A typical trench in the rainy season. High water like this often carried raw sewage and helped to spread disease. Photo: The Imperial War Museum

VIDEO PROGRAM Volume 184   CONCEPTS AND THEMES Strategy, Offensive, Nationalism, Atrocity, Trench, Front, Stalemate KEY GENERALIZATIONS AND IDEAS When things don't work out as planned, people have different reactions and adjust to the situation in different ways. Many people decide to rely upon traditional approaches that may not be effective. Governments and supporters of government decisions use propaganda to persuade people to think, feel and act in certain ways. In every age, the use of new or improved weapons directly affects the way warfare is conducted; weapons development escalates as opposing forces struggle both to "keep up" with their enemies and to counter the weapons that their enemies have developed. In "total war,"civilians are seen as participants in the war effort and are therefore considered legitimate targets. People use many of the same reasons in total war and in genocide to justify their acts of atrocity, violence and destruction. STUDENT LEARNING EXPECTATIONS STALEMATE discusses some of the important conditions, events, decisions and moods of the period from August 4, 1914, to the "Christmas truce" five months later. The initial violence of the war and the early mobilization and mass slaughters quickly gave way to stalemate. The video also shows how individuals lived in the midst of the violence, death and destruction, as well as the ways they adjusted to the standstill on the battlefront. At the end of the lesson, students should be able to do the following: 1. State the reasons the leaders of both sides originally believed that the war would be very short. 2. Define "offensive strategy" and explain the impact of this type of strategy for the men on the front lines of an army. 3. Describe the initial strategies of each army and what each needed in order to succeed. 4. Describe the factors that supported and that worked against the success of each army in August, September and December 1914. 5. Explain the expression "poor little Belgium," and describe the actions of the German army that led to this expression. 6. Describe specific ways that the reality of the battlefield in December 1914 differed from the plans made by both sides in early August. 7. Describe the reactions of the Belgian and French civilians to the actions on the battlefield in the opening weeks of the war. 8. Describe the characteristics of the Russian army and its leaders and how these contributed to the performance of the army on the battlefield. 9. Describe the efforts of the various nations, particularly Britain, to call for more volunteers to join the army. 10. Describe the differences between what the army volunteers expected to find on the battlefields of Europe and what they actually found. 11. Explain why the Battle of the Marne was significant for both France and Germany. 12. Explain the phrase "race to the sea" in the context of the front lines in the fall of 1914. 13. Define the term "stalemate," and describe the conditions on the battlefront in December 1914 that produced and perpetuated a stalemate. 14. Describe life in the trenches, as well as the physical environment of the trenches and the area surrounding them. 15. Identify at least five ways that men tried to adjust to and cope with living in the trenches. 16. Define the following terms and explain their relevance to the events and situations during the Great War: refugee, offensive, front, two-front war, casualty, war of attrition, no man's land, siege, and atrocity. 17. Describe the meaning of the Christmas truce of 1914, both for the men on the battlefield that evening and in terms of the nature of warfare before and after that evening.   BACKGROUND DISCUSSION Both sides originally believed that the Great War would be over quickly. In Germany, this belief was based on a long established war scenario or strategy called the Schlieffen Plan. The German generals were so confident of success that Kaiser Wilhelm II proclaimed that he would have "Paris for lunch, St. Petersburg for dinner." The plan required precise timing, with no interruptions in the timetable, and it was based on the experience of previous wars. If Germany were trapped in a long-term two-front war, its chances of victory were slim. However, among the German High Command, doubters of the success of the Schlieffen Plan were few and silent. The title of this video--STALEMATE-- reveals that this plan did not work. Within weeks, armies on both sides of the western front dug trenches to maintain their positions and to protect themselves from the destructive power of new and improved weapons. Men on both sides found that the safest place to be was usually below the surface of no man's land. Movement of the front trench lines was minimal for the next four years. This video begins with the German optimism with their war plan and ends with the realization that the warfare of the past was obsolete. The stalemate led to life in the trenches--a life that was eventually experienced by tens of millions of men.   LESSON PLAN SUGGESTIONS 1. Write the Concepts and Themes words on the board or overhead. Ask students to define each. Unless students consider these concepts immediately before, during and immediately following this video, they will miss many details. Also, the Concepts and Themes will help them see the video segments as related, complementing one another to describe the moods, events and contexts of the period. 2. Using an overhead or handout, ask students to consider the Key Generalizations and Ideas for this module. Ask them to paraphrase the ones you want to emphasize. Ask them to watch the video with these points in mind, looking for relevant information. 3. Distribute Student Handout 2-A, Questions. You may want them to pay particular attention to specific questions, stopping the video after a segment to give them time to make notes. 4. Distribute copies of Student Handout 2-B, Context and Overview of the Great War. Ask them to read the summary and answer the questions before watching the video.You might supplement this reading with textbooks, other readings or a lecture. 5. Distribute copies of Student Handout 2-C, The Campaign to Get Volunteers to Join the Army. Ask the students to answer the questions at the bottom of the sheet and to consider how posters such as these might work today if this nation were at war. 6. Distribute copies of Student Handout 2-D, The Trenches: Symbols of the Stalemate. This sheet contains a great deal of factual information about the trenches and life in and around the trenches. You might place the students in small groups, with each student reading one or two sections and sharing the important details. All students should answer the questions at the bottom of the sheet. They may then review the segments of the video that describe the trenches. 7. Distribute copies of Student Handout 2-E, Life in the Trenches: A Poem. Artists and writers contribute to our understanding of life and living conditions during this period, especially the thoughts and feelings of those who experienced the horrors and violence on the battlefield. Ask the students to read the poem and answer the questions that follow. Then ask them how this poem shapes their images of trench life. 8. Ask students to consider the title of the video, STALEMATE, and ask them to watch for the personalities, events, attitudes, emotions and decisions that contributed to the conditions on the battlefield that led to a stalemate on the western front. 9. Ask students to reflect on one quote from Student Handout 2-F, Noteworthy Quotes. Ask them to interpret the quotation in the context of the person speaking and the situation in which the statement was made. You might want to ask them to interpret these both before they watch the video and afterward, and then to compare the differences in their interpretations. Students might also offer their personal reactions to particular quotes.   ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES 1. Ask students to investigate the literature and art of this era to find out more about the experiences of the men on the battlefront. You might suggest, for example, the poems and letters of Siegfried Sassoon. 2. Ask students to read excerpts from the book All Quiet on the Western Front and to compare the details given there with those in the video. 3. Ask students to research particular weapons used in this war and to assess how these weapons contributed to the destruction, death and horror of the war. 4. Ask students to interview civilians whose relatives or good friends served in the Middle East during the Gulf War of 1990-1991. They should find out what these people felt and thought as their loved ones were being sent off to war and living in a war zone. Ask the students to compare these sentiments with the information about civilians during the Great War.   ADDITIONAL POST-VIEWING QUESTIONS In addition to the questions on the student handouts and in the section on Student Learning Expectations, the following questions may be asked: 1. Describe the initial strategies of each army and what each needed in order to succeed. 2. Describe the factors that supported and that worked against the success of each army in August, September and December 1914. 3. Describe the characteristics of the Russian army and its leaders and how these contributed to the performance of the army on the battlefield. 4. Imagine that the stalemate continued for years, rather than weeks and months. What actions might the generals on each side take to bring about victory? 5. If the stalemate continued for months and years, how would a person living in the trenches, especially in the front-line trench, be affected?   STUDENT RESOURCES 2-A. Questions. This resource provides a set of questions to focus students' attention on the important content in each segment of the video. 2-B. Context and Overview of the Great War. This resource provides background details to help students put the opening months of the war in perspective and to understand the dominant conditions and moods. It includes questions to be answered before seeing the video, questions that you may ask them to reconsider after the viewing. 2-C. The Campaign to Get Volunteers to Join the Army. This resource provides sample text from posters used in Britain to persuade women to encourage their men to volunteer for the army. It includes questions to help the students reflect on the impact of such posters. 2-D. The Trenches: Symbols of the Stalemate. This resource provides facts about the trenches and living conditions in and around the trenches. It includes questions to help the students focus on life on the front lines. 2-E. Life in the Trenches: A Poem. This poem by John Lucy illustrates life in the trenches and one man's poetic efforts to describe it. It includes questions to help the students reflect on the psychological impact of life in the trenches. 2-F. Noteworthy Quotes. This resource provides a number of quotes from individuals whose words express the thoughts and feelings that were prevalent during the early stages of the war.