The First World War 04

This KS3 History quiz is about the First World War. The first two months of the war involved large movements of troops with battles being fought in Belgium and France. During the rest of 1914, the opposing armies dug in. They created systems of trenches close to the front line, often just a few tens of metres apart. Behind the front line trenches were a network of other trenches to allow the soldiers to move around. There were also underground shelters where they could sleep in reasonable safety when they were not on duty at the front. In order to attack the Germans, the troops went over the top - in other words, they climbed out of the trench and advanced across no man's land.

In 1915, there was a stalemate when neither side gained or lost much territory. Britain tried to break this by attempting to open a second front in Turkey at Gallipoli. This failed and cost the lives of tens of thousands of Australians and New Zealanders. During the period of 1916 to 1918, it was a war of attrition. Each side threw huge numbers of soldiers into battle to try to wear down the other armies. The battles of this part of the war lasted months and claimed the lives of millions of men. Perhaps the most famous of these was the Battle of the Somme.