Herbert Asquith - Liberal MP and served as prime minister from 1908-16. After war broke out, he made strenuous attempts to achieve political solidarity and in May 1915 formed a coalition government. (1852-1928)
David Lloyd George - Gained reputation as an orator, solicitor and preacher. Joined the Liberal Party and became an alderman. Advocated insurance reform and women's rights. Served as prime minister from 1916-22. Energetic war leader and received a lot of credit for Britain's eventual victory over the Triple Alliance. (1863-1945)
Frederick Smith - Member of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons. Became Attorney General and Secretary of State for India. Was placed in charge of the government's Press Bureau where he was responsible for censoring newspaper reports on the fighting in World War I. After retiring from politics he was Rector of Aberdeen University. (1872-1930)
Andrew Bonar Law - Born in Rexton, New Brunswick, Canada. Was Secretary of State for the Colonies, a member of the War Committee and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1916. Became Prime Minister in 1922. (1858-1923)
William Wedgwood Benn - Elected to represent Liberal party in the House of Commons in 1906 and was a strong supporter of the trade union movement. Later trained as a pilot and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and the Italian Military Cross in World War I. (1877-1960)
Herbert Samuel - Member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons. Issued report about the problems of the mining industry. Served as Post-Master General (1910-1916) and Home Secretary in 1916. (1870-1963)
Arthur Henderson - Elected as a paid organizer of the Iron Founders Union. Main person responsible for Labour and the Nation, a pamphlet that attempted to clarify the political aims of the Labour Party. MP for Widnes in the House of Commons. Chaired the Geneva Disarmament Conference and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (1863-1935)
George Barnes - Elected as General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. Formed the National Committee of Organised Labour for Old Age Pensions. Became leader of the Labour Party in 1910. In 1916 was one of the few Labour MPs to support military conscription. (1859-1940)
Joseph Clynes - Was leader of the Labour Party in the House of Commons. Became a regular contributor to socialist newspapers. Supported Britain's war involvement and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Food. Includes excerpts from his Memoirs. (1869-1949)
Will Crooks - Chairman of the Public Control Committee and promoted fair wages. Became the first working-class member of the Poplar Board of Guardians. Participated in the recruiting campaign and toured the Western Front in an effort to boost the morale of troops. (1852-1921)
James Ramsay MacDonald - Born in Scotland, he became leader of the Labour Party in 1911. Became Britain's first Labour prime minister in 1923 for one year, when his government fell. Was a pacifist and unwilling to support Britain's involvement in the First World War. (1866-1937).
James Keir Hardie - Elected to House of Commons and campaigned for the reform of Parliament. He was a supporter of the women's suffrage movement, the payment of MPs and the abolition of the House of Lords. Pacifist who tried to organize a national strike against Britain's participation in the war. (1856-1915)
Frontline - Trench position considered to be extremely dangerous. British soldiers were often stationed in these trenches for over thirty days at a time and were hit by their own artillery.
George Lansbury - Labour member of Parliament. Reformer who campaigned against poverty and for woman suffrage. A lifelong pacifist, he defended conscientious objectors during World War I. (1859-1940)
John Burns - Appointed as President of the Board of Trade in 1914. Opposed to Britain's involvement in a European conflict and along with John Morley and Charles Trevelyan, resigned from the government. (1858-1943)
Fred Jowett - Socialist who founded a branch of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford. Opposed war involvement and supported those who resisted conscription and demanded heavy taxation on wartime profits. Includes excerpts from various writings. (1864-1944)
Philip Snowden - Christian Socialist who was opposed to Britain's involvement in the First World War and provided help to conscientious objectors. (1864-1937)
The Western Front - Refers to a narrow border of land between Belgium and France where Allies dug trenches from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier.
The Trench System - Built first by Germans to provide them with protection from the advancing French and British and later used by Allies. Includes details of construction, an illustration and excerpts from various writings.
No Man's Land - Term used by soldiers to describe the ground between the two opposing trenches. Contained a considerable amount of barbed wire and after an attack would also contain a large number of bodies.
Waterlogged Trenches - Describes conditions endured by British troops. Trench life involved a never-ending struggle against water and mud. Duck-boards were placed at the bottom of the trenches to protect soldiers from problems such as trench foot.
Trench Food - Includes details of quality and quantity that soldiers in the Western Front received and methods of preparation.
Trench Rats - Fed on the corpses of men killed in the trenches. Includes excerpts from diaries and other writings.
Lice - Caused suffering to the men in the trenches during war and also carried disease. Describes methods used to remove lice.
Pals Battalions - Recruitment campaigns based on the promise that the men could serve with friends, neighbors and workmates. These units were raised by local authorities, industrialists or committees of private citizens.
Horses & Mules - Used on the Western Front by the British Army and transported goods and supplies. Includes cartoon, excerpts from various writing and a photograph.
Chlorine Gas - First used in April 1915 by the German army against the French Army at Ypres. Destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and led to a slow death by asphyxiation. Includes various articles about its effects.
Mustard Gas - First used by the German Army in September, 1917. The most lethal of all the poisonous chemicals used during the war, it was almost odorless and took twelve hours to take effect. Includes table of British casualties.
Boy Soldiers - Underage youth who answered the call at army recruitment centers. Many of those who had signed up were younger than the official minimum age of nineteen and lied about their age to enlist.
Soldier's Letters - Twelve and a half million letters were sent to the Western Front weekly. Soldiers were encouraged to write letters to friends and family, but most decided to conceal the horrors of trench warfare. Includes excerpts of family letters.
Stretcher-Bearers - Four men assigned to each company whose job was to remove the wounded from battlefields. Includes photo and excerpts from writings.
Voluntary Aid Detachment - Provided medical assistance in time of war. Of the 74,000 VADs in 1914, two-thirds were women and girls who worked as assistant nurses, ambulance drivers and cooks. Includes excerpts from letters and articles.
Casualty Clearing Station - Place where surgery, if needed, was carried out on wounded soldiers.
Patrols - Night missions where soldiers were often sent into No Man's Land to try to get within earshot of the enemy trenches. Returning to their own trenches was considered the most dangerous part of the operation. Nervous sentries often fired at any movement in front of them and caused many casualties.
Shellshock - Nervous or mental disorder formerly believed to have been brought on by exploding shells in battle, but now explained as the cumulative, emotional and psychological strain of warfare. Includes excerpts from various writings.
Medical Treatment of Shellshock - Treatments were many and varied. Shaming, physical re-education and the infliction of pain were the main methods used. Electric shock treatment was very popular.
Trench Foot - Infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary conditions. If untreated, could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Includes remedies and photo.
Dysentery - Disease involving the inflammation of the lining of the large intestines. Includes symptoms and effects on the soldiers in the trenches during World War I.
First Battle of the Marne - Fought September 6 through September 10, 1914. The French army suffered about 250,000 casualties, with German losses estimated to be about the same. The British Expeditionary Force lost 12,733 men. Most important consequence was that the French and British forces were able to prevent the German plan for a swift and decisive victory. Includes map.
Royal Flying Corps - Founded in May, 1912 with one squadron of airships and three of aircraft. In 1916 increased total strength to twenty-seven squadrons (421 aircraft), with four kite-balloon squadrons and fourteen balloons. By the end of the war the RAF operated 4,000 combat aircraft and employed 114,000 people.
Somme - Battle was planned as a joint French and British operation in 1916. British troops suffered 420,000 casualties. The French lost nearly 200,000, and German casualties were estimated about 500,000. Includes map and numerous excerpts from writings.
Battle of Albert - Town in the Somme region of the Western Front to which the French 2nd Army retreated in September, 1914.
Vimy Ridge - Located almost 12km north-east of Arras, France and occupied by the Germans in 1914. In the Nivelle Offensive of 1917, the Canadian forces took control and inflicted heavy casualties on the German Army.
Battle of Gaza - Coastal fortress in the Middle East occupied by the Turkish Expeditionary Force. Seized by British troops in March, 1917. Includes map.
Passchendaele - Another name for the Third major battle of Ypres, which took place between July and November, 1917. Taken by British and Canadian infantry. The offensive cost the British Expeditionary Force about 310,000 casualties. Includes map.
Gallipoli Landings - Peninsula in European Turkey between the Dardanelles and the Aegean Sea. Site of a series of battles in 1915 which resulted in British casualties of 205,000 (43,000 killed), 33,600 ANZAC losses (over one-third killed) and 47,000 French casualties (5,000 killed). Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000 (65,000 killed). Includes map.
Amiens - Battle line between Mericourt and Hangest. Taken by the British on August 8, 1918 and described as "the black day of the German Army in the history of the war". Includes map.
Zeppelin Air Raids - Accepted into German army service in 1909. First raid on London took place on May 31, 1915, in which 28 people were killed and 60 injured. A total of 115 Zeppelins were used by the German military, of which 77 were either destroyed or so damaged they could not be used again. Includes excerpts from various writings.
Strategic Bombing - Attempt to launch a long-range bombing attack deep inside enemy territory. Policy carried out by Hugh Trenchard, chief of staff to the RAF, after the end of World War I.
Air Artillery - Use of anti-aircraft guns to destroy enemy aircraft. In Britain an Anti-Aircraft Brigade was formed by the Royal Marine Artillery and used a Vickers Naval gun mounted on a Pierce-Arrow 5-ton armored lorry chassis. by 1918, Britain only had 349 anti-aircraft guns and although they occasionally brought down German aircraft they were widely viewed as being inadequate.
Bombing Raids on Britain - German air force used Zeppelins and long-range bombers in 103 aerial bombing raids over Great Britain. Targets were industrial cities, army camps and munitions factories. Against these attacks, British used searchlights, anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft, and balloon barrages.
Dog-fights - Aerial battle between two or more aircraft. First dog-fight is believed to have taken place on August 28, 1914, when Lieutenant Norman Spratt, flying a Sopwith Tabloid, forced down a German two-seater.
Flying Aces - Term first appeared in 1915 when French newspapers described Adolphe Pegoud as a flying ace after he became the first pilot to shoot down five German aircraft. Includes photograph and excerpts from various writings.
Synchronizing Gear - System needed where the pilot could fire a machine-gun while flying the plane. Fokker and his designers developed an interrupter mechanism device. Synchronized machine-guns gave the Germans a considerable advantage over Allied pilots.
Major Mick Mannock - Acquired a reputation as one of the most talented pilots in the RFC. Became flight commander of 74 Squadron and then commander of 85 Squadron. Shot down 58 planes. Awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously when his plane crashed behind German lines. (1887-1918)
Major Herbert Musgrave - Received a royal commission in the Royal Engineers and fought in the Boer War. Became a squadron commander in the RFC and did research into ballooning, kiting, wireless telegraphy, photography, meteorology and bomb-dropping. Killed by a grenade while he was on patrol behind German lines. (1876-1918)
Lord Cowdray - Born Weetman Dickinson Pearson and given his title by Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, in 1916. Appointed President of the Air Board and worked hard to improve the output of aircraft. (1856-1927)
Wireless Telegraphy - Used by the Royal Flying Corps to help home-defense aircraft during German bombing raids. Clear signals could be heard over twenty miles. Pilots could now be informed about enemy aircraft movements with a better chance of successfully reaching them before they dropped bombs on Britain.
German War Aces - Features table with list of pilots and number of victories.
French Air Aces - Features table with list of pilots and number of victories.
Aircraft & Airships in 1914 - Features table with list of countries, number of aircraft and airships.
USA Flying Aces - Features table listing pilots and number of victories.
Sopwith Snipe - Aircraft which was improved version of the Sopwith Camel. Considered to be the best Allied fighter plane on the Western Front.
Sopwith Camel - Aircraft produced by the Sopwith Aviation Company in 1916. Used on the Western Front in 1917, it quickly achieved a reputation as a deadly trench-strafer. Includes performance data table.
Airco DH-2 - Single-seat biplane built in 1916. Replaced two-seater bi-plane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland for the Aircraft Manufacturing Company. Helped to establish allied air supremacy over Germany during the Battle of the Somme.
Avro 540 - Lightweight, two-seater aircraft designed by Alliot Vernon Roe in 1913. Used in the early stages of the war for light-bombing and reconnaissance missions. Includes table showing performance data and photograph.
Bristol F-2 Fighter - Designed for the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company during the spring of 1916. Most successful fighter plane on the Western Front. Includes performance data table.
BE-2 Biplane - Developed by Geoffrey De Havilland in 1912 and by August 1914 was the standard military aircraft employed by the Royal Flying Corps. Used as a defense against Zeppelin raids or on anti-submarine duties for the Royal Navy. It was also widely used to train pilots.
Order of the White Feather - Organization founded by Admiral Charles Fitzgerald in 1914 which encouraged women to give out white feathers to young men who had not joined the British Army.
Women and Recruitment - Order of the White Feather organization encouraged women to give out white feathers to young men who had not joined the army. Leaders of the WSPU played an important role as speakers at meetings to recruit young men into the army. Includes excerpts from newspaper articles.
Alcohol - Attempts to reduce consumption were made in Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary, France and Italy during World War I. Public house opening times were reduced, and the British government also increased the level of tax on alcohol.
Rationing - Imposed by the Ministry of Food in Britain in 1917 to reduce food shortages caused by panic buying. The idea of rationing food was to guarantee supplies, not to reduce consumption.
Training Camps - Recruits were trained by elderly people who were bought out of retirement, as experienced officers were needed in France to organize war against the Germans. Living conditions were deplorable in winter and there were several examples of soldiers going on strike.
Influenza Pandemic - Includes its symptoms, treatment and attempts used to prevent spread of the disease which killed an estimated 70 million people worldwide in 1918-19.
Women Farm Workers - Worked on the land and filled the places of the men who had gone to fight for their country. Over 250,000 women become involved in producing food and goods to support their war effort.
Clifford Allen - Pacifist who helped form the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF), an organization that encouraged men to refuse war service. Refusing to serve in the British Armed Forces, he spent 16 months in prison. (1889-1939)
Bertrand Russell - Member of the Fabian Society and founding member of the Union of Democratic Control (UDC), the most important of the anti-war organizations during the First World War. Wrote Political Ideals: Roads to Freedom. (1872-1970)
Fenner Brockway - Editor of the Labour Elector and a pacifist who strongly opposed British involvement in the war. Wrote over twenty books on politics. Includes excerpts from writings. (1888-1988)
Ethel Annakin Snowden - Helped form a branch of the Nation Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in Leeds. Was a pacifist and refused to support Britain's involvement in the First World War. Active member of the Women's Peace Crusade.
Charlotte Despard - Active in the women's suffrage movement. Helped form the Women's Freedom League (WFL) and urged members not to pay taxes and to boycott the 1911 Census. Pacifist during the war. In the 1920s became involved in the Sinn Fein campaign for a united Ireland. Includes excerpts from her speeches. (1844-1939)
Isabella Ford - Interested in women's rights and in 1890 helped form the Leeds Women's Suffrage Society. An important writer of books on the struggle for equality. Life-long pacifist who helped organize a peace rally in London in 1914. (1855-1924)
Selina Cooper - Supporter of women's suffrage and developed a national reputation for her passionate speeches in favor of women's rights. Pacifist totally opposed to military conscription and became involved in helping those men who were sent to prison for refusing to fight. Includes excerpts from various writings. (1864-1946)
Katharine Glasier - Christian Socialist who supported the campaign for complete adult suffrage. Became editor of the Labour Leader newspaper and took an anti-war stand. Includes excerpts from various writings. (1867-1950)
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence - Socialist member of the Women's Social and Political Union. Was a prominent member of the Women's International League for Peace, an organization committed to world peace. (1867-1954)
Sylvia Pankhurst - Wrote The History of the Women's Suffrage Movement. A pacifist, she joined with Charlotte Despard to form the Women's Peace Army. Supporter of the Russian Revolution in 1917. In the 1930s supported the Republicans in Spain, helped Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany and led the campaign against the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. (1882-1960)
Maxim Machine-Gun - World's first automatic portable machine-gun and could fire 500 rounds per minute. Adopted by the British Army in 1889. Used by several of the minor European armies in the war.
Browning Machine-Gun - Invented by John Moses Browning. Automatic, and used propelling gas as a motive force. Produced for soldiers fighting on the Western Front in 1917.
British Tanks: 1914-18 - Early model was developed by the Holt Company who built a tractor with caterpillar tracks that was used to move over difficult territory. At the beginning of the First World War Richard Hornsby and Sons produced the Killen-Strait Armored Tractor. The tracks consisted of a continuous series of steel links, joined together with steel pins, This machine successfully cut through barbed wire.
Mark V Tank - Became available in July, 1918 and could travel at nearly 5 mph. Includes excerpts from diaries, letters and newspapers.
Whippet Tank - Mark A tank which proved effective at the offensive at Cambrai in November, 1917 when nearly 400 tanks created a battering ram that punched straight through the German lines.
Military Motor Bus - London General Omnibus Company provided buses for the use of moving troops in France. Some of the buses were captured by the Germans, but the rest remained in France until the end of the war in November, 1918.
Armoured Cars - First used by the British Army for the policing of distant colonial outposts. Used successfully in Palestine and in Mesopotamia where they were deployed in what had previously been the Cavalry role of outflanking and pursuit.
Dennis Lorry - Motor transport used by the British army. Had a four-cylinder engine and could reach 55 mph. Even when loaded, it could climb gradients as steep as 1 in 6.
Commer Ambulance - Used to carry medical stores and stretchers to supply first aid posts.
Ford Patrol Car - Model T was used by the British Army in France. Particularly effective in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Libya and used for raiding, reconnaissance and in supporting the cavalry.
Big Bertha - Mobile howitzer designed by the Germans in 1914. It was named for Gustav Krupp's wife, weighed 43 tons and could fire a 2,200 lb. shell over 9 miles.
Bayonet - Used as the infantryman's primary close combat weapon in trench warfare. Most were standard knife variety, but the French preferred a needle bayonet and some German soldiers favored a saw-bladed version.
Torpedo - Self-propelled underwater missile launched from a tube located on the deck or inside the hull of a warship. German Navy was the first to fire an automotive torpedo in 1914. Carried a contact-triggered explosive warhead with a range of 10,000 meters and could travel at 41 knots.
Pistols - First automatic pistol was developed by the Austrian inventor Joseph Laumann in 1892. Was the standard weapon for officers in all combatant armies in World War I. Also used by members of the military police, air crew and the personnel of tanks, armored cars and other military vehicles.
Smokeless Gunpowder - Invented by Paul Vieille in 1886. Revolutionized the effectiveness of small guns and rifles. More powerful than gun powder, giving an accurate rifle range of up to 1000 yards.
Wireless Communication - Describes work of Guglielmo Marconi. Includes photograph.
Sir Hiram Maxim - Inventor of machine-gun that could fire 500 rounds per minute and therefore had the firepower of about 100 rifles. He also a pneumatic gun, the gun silencer (subsequently adapted for car exhausts), a smokeless gunpowder, a mouse trap, carbon filaments for light bulbs and a flying machine. (1840-1916)
Alfred Nobel - Born in Sweden. Produced dynamite in his own factory, where brother was killed in an explosion. Other inventions included ballistite, a form of smokeless power, artificial gutta-percha and a mild steel for armor-plating. At his death left instructions for endowment of annual prizes to be given in areas of Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Peace. (1833-1896)
Benjamin Hotchkiss - Invented an improved type of cannon shell, a revolving-barrel machine gun in 1872 and a bolt-action magazine rifle in 1875. (1826-1885)
Robert Whitehead - Produced a self-propelling torpedo propelled by a compressed-air engine and carried 18 lbs. of dynamite. Its most important feature was a self-regulating device which kept the torpedo at a constant preset depth. (1823-1905)
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare - Policy advocated by Alfred von Tirpitz, state secretary of state of the Imperial German Navy. In the first six months of 1915, German U-Boats sank almost 750,000 tons of British shipping.
Allied & Neutral Ships Lost - Features table of losses between 1914 and 1918.
Falkland Islands - Includes two main islands and nearly 300 smaller ones in the South Atlantic. Occupied in 1882 by a British naval squadron and claimed as a crown colony. Five German cruisers tried to take Port Stanley naval base in 1914 but were unsuccessful. 2,200 German sailors were killed in the battle.
Cruisers - Basically large fast ocean-going warships. Two main types included the heavy armored and protected cruiser. Built in great numbers by both English and German fleets and played an important role in all the major North Sea battles during the First World War.
World Ship Losses - 1914-18 - Features table which lists countries and tonnage.
Troopships - Includes list of vessels during World War I and details of their service.
Warships - 1914-18 - Features table listing the Allied and Central Powers, and number of battleships, cruisers, gunboats, torpedo boats, submarines and destroyers.
Anti-Submarine Weapons - Depth charges and mines placed at various depths along busy sea-routes by the Allies in 1915.
Armies - 1914 - Tables includes countries, standing armies and reserves, and mobilized forces.
Military Ranks - Features list of army and navy ranks and abbreviations.
Gas Deaths - 1914-1918 - Features tables listing countries and total number of deaths from chlorine and mustard gas.
British War Aces - Features table listing pilots and number of victories.
French Property Losses - Features table of items and total number for each category.
Employment of Women in Britain - Features table showing percentage of women to men in employment between 1914-1920 in industry, commerce, transport and agriculture.
USA Army Casualties: 1917-1918 - Features table with causes of death and overseas and domestic totals.
Financial Cost of the First World War - Features table listing Allied and Central Powers and cost for each country in dollars from 1914-1918.
Casualties: First World War - Includes table listing Allied Powers and Central Powers, number of killed and died, wounded, prisoners and missing, total casualties, total mobilized and percentage of casualities.
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