Questions for discussion November 2018 · 2. In which year did WWI start? 3. What event began WWI? ... 4. What does the poppy symbolise? 5. Illustrate an aspect of the poem In Flanders
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Discuss with students what they know about Remembrance Day. Use the
following questions to help guide discussion:
• What is Remembrance Day?
• What is significant about the time and date – 11am on the 11th of
November?
• Why do we observe a minute silence on the 11th of November each
year?
• What does it mean to commemorate? Explore the difference
between commemoration and celebration.
• How do we commemorate Remembrance Day in Australia? What
activities take place?
• What does your school do on Remembrance Day?
• Do you think it’s important to commemorate Remembrance Day?
Why or why not?
• What symbols or traditions are associated with Remembrance Day?
• What does this day mean to you? Make a list of words that describe
the day.
Glossary
Students develop a glossary of words about Remembrance Day. Below are
some words to get you started. Add words and meanings to your glossary as
you come across unfamiliar words.
• Armistice
• Tribute
• Commemorate
• Enlist
• Service
• Camaraderie
• Allied nations
• Veteran
• Memorial
Remembrance Day – BTN stories
See below for a collection of BTN stories about Remembrance Day and
WWI. After watching any one of the BTN videos ask students to respond to
the discussion questions which can be found on the story page.
Episode 31
6th November 2018
Students will investigate the significance of Remembrance Day and Australia’s involvement in WWI. Students will research the history of their community during WWI.
On the 11th of November 1918, the First World War was brought to a close. Now 100 years on, we're taking a special look back at this momentous event and how it changed Australia forever.
Hi, my name's Amelia Moseley. Thanks for joining me for this very special episode marking the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that brought an end to WWI. Throughout today's show, we'll find out how peace was actually negotiated, see the reaction to the news both here and overseas and we'll discover what kids are doing to commemorate the date today.
The Story of WWI
Reporter: Matt Holbrook
INTRO: You'll see all that and more soon, but first, let's go back to find out what caused World War I in the first place.
It was a war that changed the world forever. But it may never have started, had it not been for this guy, Gavrilo Princip. On June 28, 1914, he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, of Austria, and it started a massive chain reaction. Austria declared war on Serbia. And countries supporting both sides came to help. Suddenly a small war became a big one. On one side were the Allies, including countries like France, Britain and Russia. On the other were the Central Powers. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, which is now Turkey. At the time, Australia was still a member of the British Empire, so they were part of the Allies. The word went out for volunteers, and more than four hundred thousand young men enlisted. Some young teenagers also wanted to fight, so they lied about their age to get in. On April 25, 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers, by then known as the ANZACS, landed at Gallipoli. More than 50,000 Australians fought in the eight-month long campaign. It's remembered as the first real battle we took part in as a nation. But most of the fighting didn't happen here. It happened on the Western Front, in France. From 1914 until the end of the war, both sides dug and fought from large trench and dugout systems. Trenches helped protect soldiers from guns and artillery, but life could be tough. A big threat was disease. The trenches weren't clean, there wasn't much medical help, and at times it got really cold. Many soldiers died because of the conditions they lived in, and the spread of disease. As the war went on, more technology was designed to break the deadlock. The first fighter planes battled over the trenches, while bombers made raids behind enemy lines. The first ever tanks hit the frontlines to combat trench warfare. There was now fighting on the ground, in the air, and at sea. In April 1917, America entered the war assisting the Allies. Hundreds of thousands of troops flooded the front lines. By early 1918, Germany, and its allies, had defeated Russia on the Eastern Front, and made a big push in France. But Germany's attack failed. The Allies mounted their own offensive, retaking territory from Germany. The tide was turning.
Okay, now throughout today's show we'll also be testing your knowledge about WWI with a quiz.
There will be 15 questions all up. I'll give you the answers after each one.
Here's the first 5.
1) How long was WWI? 2 years 4 years Or 6 years
The answer is: 4 years
2) Where was most of the fighting?
Was it here in Europe or here in Africa?
The answer is: Europe
3) Were aeroplanes used in WWI?
Yes, even though they hadn't long been invented. Here's a look at some of the models used.
4) What were the names of the two sides that took part?
They were the Allied and Central Powers
5) How many Australian nurses volunteered to serve?
50
900
3000
The answer is: 3000 nurses
Signing the Armistice
Reporter: Nic Maher
INTRO: Now, after 4 years of fighting an armistice was finally declared on the 11th of November 1918. But how was such a tricky agreement negotiated? Here's the full story. It wasn't a fighter plane, a tank, or a battleship that spelled the end of the First World War. But a signature, in a train carriage, made on November 11, 1918. By the second half of 1918, Germany was in big trouble. It had defeated Russia, but it was losing in France, German forces were being pushed back, and its leaders no longer believed they could win the war. Defeat was coming. One by one, Germany's allies, including Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary, pulled out of the fighting, and signed formal agreements to stop the conflict. That's called an armistice, and Germany was ready to sign one, too. The Allies, led by Marshal Ferdinand Foch, came up with the agreement. It called for fighting to end, for Germany to evacuate, hand over all its weapons, and return its prisoners. Germany signed it on the eleventh of November 1918, in General Foch's railway carriage, with the armistice officially coming into effect, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It would be the end of fighting, for a while at least.
In the coming years, Germany would be forced to sign more treaties including the Treaty of Versailles, which officially blamed Germany for the war, and forced it to make big repayments to the Allies. Many historians think those terms played a big part in the rise of Hitler's Germany, and the start of World War II just 20 years later. But at the time, everyone was ready for the Great War to end. News spread that war was over. Queensland Government Gazette: Germany has signed the armistice with the Allies, and that consequently the war that has devastated the world for more than four years is at an end.
The guns fell silent, and on the frontlines, troops cheered and danced. In London, in Paris, in New York, people celebrated, too. After more than four years of conflict, war was finally over.
Ask a Reporter
Do you have more questions about the Armistice? Ask me live during ask a reporter. Head to our website for all the details.
Australia’s Recovery from WWI
Reporter: Amelia Moseley
INTRO: Now as you've seen, World War I had a massive impact on Australia even though it was fought on the other side of the world. So how did such a young nation recover from the loss of so many? Take a look.
Polly, Maya and Mackenzie have been learning about their great, great, sometimes even great, great, great relatives who fought in the Great War. POLLY: My great, great Grandpa's name was Douglas Guthrie, he was a private in World War One and he enlisted when he was 21. He got captured as a prisoner of war. When I first saw this photo, I thought he looked really brave. For Maya, it was her great, great, great Uncle who she discovered was Indigenous Australian. MAYA: His name was Edward Heath and he was 30 when he enlisted. I think he felt really brave going to war because he was probably trying to prove that Aboriginals can do what white people do and shouldn't be treated any differently just because they're a different colour. And for Mackenzie, it was her great, great grandpa too, but he was actually British fighting alongside Australians. MACKENZIE: My great, great grandpa was George Thomas Bridgenton. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a gunner in 1914 and he was 30 when WWI started and he said that his scariest experience was running new telephone wires to the front trenches after the old ones had been blown up. Polly and Maya's relatives, are two of the more than 400,000 Australian men who enlisted in World War One. By the time the war ended, around 60 thousand of those men had died and about 170,000 of them were left wounded or ill.
It wasn't actually until 1919 - months and months after the war ended - that troops finally started coming home. But it wasn't easy for many soldiers and nurses to forget what they'd lived through. POLLY: It would be hard to just get back from the war and go on with normal life cause you've got the memories and the wounds and all of the injuries and stuff. While Polly's great, great grandpa made it home to New South Wales after being taken prisoner in Germany, he was left permanently injured. POLLY: It was before the war that this was taken because after the war he had those three fingers amputated. Australia had to work out some ways to help the survivors, the wounded, the war widows and their families to recover. So, the government decided to offer free medical care, pensions and places to live to permanently injured or sick service people, and carnivals and parades were held to raise money for them. Whole organisations were even created to defend war veterans' rights and help them get back to normal life. You've probably heard of the Returned and Services League, or RSL, that still exists today. There were other struggles the country had to face too. Many Australian industries weren't doing so well. People didn't have as much money, and jobs were way harder to find. So, programs were created to help the returned soldiers learn new skills, like construction, mechanics or even haircutting and farming too. In fact, state governments offered some soldiers a small piece of land to farm if they wanted to. The war touched so many lives in so many different ways but while it wasn't easy, many of them were able to get through it. POLLY: My great, great grandfather he used to live behind a shop when he was a child, so they went back there and they started it as a shop and then they had four children, all boys and then the youngest one was my great grandfather. MACKENZIE: After the war, he would've gone back to England and had a family and then his grandson, my grandfather was the first person in my family to come to Australia. MAYA: I think it's important to remember them because they did so much for our country and lots of people fought and didn't survive very long and they've helped us go on to have what we have today.
Super Quiz
Time for quiz again now.
6) What time was the Armistice declared? Midnight 11am 1pm
The answer is: 11am.
7) What is an armistice? Is it an agreement to: Hand over arms Delay fighting for a week End fighting
An armistice is an agreement to end fighting. 8) How many minutes of silence were originally held to mark the anniversary? One Two or Five
The answer is: Two minutes
9) Which instrument is the Last Post played on? Clarinet Bugle Saxophone
It’s played on the bugle.
10) What is the age of the youngest Australian soldier on the Roll of Honour for WWI? The answer is: 14 years and nine months. His name was James Martin.
Remembrance Day History
Reporter: Ben Nielsen
INTRO: These days, we all know the 11th of November is Remembrance Day. But it hasn't always been called that and the way it's commemorated has also changed over the years. Let's find out how. The community of Bridgewater in the Adelaide Hills has never had a proper war memorial. So, these kids and others from the local school, decided to design and build a new one. After five long years of work it's now nearly finished. REPORTER: Can you tell me what's left to do?
IZZY: There's going to be a boomerang with a rising sun at the back, and a sign with Remember
on it down the front and some fences and pavers.
REPORTER: The boomerang with the rising sun, what does that mean?
IZZY: That symbolises that all Australians part of the war.
Memorials and monuments like one this are a common feature of Remembrance Day
commemorations right around the world.
At 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, people gather at places like the Shrine of
Remembrance in Melbourne or the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. They stand still and
silent and then listen to a bugler playing The Last Post. People have been marking Remembrance
Day like this since 1919. But back then, it was actually called Armistice Day because it marked the
anniversary of the day the armistice was signed and the first World War finally ended. At the time,
hundreds of people gathered in London to celebrate the end of the conflict and to remember those
who died. People did the same here in Australia.
The tradition of silence on Remembrance Day was actually suggested by an Aussie journalist
Edward Honey. He thought it'd be a 'sacred' gesture to acknowledge those who died fighting for
INTRO: Finally, today, as you saw their poppies are an important part of Remembrance Day commemorations. So, we thought we'd visit a school that's spent the past few months colouring in thousands of paper poppies. Check it out.
This classroom is chock full of poppies. But this isn't an art lesson.
REPORTER: So, Lulu can you tell me what you're doing right now please?
LULU: I'm colouring in these poppies for Remembrance Day.
REPORTER: Do you mind if I join you?
LULU: Yeah.
REPORTER: Thanks. Do you know the whole poppies story, how it started?
LULU: There was a man who went to Flanders Fields after the war and saw the only living thing
there was red poppies and so he wrote a poem about Flanders Fields.
That man's name was Colonel John McCrae. He was a Canadian medical officer and he was
stationed in the area of Flanders, which is in Belgium. Near the end of 1914, one of Colonel
McCrae's friends was killed. When they buried him on the battlefield, Colonel McCrae noticed that
poppies had already started to bloom between the graves and that marked the beginning of a
poem he later wrote:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row.
It wasn't long before that poem was world famous and it inspired many people to use the poppy as
a symbol of support for the allied forces. They were used to fundraise for war veterans, their
families and even restoration projects to help fix areas in France that were destroyed during the
war. These days, you still see them, often on people's clothing or at sites of remembrance, like war
memorials. This class will use these poppies for something different though.
REPORTER: Amelie Rose why are you coloring in poppies today?
AMELIE-ROSE: Well, we're colouring poppies because at 11 o'clock on the 11th of November a
plane will be dropping 58 thousand poppies onto one of the roads near the city and the poppies
represent the 58 thousand soldiers, the ANZAC soldiers that died.
To add to their meaning, these girls have written messages on the back of each one. Some are