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Performer - Culture & Literature Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella, Margaret Layton © 2013 The Drums of War (1901-25) Soldiers digging trenches during the First World War (1914–18).
Performer - Culture & LiteratureMarina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2013
The Drums of War(1901-25)
Soldiers digging
trenches during the
First World War
(1914–18).
The Drums of War
1. The Edwardian Age
When Queen Victoria died, 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.
Edward II.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
1. The Edwardian Age
1. Children from
poor families
1906: Free school meals.
1908: The Children’s Charter
gave children some legal
protection. It restricted the sale
of alcohol and cigarettes.
The Liberals won the general elections in 1906.
They introduced reforms to help three groups of people:
1907: Free school medical
inspections.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
1. The Edwardian Age
2. Old people
1908: The Old-Age
Pensions Act, which
introduced pensions
for people over 70.
1911: The National
Insurance Act, which
gave people the right to
free medical treatment
and unemployment pay
(the dole).
3. Workers
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
• 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.
1. The Edwardian Age
Soldiers parade to intimidate workers, Liverpool 1911.
Performer – Culture & Literature
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 were called, protested that women should be able to vote.
WSPU leaders Annie Kenney (left) and Christabel Pankhurst.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
2. The Suffragettes
A drawing from the WSPU newspaper in 1909
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.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
2. The Suffragettes
A drawing from the WSPU newspaper in 1909
• 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.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
3. World War I: general information
• Britain declared war on
Germany on 4th August 1914.
• The war ended on 11th
November 1918.
• Almost 8,000,000 people died.
• Almost 22,000 were wounded.
• The war was known as ‘the
war to end all wars’.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
3. World War I: outbreak of the war
Archduke Ferdinand on the day of assassination.
The domino effect
• First Austria declared war on Serbia.
• Then Russia declared war on Austria.
• Next Germany joined with Austria.
• Finally France and Britain declared war on Austria and Germany.
Performer – Culture & Literature
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.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
3. World War I: trench warfare
Technology superior to tactics
Machine guns vs a
human charge
New technology =
poison gas, airplanes
Very high death rates
Battle of the Somme =
600,000 Allies and
500,000 Germans died
for 125 miles of land
Battle of Verdun =
700,000 killed on both
sides with no gain in
territory
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
3. World War I: wider involvement
Americans initially supplied both the Allies and the Central Powers
Soldiers from the British Empire from Canada, Australia
and New Zealand volunteered.
A blockade brought the sinking of US ships
Germans killed 1,000 Americans
Americans entered the war on the side of the Allies in April 1917
War at sea initiated US involvement
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
3. World War I
Performer – Culture & Literature
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.
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.
Performer – Culture & Literature
The Drums of War
Performer – Culture & Literature
3. World War I: in English painting
THE MENIN ROAD, 1919, oil on canvas, Imperial War Museum, London..
The most individual and
expressive of the artists who
recorded the battlefields of
World War I
Paul Nash
His first-hand experience gave
his work immediacy and brutal
honesty. It took a message
from the trenches to
the firesides back at home.
