The Impact of World War 1 Part a

How useful and reliable are these sources in explaining how women’s lives were affected by World War 1?

World War 1 began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It was a war that was waiting to happen but the spark that triggered the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; the heir to the Austria – Hungry throne on 28th June 1914. WW1 was a war between the countries in the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. The long term causes of the war included nationalism when people believed that their own country was better than others, imperialism when countries wanted to conquer colonies such as Africa which created conflict as every country wanted an empire, militarism when countries wanted to build up a stronger army and navy and finally alliance when countries joined together to help each other if there was a war. Throughout the duration of the war, women were one of the main groups who were significantly affected. Their lives changed as women gained more independence and political representation by proving themselves and doing the jobs that only men were traditionally allowed to do. The sources will enable us to find out the impact and effect that the First World War had on women in Britain.

Before the war, not many women worked. The few that had jobs were working as teachers, nurses and domestic maids and they were not permitted to go out without a chaperone. During World War 1, many men in Britain joined the army to fight for their country leaving behind their families and their jobs. As a result, many women were called upon to fill the gaps in employment that the men had left. Women were required to do many manual labours such as factory works which included making munitions, farming, posting, policing and nursing as these were the services that were most needed and important to the soldiers on the home front. Source A1 is from a website focused at GSCE history students. From this source, we can learn that with so many men...