Letter Home

Dear Family,

I am alive still. I have survived many battles and bombings. I have a gunshot wound in my left shoulder. This wound came from stepping in front of a bullet for my friend. I was put in the hospital for 2 weeks until I was stable enough to get back out on the battle field. My wound has healed completely and now I have a nice scar to remember this event. Life out here is rough. I usually work in the trenches.The trenches are a lot safer than out on the battlefield, but they are also very dirty and disgusting. Disease carries fast through the trenches and there are so many mice. I live and sleep with mice. The food out here is usually pretty bland and dry. I take whatever I can get because I'm working hard out here and am alway hungry. I rarely get to shower and am always smelling like a pig. I have made some great friends out here. I am also engaged! Captain Sir John Adams and I have been getting to know each other better and better. We really love each other and when we both make it home we will start planning our wedding. I do hope you are happy for me. Living out here is rough and hard, but has taught me how to survive on my own and really appreciate what I have back home.

I love you guys and hope to be home soon

Until next time,

Katherine Smith

WWI Causes

The first main cause of WWI was nationalism. Nationalism is feeling loyal to your country. Being very patriotic. The killing of the archduke was a good example of nationalism because it showed that the man was being loyal to his country. The second cause of WWI was the alliance system. The alliance system is an agreement to support another country and be on there side in case of an attack. There was conflict between two countries, but both countries had alliances so that meant many more countries were involved in this conflict than just those original two. The third cause of WWI was imperialism. Imperialism was using colonies to show power. All the countries at war were trying to prove they are the stronger country by getting the most colonies. The fourth main cause of WWI was militarism. Militarism was striving to have the most powerful military out of all the countries. This created conflict because it meant that the countries were getting angry if another country had created a stronger/larger military.

The start of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Austria-Hungry was in Serbia controlling them and Serbia wanted them out of their country. So they sent an assassin to kill Ferdinand. This angered Austria-Hungry, so they decided to invade Serbia, which started the war. This was the spark of the war. It wasn't the only thing that lead to the war because there were already conflict and heated tension between most countries at this time.


-Unrestricted sub warfare: (1915-1918) A type of naval attacking in which submarines can sink ships without warning. Didn't give the men onboard to leave the ship and then let the people sink it. Just killed people for no good reason. Germany got out of hand with this so the US entered the war.
-Lusitania: (May 7, 1915) A ferry boat that transported goods and people from Great Britain and the US. The ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk. This created a big conflict and angered the US. It made them want to enter the war even more than ever.
-Sussex Pledge: (May 4, 1916) A pledge Germany made promising they would sink any ships with their u-boats unless there was known that that ships was carrying weapons. Three days after this pledge was made, a Germany u-boat sunk the Lusitania killing many innocent civilians. This was another reason why the US should join the war.
-Zimmerman note: (1917)A telegram from Germany that was inviting Mexico to join the Central powers. The United States intercepted the note and became angered by it because they were on the side of the Entente Powers. They decided they should join the war.

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare was a way of fighting that became popular during World War I. Trench warfare was in some cases useful, and in other cases it just caused constant death. Many people who weren't used to trench warfare would die their first day on the job because of a sniper's bullet that they weren't aware of. Trench warfare was a start to new ways of fighting that made World War I a more violent war.

Out of all the allied casualties, one third of those happened in the trenches. Disease carried so well throughout the trenches because of the amount of people and tight quarters. Another reason diseases carried fast through the trenches was because of the rat infestation. There were millions of rats that would rome the ground of the trenches, eating parts of the dead people on the ground. The rats would climb all over the soldier's supplies and food which would contaminate it and bring disease to the the people so fast. Rats are a type of rodent that reproduce so fast, making the controlling of rats so hard. Soldiers tried shooting the rats, beating them to death and using knives to stab them. But no matter how hard they tried, the rats just kept reappearing.

Trench Warfare was fought in groups. There would be a set group of soldiers that would go in and fight for a little while, then they would be rotated out and a new fresh group would come in and take their turn. It was a very good system which gave soldiers a break and kept strong soldiers out on the battlefield at all times. Despite the smell and diseases of the trenches, the trenches were a somewhat safe place that soldiers could fight without being exposed on the battlefield.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/trenchlife.htm