module 11 th The20 Century Unit and beyond BEFORE READING In your opinion, what was the 20th century characterised by? What role did the two men in the picture play? World War I (1914-1918) On 28th June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was (1)........................................ in Sarajevo, Bosnia. One month later Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The following Great War which developed between the Allied (2)............................ (France, Russia, Britain and, from 1917, the United States) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) lasted until (3)............................................................... On the western front, Life in a trench during WWI. the two sides rapidly became entrenched, and the (4).......................................................... of warfare rapidly increased. A variety of strategies were employed, including (5)................................................................... and tanks, and there was an extraordinary loss of life in the trenches. Because of the importance of the (6)........................................ empires at this time, the war was fought on a global level. Ultimately, however, the loss of life and costs of supplying (7).............................. made this a war of attrition. This became evident in 1917, when the Russian Empire collapsed in (8)........................................ . Although the German army was not defeated in the west, the Central Powers surrendered, signing an armistice on 11 November 1918. In June 1919 the (9)......................................................... was signed with Germany. Its severe terms were the source of enormous bitterness in Germany after the (10)................... . An estimated 10,000,000 lives had been lost, of which some 750,000 were British. Twice that number were wounded. The campaign for women s suffrage In 1903, the campaign for women s suffrage was intensified by the founding of the Women s Social and Political Union, associated particularly with Emmeline Pankhurst. These women, known as suffragettes, became increasingly violent in the years before the First World War, as successive governments failed to reform the voting laws. The harsh manner in which imprisoned suffragettes were treated contributed to the growing public sympathy for the cause of women s suffrage. After World War I the participation of British women in the war effort determined the Government s decision to give women over the age of thirty the right to vote in 1918. This right was extended to women over 21 in 1928. www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/ launch_ani_western_front.shtml www.iwm.org.uk (Imperial War Museum) www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_gms _whose_house.shtml www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/gallery _buildingstyles.shtml ACTIVITIES 1 Complete Text 1 with these words. 1918 European poison gas technology war Powers assassinated troops Treaty of Versailles revolution