World War One

World War One (1914-1918) was a war like no other before it and was itself hugely influenced by the political and social changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. The 19th century had seen a transformation across Europe: a revolution in transport, due to the age of iron and steam, meaning vast armies and their supplies and ammunition could be moved great distances in a relatively short time; great developments in chemicals and metallurgy leading to new types of explosives for firearms and artillery and chemical warfare; wireless communication; and the deployment of aircraft on a large scale for the first time.

It had several names during its lifetime: the ‘People’s War’ came from a growing sense of a national identity; ‘Total War’ by the midpoint when entire societies were geared up through their military, industrial and human might on a scale never seen before and by the end it was titled as the ‘Great War’ or “the war to end all wars”.

General

There were many theatres of conflict across Europe with possibly the most well-known being fought on the Western Front across south-west Belgium, eastern and north-eastern France. The ‘Race to the Sea’ (September-November 1914) was fought during a period where mobile warfare was still possible but this was soon replaced by trench warfare that lasted until 1918. The war was also fought on the Eastern Front and southern participations, including African campaigns, alongside naval and air warfare.

After the start of the war, patriotic feelings spread throughout the UK and some of the previous Edwardian class barriers faded away. The suffragette movement was suspended during the conflict, industry redesigned work to make it possible for unskilled men and women to be productive, and morale-building propaganda was produced by the national newspapers to keep spirits up on the home front. There were protesters but the vast majority of people fought in or supported the war on the ‘Home Front’ with the belief that victory for their country was worth the cost.

Collections

Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia), Records: wide-ranging material from 1786 to 2004 including their part in World War One as the Special Reserve Regiment.
Leeds Munition Factories: notes on visits as part of an investigation into women war workers.
First World War collection: miscellaneous documents including war poetry, military documents, and maps and plans.
French official papers concerning the First World War, compiled probably by Peter Liddle: official papers including photographed naval reports.
German maps of the European fronts during the First World War, compiled probably by Peter Liddle: 10 maps of Germany, France and the Western Front (1915-1918).
First World War Rationing papers: wide variety of official documents relating to rationing of food and petrol during the First World War.
A. A. Cullen Papers: papers of aerial operations by a Lieutenant of the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) and RAF (Royal Air Force).

Women and World War One

Many women worked as volunteers for the Red Cross, but with the large number of men entering the service, women were also called upon to take on roles, paid and unpaid, previously done by the men. These jobs included working in factories, often making ammunition to be sent to the front. Many women worked for the Women’s Land Army (WL), assisting farmers with labour to maintain food supplies; these workers were commonly known as ‘Land Girls’.

Women in nursing experienced direct military service through the following organisations: ‘Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps’ (QAs), the ‘First Aid Nursing Yeomanry' (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) and the ‘Voluntary Aid Detachment’ (VAD). QAs is the nursing branch of the British Army and part of the Army Medical Services; the FANY was formed in 1907, and although initially it was mainly a link between the field hospitals and the front lines, by the First World War it ran some field hospitals and its members drove ambulances; VAD was a voluntary organisation providing nursing services, mainly in hospitals, in both the United Kingdom and abroad during both World Wars.

Collections

Lucy Anne Evelyn Streatfeild Papers: business diaries including commission of enquiry into the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps.
Papers of Helen Bentwich: letters giving insights into the land army, work at Woolwich Arsenal and trade union activity during the war years.
STREATFEILD, Lucy Anne Evelyn, d 1950, nee Deane, public servant: papers, press cuttings and photographs including details of her involvement on the Kent War Agricultural Executive Committee and the Kent Executive Committee of the Women's Land Army.
Papers of Mary Silyn Roberts: reports and letters regarding the Women's Land Army in Wales, 1914-1918.
Women’s Farm and Garden Association: known as the Women's Farm and Garden Union during the First World War, this collection consists of papers, files, and press cuttings relating to the history of the association.
Record of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes: records, minutes, reports, recipe book and photographs highlighting the value of the Women's Institute (WI), especially in war time.
Society of Women Welders: reports and correspondence during 1917-1919.
Scrapbook relating to women's work in the First World War: press cuttings referring to the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.
Papers of Millicent Garrett Fawcett: papers and press cuttings relating to the role of women in the Great War.
Papers relating to war (part of Papers of Millicent Garrett Fawcett): notes on a series of speeches given by Millicent Garrett Fawcett during the war and press cuttings covering all aspects of the war both in Britain and overseas.
Speeches on war given by Millicent Garrett Fawcett: 31 groups of notes for speeches she gave.
Records of the Fawcett Society and its Predecessors: reports of annual meeting and committee papers, leaflets, handbills, posters etc.
Scrapbooks relating to Women’s work in the First World War: 4 albums: No.1 on Medical Services, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF), No.2 on Home Front - Munitions Industry and Land Girls, No.3 on Home Front - Public Services, and No.4 on General Military Forces and Home Front.

Medicine and Warfare

At the start of the war the army medical services were organised and equipped to care for the standing army of around 160,000 and a Territorial Army but not to provide for the military manpower (and womenpower) of over five million that would take part in the war over four years. The sheer volume of casualties suffering from trench fever and influenza was huge and the carnage caused by explosives and daily shelling meant large numbers had to be cared for in aid posts and field hospitals.

Collections

Papers of Louisa Garrett Anderson: letters to her family from the Women's Hospital Corps, Paris during the First World War.
Anglo-Russian Hospital postcards: 17 postcards showing staff and patients of the Anglo-Russian Hospital, Petrograd, the motor ambulance unit and Russian soldiers and refugees.
FOULKES, Maj Gen Charles Howard (1875-1969): includes papers relating to the introduction and use of chemical warfare during World War One and photographs taken on the Western Front, 1914-1915 and 1919.
M. Bier papers: includes orders relating to Allied gas attacks (23 March 1916) and handbooks on gas protection.

Propaganda

Recruitment posters were used as a means of getting men to sign up and to encourage both money and resources to be donated in order to sustain military need. Propaganda literature, in the form of books, pamphlets and speeches, was also used to justify involvement in the war to the people at home, and it urged caution and thrift.

Collections

Political toilet paper (World War One German language propaganda): 65 sheets of early World War One propaganda toilet paper in German.
Propaganda and peace notes produced by Germany and Austria, compiled probably by Peter Liddle: printed material including postcards, notices and printed verse.
World War One Pamphlets: suppressed leaflets and pamphlets including pacifist leaflets.
Raymond Weil papers: photographs, maps and notes in French during 1915 as well as a typescript copy of Turkish propaganda dropped by aeroplane to French and English troops (26 June 1916).
Robert Smith papers: German propaganda leaflet and press cutting regarding his capture as a Prisoner of War (POW).

Correspondence and Diaries

There are many personal accounts and memorabilia that have survived and these provide an invaluable primary source. Links are provided below to some of our archive collections that include personal recollections.

Collections

Daniel Dougal First World War Diaries: diaries of Daniel Dougal, which detail his service as an army doctor on the Western Front during the First World War.
War diary of the 3rd Battalion, the Monmouthshire Regiment: notebooks containing the war diary of the 3rd Battalion in various hands.
War-time diaries of H.W.B. Joseph: two diaries (one for each of the two World Wars), kept as an account of how war affected an 'ordinary citizen'.
Diary of an anonymous German Reservist in the First World War: photocopied typescript translation of a diary found near Haussy (July 1916-October 1918).
KERRICH, Brig Walter Allan Fitzgerald (1890-1982): scrapbook made up from letters to his wife and copies of notes of military operations detailing his account of his service in France, Belgium and Italy.
HAMILTON, Gen Sir Ian Standish Monteith (1853-1947): collection includes papers, diaries and correspondence with 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum.

A Broader Perspective

We have a number of archive repositories that substantially feature issues and events around World War One:

Innovations

Mimas has been working with Jisc on the Jisc WWI Discovery Programme, drawing together WWI digital content from a range of sources across the UK to make it easier for both people and machines to discover material through an aggregation layer. The aim is to facilitate exploitation of content by educators and researchers, who may want to combine and use it in different ways.

Copac

If you are interested in finding secondary source material on this topic then you can search Copac for related materials. Copac includes the catalogues of the Imperial War Museum collections, the National Maritime Museum Caird Library collections, the University of Leeds Library Special Collections and the King's College London collections.