The Drums of War

Soldiers digging
trenches during the
First World War
(1914–18).

(1901-25)
Performer - Culture & Literature
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2013
 The Drums of War

1. The Edwardian Age

When Queen Victoria died, in
1901, the royal house took the
Germanic surname of Prince
Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Victoria’s son Edward reigned

until 1910 as Edward VII.

His greatest achievement was in

foreign policy.

The Entente Cordiale signed

with France in 1904. The Triple
Entente signed in 1907. Edward II.

Performer – Culture & Literature

 The Drums of War

1. The Edwardian Age

The Liberals won the general elections in 1906.
They introduced reforms to help three groups of people:

1906: Free school meals.

1. Children from 1907: Free school medical

poor families inspections.

1908: The Children’s Act gave

children legal protection from
abuse. It kept them out of
workhouses, restricted the sale
of alcohol and cigarettes and
prevented them from working in
dangerous trades.
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 The Drums of War

1. The Edwardian Age

1908: The Old-Age
Pensions Act, which
2. Old people
introduced pensions
for people over 70.

1911: The National

Insurance Act, which
gave people the right to
free medical treatment
3. Workers
and unemployment pay
(the dole).

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 The Drums of War

1. George V (1910-36)
• 1910–14: A series
of strikes was called
because of high
prices and low
wages. They were
remarkable for the
number of men
involved and for the
violence which
often accompanied
them. Soldiers parade to intimidate workers, Liverpool 1911.

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 The Drums of War

2. The Suffragettes
• At the beginning of the 20th
century only men were allowed
to vote.
• A few educated ladies had
been arguing in favour of
voting rights for women since
the 1860s.
• In 1903 Mrs Emmeline
Pankhurst and her daughter
Christabel founded the WSPU
(Women’s Social and
Political Union).
• The Suffragettes, as they
WSPU leaders Annie Kenney (left) and Christabel Pankhurst.
were called, protested that
women should be able to vote.

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 The Drums of War

2. The Suffragettes
The WSPU began to break the law to gain publicity and support.

They began a campaign of

vandalism:
• they chained themselves to
railings outside Downing
Street and Buckingham
Palace;
• they made arson attacks
on post boxes, churches
and railway stations. A drawing from the WSPU newspaper in 1909

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 The Drums of War

2. The Suffragettes

• The Government dealt with

the protests harshly and sent
many Suffragettes to prison.

• In prison some women

went on hunger strike
to draw attention
to their campaign. Prison
authorities began
force-feeding them.

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 The Drums of War

Right to vote
• The first country where women’s suffrage
was granted, in 1893, was New Zealand
• all adult males and wealthy, educated
women over 30 were enfranchised in 1918 in
the UK.
• In 1920 women in the United States of
America obtained the right to vote.
• In 1928 all women over 21 in the United
Kingdom and Ireland.

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 The Drums of War

WORLD WAR I
• WW1: ALLIANCES BEFORE THE WAR
• TRIPLE ENTENTE (THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE FRENCH
REPUBLIC, THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE) SIGNED IN 1907
• VS TRIPLE ALLIANCE (THE GERMAN EMPIRE, THE AUSTRO-
HUNGARIAN EMPIRE, THE KINGDOM OF ITALY) SIGNED IN
1882. IT LASTED TILL 1914
• WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT:
• The Allied Powers (TRIPLE ENTENTE) fought against the
Central Powers (TRIPLE ALLIANCE)
• Allied powers: France, Russia, the United Kingdom and Italy
(from 1915), the United States (from 1917).
• Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman
Empire, and Bulgaria.

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 The Drums of War

ITALY
• At first Italy declared itself neutral, as the
triple alliance was a defensive agreement
and none of the states had been attacked,
but later on, in 1915, it joined the Entente
with the agreement that it would regain
possession of both Trieste and Trento, part
of Histria and Dalmatia and to claim rights
on Albania.

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 The Drums of War

3. World War I: general information

• The war started on 28thJuly

1914.
• It ended on 11th November
1918.
• Almost 20,000,000 people
died.
• Almost 21,000,000 were
wounded.
• The war was known as ‘the
Great War’.

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 The Drums of War

3. World War I: outbreak of the war

The domino effect

First Austria declared war on Serbia,

as Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand
was killed by a Serbian nationalist in
Sarajevo.

Then Russia declared war on Austria.

Next Germany joined with Austria.

Archduke Ferdinand on the day of assassination.

Finally France and Britain declared war

on Austria and Germany.

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 The Drums of War

3. World War I: conducting the war

• The Germans attacked France

through Belgium.
• The French counter-attacked
but were pushed back.
• The Russian’s rapid
mobilisation surprised the
Germans, who were forced to
move some troops to the
Eastern front.
• Stagnation and trench
warfare in the West.

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 The Drums of War

3. World War I: trench warfare

Technology superior to tactics

Machine guns vs a New technology =

human charge poison gas, airplanes

Very high death rates

Battle of the Somme = Battle of Verdun =

600,000 Allies and 700,000 killed on both
500,000 Germans died sides with no gain in
for 125 miles of land territory

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 The Drums of War

3. World War I: wider involvement

Soldiers from the British Empire from Canada, Australia
and New Zealand volunteered.

War at sea initiated US involvement

Americans initially supplied both the Allies and the Central Powers

German U-boats attacked and destroyed US ships.

The Germans killed 1,000 Americans

Americans entered the war on the side of the Allies in April 1917

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 The Drums of War

Russia

• Russia left WW1 in 1917, because of

the Bolshevik Revolution that had
meanwhile broken out.

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 The Drums of War

3. World War I

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 The Drums of War

3. World War I: the end of war

Versailles Peace Treaty signed by British Prime Minister

Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau of France, American
President Woodrow Wilson and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
of Italy in 1919.

Woodrow Wilson League

of Nations, an organisation
in which the representatives
of the world’s nations would
try to discuss and settle their
differences without resorting
to war.
Allied leaders at Versailles.

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