Letter Home

Dear Mama and Papa,

How are you? How is little Molly doing? From your last letter she seemed very sick. I have been moved to a place near Paris. They have prepared all the nurses for what is going to happen when Germany attacks.  the weather here has treated us nicely. Its been sunny and warm but the evenings are always cold and dark. It gets dark here much quicker than it does back home.


Every day it is the same monotonous activity. Dirty and dying men come rolling in with the ambulances. You can hear the gun shots off in the distance. There are six other nurses and myself who tend to soldiers in our ward. There was a soldier who came in on Monday and the doctor had given him three days to live. He was very confident that he was going to get better. He kept repeating that he was going to live and go home to his wife and child. On the second day the pain came. He would twist and contort his body just to get rid of it. He still said that he was going to live to see another day.I didn't think so mama. The pain looked unbearable and there was nothing that I could do. He passed away  on the third day and finally he was free of the pain. Is the same thing over and over again mama. I don't know if I can handle much more. I know I'm doing good by being out here and doing my part but I'm homesick and I want to see you and Papa and little Molly. It really is hard out here and with all the deaths I don't know how we are going to be able to keep fighting this war. A lot of the time the ward smells of blood and dirt. All of the beds are taken up and there are soldiers against the wall on stretchers. Some are getting better but unless they can fight again soon I don't think this war will last much longer. I hope to receive a letter from you soon and I send my love and prayers your way.

Sincerely,

Emily Miller

The MAIN Causes of World War 1

 Maddie Williams

M- Militarism

Militarism is the belief that a nation should have a strong military. Due to this Navies and Armies  began to grow cause Europe to feel threatened. This then helped cause the war through the feeling that each army was better than the other and leaders of different nations wanted to prove it.

A- Alliance

Alliance is and agreement or bond made by two countries that creates and equal benefit for both. Alliances began forming all throughout Europe. Due to this if someone attacked a country you had an alliance with you would then have to help. This then caused almost all of Europe and America to fight in a large World War.

I- Imperialism

Imperialism is invading and taking over the political and economic aspects of a country. Due to the imperialism that was happening at the time it caused conflict between multiple different nations of raw materials and natural resources. Due to these conflicts and The Alliance System it lead to everyone fighting over land and resources.

N- Nationalism

Nationalism is the strong belief that you nation or country is better than any other nation. This intense pride caused a fight for independence. Each nation saw the other as a competitor  and was willing to go to war to expand their nation at the expense of others.

What was the spark of war?

The spark of the war was when Franz-Ferdinand, the Archduke to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, was assasinated in the Bosnian capital. The Austrian- Hungary empire blamed the Serbs and found it as the perfect time to declare war and stop the Slavic nationalism from undermining their empire

Timeline

Lusitania  May 7, 1915
The British ocean liner was sunk causing the death of 1,198 people. 128 of them were Americans. The ship was sunk by fire from German U- boats. Thus causing America to become enraged and join the war.

Sussex pledge May 4, 1916
The German government took the Sussex pledge which states that they would give warning before firing on merchant ships from their U-boats.
Zimmerman Note January 16, 1917
The Zimmerman note was a secret telegram sent to Mexico encouraging them to join the war to reclaim the land they had lost in the Mexican-American war. The Germans said that would assist Mexico in the war. This caused anger in America and soon enough the U.S. Declared war on Germany.
Unrestricted Sub Warfare Febuary 1, 1917
This is a type of warfare where subs fire on ships without warning. This includes firing on merchant ships, tankers and freighters.

Christmas Truce

Christmas Truce

Maddie Williams

per:2

The Christmas Truce occurred on the western front of the fight on December 24th 1914. Men from both sides began singing carols and songs. Soon after they ceased fire and met each other in between trenches to exchange gifts and talk. Thousands of men experienced this change of heart for one day. To this day it is viewed as a glimpse of sanity during the war.

The story above is not the complete true story but only what people chose to believe and spread. At the beginning men and raced to sign up for war in the spirit of holiday. Once they were out on the battlefield all of that spirit changed. They were still confident in their nation but they lost the spirit of the holidays. As men on the front stood in their trenches they could what was still standing of civilization. Men had spent weeks on end in a muddy wasteland with decaying bodies. As their desires to rise from the trenches and also to see their enemy up close rose the Christmas Truce became possible. Since the trenches were quite close together it was easy to either fire an insult or come to an agreement to stop fire. These were temporary truces but truces nonetheless. As men agreed to stop their fire they climbed out of the trenches and exchanged cigarettes.

The war had only been raging on for four months and it was already one of the bloodiest wars the soldiers had seen. At a time like this the soldiers needed to know that even though they were fighting a war the holiday spirit was spread throughout the world.

Sources: Google Images, http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/christmastruce.htm, http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm