Scarica Breve riassunto in lingua inglese del periodo storico "Britain and the First World War" e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Britain and the First World War Britain at war By September 1914, the German army's advance was stopped at the River Marne in France. When the British Secretary of State of War, Lord Kitchener, realised that the war was going to last a long time, he appealed for volunteers, whom Britain relied on until 1916. Conscription was introduced in Britain in1916 and women replaced men in their civilian jobs, and this contributed to bringing about women's suffrage. The Easter Rising A major issue of British politics was the "Irish Question", referring to the events regarding the Irish independence. Due to the fact that the Home Rule had been suspended until the end of war, in April 1916 there was a rebellion in Dublin, the so-called Easter Rising, which was repressed leading to the execution of 15 leaders. The Irish Republican party Sinn Féin, which was fighting for the reunification of Ireland, began to grow in popularity exploiting the fear the Irish had that military conscription might extend to Ireland. A war of attrition In May 1915 a German submarine sank the British passenger liner Lusitania and more than a thousand people died, including 128 Americans, leading to the diplomatic protests to Germany from the US President Wilson. In the same month, Italy joined England and France. The bloodiest war of attrition, were many soldiers were killed and wore down, took place on the Somme, in northern bFrance, in July 1916. Soldiers led a trench life and had to escape from machine guns, poison gas and tanks. Also, submarines were used in order to sink warships carrying supplies from the USA. Shell shock was the term used by doctors to identify psychological disorders among soldiers, and the horror of trench life was recalled by the War Poets. In the late 1917 the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, the Italian army collapsed at the Battle of Caporetto, Germany was starving and the US joined the war on Britain's side. The end of the war In September 1918 British artillery began dropping shells on Hindenburg Line, a series of German trenches, while tanks and infantry attacked on the ground. On 4th October 1918 Germany asked President Wilson for an armistice which would bring about the German withdrawal from occupied territory. On 11th November guns fell silent and the day has forever been commemorated as Armistice Day. The peace treaty was signed at Versailles in 1919 by the Allied powers. President Woodrow Wilson proposed Fourteen Points to prevent future wars. He also presented the League of Nations, which was to be an international organisation with its headquarters in Geneva, and was to act as a forum for resolving international disputes. We can say The League of Nations was the forerunner of the United Nations.
