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Britain in the First World War

Question: Who is the renowned soldier that is depicted on the famous World War One poster, “Your Country Needs You”?

Answer: Lord Kitchener He was Secretary of State for War in Britain in the First World War until being killed in 1916 when on board HMS Hampshire which hit a German mine on the way to meet the Russians.

Question: Who was the British Prime Minister during the second half of the First World War?

Question: Prior to the Second World War, by what name was the First World War known?

Answer: The Great War

Listen to two classic First World War songs: A Long Long Way To Tipperary plus possibly the most popular song during the war, Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag 

Sung by Florrie Forde, a popular Music Hall performer during the First World War, she re-recorded these two songs ten years after the war

Question: By what name were the British land forces known that fought on the Western Front during WW1?

Answer: British Expeditionary Force (or BEF)

Question: Who was the British Prime Minister during the initial period of the First World War?

Answer: Herbert Asquith

Question: The prelude to the First World War was dominated by a naval arms race between Britain and Germany.  What class of battleship was particularly featured in this arms race?

Answer: Dreadnough

Question: The Reform Act of July 1918 gave women the vote.  How old did a woman have to be to be able to vote?

Answer: 30   

Listen to a Patriotic Song from the First World War: Keep the Home Fires Burning

This song was written by Ivor Novello and remains one of his most memorable hits

Question: When during the First World War was food rationing introduced?

Answer: January 1918 This was brought about by the U-boat blockade of 1917  

Question: What in Britain in the First World War gave the government power to commandeer economic resources for the war effort, imprison without trial, censor the printed & spoken word and greatly control people’s lives? 

Answer: The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA)  

Question: What was first introduced in Britain in the spring of 1916 that has occurred in the spring of virtually every year since? 

Answer: Daylight Saving Time Better known in the UK as British Summer Time (BST) or merely as Summer Time, the clocks go forward one hour to make better use of daylight. This was to help save fuel, especially coal, during the First World War. 

Question: Name the British First World War Poets:

  1. He wrote the Poem, The Soldier
  2. He is famous for the poem In Flanders Fields
  3. He composed My Boy Jack
  4. He wrote Dulce et Decorum Est, and
  5. He wrote Dreamers

Answers:

  1. Rupert Brook
  2. John McRae
  3. Rudyard Kipling
  4. Wilfred Owen
  5. Seigfried Sassoon 

Question: What was the name of the British cartoonist and illustrator who drew ridiculously complicated machines for simple tasks that became synonymous with ingenious yet temporary fixes made from whatever came to hand? His name became popular during the First World War and continued during the Second World War when shortages led to the policy of Make Do and Mend.   

Answer: Heath Robinson