What impact did the war have on civilians back home?

Wednesday 15th March

Lesson objectives:

• To examine the extent of the impact that the war had on the average family.

• To examine how the war had a gradually increasing impact on people’s lives.

Starter:• Look at the following list of words – we have used them in

previous lesson.

• Write a definition for each word.

• Definition – a brief explanation of the meaning of a word.

1. Patriotic.

2. Recruitment.

3. Public opinion.

4. Rationing.

5. ‘Gas attack’.

Task 1• Examine the first image – Brown family in 1914. (5 mins)

• Write notes all over the sheet as you examine the picture. Use the numbered points below to prompt your thinking.

• Please add any additional information that you think is relevant.

1. Facial expressions of faces.2. Number of people – waiters and whether they are male of

female.3. Food and drink in the pictures etc.4. Think about the morale of characters.5. Attitudes of those in the forces.6. How do they regard the war – how do they talk about it?7. What are the characters actually saying?

Task 2

Now examine the same family in 1915 – note any changes that have taken place – you will need to keep

looking back at the previous picture. (5 mins)

Task 3

Now examine the Brown family in 1916 and again note any changes that have taken place. You need to be cross referencing it and constantly looking back to

notice any changes. (5 mins)

Task 4

Lastly examine the last picture which shows the Brown family in 1917. Again, note any changes and

use the bullet points to guide your thinking.

(5 mins)

• Through your analysis of the four cartoon pictures, in this lesson, you have been picking out many of the changes that World War 1 brought about for civilians back in England.

• I want you to now look again at all the changes that were brought about and decide if they were Social or Economic or both.

• Use the Venn diagram to decide where the changes would go.

• You should be able to find at least 7-8 changes that came about.

Social impact. Economic impact.

What was the social and economic impact of World War 1?

Many young men; sons, husbands and brothers had to do military service

People found they had less spare

money. Servants were no longer

employed in order to save cash.

Extension task:• Do you think the economic changes faced by an

average family were big or small?

• Write a paragraph explaining your answer.

• Use supporting information from your Venn diagram.

• You could start it like so:

I think many economic changes were brought about, by World War 1, for the average family. For example……………

Plenary:

• Summarise in one clear sentence an economic impact or a social impact of the of the war.

• Do you think a conflict has to have an impact on civilians to be called a ‘World War’? Why?