World War 1 Webquest - Mr Barck's Classroom



World War 1 Webquest name:

Through the eyes of my great grandfather



Introduction

On a stormy winter Saturday your mom asks for help cleaning the attic. After throwing out garbage and rearranging the mess you come across a big envelope filled with yellowing letters. All of the letters are written by your great - grandfather. All of the letters are dated between 1917 -1918 and they all come from France. Intrigued, you sit down to discover a bit of your family history.

Great - granddad, it turns out, was quite a character. His letters are filled with adventure: joining the army at fourteen, traveling overseas, and being involved in some of the scariest moments of WWI. He writes of the Somme, Ypres, mustard gas, flame throwers, and rat filled trenches. His fear is obvious when the letters speak of "going over the top."

Process

1)    You will need to gather basic information about WWI.  The names, places, battles and weapons mentioned don't come with full explanations. Before you can understand what your great granddad was involved in you should find out why he wound up there. As an introduction to your scrapbook use the sites listed below to answer the following questions:

· What was the role of militarism as a cause of WWI?

· What was the role of alliances as a cause of WWI?

· What was the role of imperialism as a cause of WWI?

· What was the role of nationalism as a cause of WWI?

· What were the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente?

· What was the Zimmerman Telegraph?

2)  One of the letters talked about living in trenches yet it didn't give you a clear picture of trenches and trench warfare.

· What was the Western Front?

 

· What was the purpose of a trench?

 

· "No man's land" and "going over the top" are phrases he keeps writing about.  They sound frightening.  Were they?  Why? 

3) The battles sound brutal.  You're amazed anyone survived.  These weapons were killing machines.  Gas, machine guns, tanks, flamethrowers and hand grenades were just some of the products of this industrialized war. Using the links below Select 3 weapons, describe their use in warfare and draw a picture of the weapon.

1)______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2)______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3)______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4)  The war finally ended in 1918. His letters indicate he is a tired man who yearns to see America again.  Like all of the other soldiers he believes this is going to be the "war to end all wars."  A peace treaty, he believes, will bring an end to this madness. Using the links below answer the following questions to complete your WebQuest.

· What was the Treaty of Versailles?

 

· What did it hope to achieve? (Describe three main goals)

 

· Why was the League of Nations created?

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