaele/ Battle for Ypres (340,000 casualties in three months; line advanced 4.5 miles)
723,000 British lives lost; 1,700,000 wounded
war dead of the British Empire: 250,000 (does not include deaths from disease)
I. Empires involved
II. Imperial resources
| Total population |
Armed forces |
Deaths |
Theatres |
|
| British Isles |
36.5 million |
6.7 million |
700,000 |
France, Africa |
| India |
300 million |
1.4 million |
65,000 |
France, Gallipoli, Egypt,
Mesopotamia, East Africa |
| Canada | 8 million | 630,000 |
57,000 | France |
| Australia |
4.5 million |
415,000 |
60,000 |
France, Gallipoli, Egypt |
| South Africa |
1.3 million |
150,000 |
7,100 |
France, East Africa, South West
Africa |
| New Zealand |
1 million |
130,000 |
17,000 |
France, Gallipoli, Egypt |
| East Africa |
36,000 |
6,000 |
East Africa |
|
| West Africa |
26,000 |
1,000 |
West Africa, East Africa |
adapted from The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, 78-9
colonial troops
conscription (1916)
Imperial War Cabinet (1917)
laborers and carriers
Tanganyika (Tanzania)
raw materials and food supplies
II. Colonial theatres
Tanganyika
German South-West Africa, Togoland, and the Cameroons
Australian Imperial Force
New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
Ottoman Empire: the Dardanelles (Gallipoli) and Egypt
Gallipoli (April 1915-Jan 1916)
British (including ANZACs) and French troops; c. 150,000 dead
ANZAC (Australia NZ Army Corps)
-Peter Weir's Gallipoli [trailer] [clip]
-casualties:
Australians -- 7594 deaths and 19,500 wounded
NZers -- 2341 deaths and 5140 wounded
ANZAC legend; ANZAC Day (25 April)
western front
III. Implications for empires
Versailles Peace Conference
Balfour Declaration of 1917
mandates
stirrings of decolonization: Ireland (Easter Uprising); Indian nationalism; Dominion nationalism
BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE GREAT WAR
| 1914 |
war breaks out on the
western front in
Aug; stalemate by Oct fronts open along Europe's eastern plains and in the Balkans |
| 1915 | the Allies attack
Gallipoli in Apr; by
Dec there are over 200,000 casualties new front opens in N Italy Battle of the Somme (20,000 dead on the first day) |
| 1916 | battle in the North
Sea |
| 1917 | Uboats fall of Baghdad US enters the war Battle of Passchendaele Russian withdrawal |
| 1918 |
final German offensive |
IV. The Easter Rising
A. Home Rule
1886, 1892, 1914
Irish legislation
B. England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity [Michael Collins]
General Post Office + 11 other buildings
Proclamation of the Irish Republic [Patrick Pearse reads the Proclamation]
deaths: 134 British soldiers and 285 Irish
Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Eamon de Valera
Irish Republican Brotherhood; the Volunteers
blood sacrifice
C. Aftermath
British response: Kilmainham Gaol
1917 Sinn Fein election victories
1918 general election
1919 Anglo-Irish War
1920 Government of Ireland Act (partitions Ireland)
1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty
1922-23 Civil War: Irish Free State and Northern Ireland (UK)