The twentieth-century world, Year 9: the First World War and votes for women

The Triple Entente

HintIts second word is French for an understanding.

The whyFacing it stood the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. The two blocs were meant to keep the peace by making war too risky. Instead they meant that a quarrel between two countries could pull in all the rest.

Russia; France

HintFirst the largest Slav power, then its partner in the west.

The whyThis is how a murder in Sarajevo became a general war within six weeks. Each declaration set off a promise made to someone else. Britain came in last, when German troops crossed into Belgium.

Britain had promised by treaty to protect Belgium

HintA signature from 1839 was called in.

The whyThe Treaty of London of 1839 guaranteed that Belgium would stay neutral. Britain also feared a Germany in control of the Channel coast. It declared war on 4 August 1914.

Dreadnought

HintLaunched in 1906, its name means 'fear nothing'.

The whyThis ship made every older battleship out of date, Britain's own included, so the race began again from nothing. Each new German ship made Britain feel less safe, and each British reply did the same to Germany.

Defenders fired machine guns from cover at men in the open

HintOne side is dug in below ground level; the other is walking upright through mud and barbed wire.

The whyBarbed wire slowed attackers down, machine guns and artillery cut them down, and railways rushed fresh defenders to any gap. Until 1918, when tanks, aircraft and better artillery methods were used together, defending was far easier than attacking. That is why the line hardly moved for more than three years.

Somme

HintThe battle takes its name from a river in northern France.

The whyAbout 19,000 of those men were killed. The battle went on until November and the front moved only a few miles. Historians still argue over whether it was a futile waste or a costly step in wearing the German army down.

foot

HintSoldiers were ordered to change into dry socks to prevent it.

The whySkin that stays cold and wet for days begins to die, and in bad cases toes had to be amputated. Soldiers' letters and diaries also describe rats, lice and the constant smell. We know these details because ordinary soldiers wrote them down.

His letters were censored, and he may also have wanted to spare his family

HintTwo sets of readers saw it: one in uniform, checking every page, and one at the kitchen table.

The whyAn officer read every letter before it was posted and struck out anything about positions, losses or low morale. Many men also softened the truth so as not to frighten those at home. The letter is still valuable: it shows what a soldier felt able to say. Private diaries, which broke the rules, are often blunter.

Clemenceau; Wilson

HintOne was nicknamed 'the Tiger'; the other was a former professor who had kept America out of the fighting until 1917.

The whyFrance had been invaded and had lost well over a million soldiers, so its leader wanted security above all. The American, whose country had suffered far less, hoped for a lasting settlement. Each term of the treaty was a bargain between these aims (the Italian leader, the fourth at the table, counted for less), which is why it fully satisfied no one.

Reparations

HintIt comes from the same root as the word 'repair'.

The whyThe sum was fixed in 1921 at £6.6 billion. Germany paid only part of it, but the bill was hated, and it was blamed for the hardships of the 1920s whether or not it had caused them.

Responsibility for causing the war

HintGermans gave this clause a bitter two-word nickname about guilt.

The whyThe clause was the legal basis for demanding reparations: whoever caused the damage should pay for it. Most Germans believed they had fought a defensive war, so being made to sign it felt like a humiliation. Hitler later made great use of that anger.

It was imposed on Germany with no negotiation

HintThink of the English verb for reading words aloud for someone else to write down.

The whyGerman delegates were kept out of the talks, handed the finished terms, allowed to reply only in writing and told to sign or face invasion. Whether the terms were fair is still argued over; that they were dictated is not in doubt. A peace the loser has not agreed to is hard to make last.

Suffragists

HintNot the more famous word ending in '-ette'.

The whyTheir union, the NUWSS, was led by Millicent Fawcett and had about 50,000 members by 1914, far more than the militant WSPU. They believed patient persuasion would win over MPs, and feared that violence would lose public support.

Pankhurst

HintHer daughters Christabel and Sylvia campaigned alongside her.

The whySuffragettes broke windows, set fire to empty buildings and went on hunger strike in prison. Their actions kept the cause in the newspapers. Historians disagree over whether militancy brought the vote closer or hardened opposition to it.

Many of the women who did the war work did not get the vote

HintCheck whether the people being 'thanked' were the ones who gained.

The whyWar work changed many minds about what women could do, so it mattered. But a simple reward would have gone to the workers themselves. Historians therefore weigh other causes too: the long campaign before 1914, and politicians' wish not to see it start again.

1928

HintA decade after the first women voted in a general election.

The whyThe Equal Franchise Act lowered the voting age for women to 21 and removed the property test. For the first time women were a majority of the electorate.