Summary of the Children of WW1

The World War 1 affected children of various ages greatly. (Excluding the fact that they lost beloved family members) Some were also forced to start working at a young age; there were even some who were enthusiastic about being entrenched. Children from different countries suffered different fates. For example, children in Britain were forced to evacuate, while the children in the U.S were simply told to ration their supplies.

In some cases where they have to ration their supplies, many families and their children died from starvation, food poisoning or diseases.  This caused some infants to die before they even reached their first birthday. Amid all the chaos, some children were oblivious to the fact that their country was at war. And didn’t understand why their fathers had to leave, or why there wasn’t enough food.

World War 1 not only took the lives of soldiers and women, but also the innocent lives of children.

Video Analysis

Around a half of all children died before the age of one. They died with consumption of the bowels, which was later discovered to be the cause of malnutrition. Even mothers were so frail and weak, that they had to carry their babies around on the cushions. By 1917, the government became more involved in their health schemes, as they feared of the collapse of the working class moral. They built clinics to nurse infants, and this reduced the high death rate of children. However, this didn’t change the ration of food supply between the rich and poor. By November 1917, it was reported that most communities were suffering from severe malnutrition.

Hungry

Dead.
Why would you want him dead?
What would you do with him?

Chopping knives... Blood... Crushing bones...

That's all I see, it's all I hear...

      Tears rush down my face as I witness my friends being shoved into a queue, leading to a bloody chopping board. I starred in disbelief when the men roughly grabbed them and carved deeply into their skin, ignoring their cries of pain. No mercy was given, not even a tinge of sympathy. No matter how cute they looked, no matter how much they puppy-eyed.

No matter what, your fate... is the chopping board.

   With teary eyes, I watched the now skinned dog being yanked by a man towards a towering pot. Its blood dripped endlessly as it made a trail along the ground. The man roughly threw the bloody mass into an exhausted womans hands. She wiped a grimy cloth over the body, attempting to clean it.

"Damn! All the bread is gone! If this continues, we'll all starve, mate. Chuck in another dog!"

     Before long, another soldier arrives. He examines the whole pack of us carefully, checking for any blemishes and comparing our filth.

We all sat still. Pretending to look sick or disheveled in any way.

No one wanted to be next in line...

     His hands start to reach to the quivering figure beside me, also one of my friends. But at the last minute, diverted his direction and picked me instead.

Nauseousness immediately filled me.

As his greasy fingers advanced to me, something caught the corner of my eye.

It was a small child, hugging a limp soft toy.

I caught a glimpse of fear and curiosity in her eyes. They bore into mine, searching for nothing in particular. For a slight moment, my hazardous situation was forgotten. After a while more of staring, she smiled and waved. Tilting my head, I wondered why she did that...

There was a deafening crack and after the sickly sound of breaking bones echos throughout the air, all becomes silent. Startled, I whipped around and witnessed, what used to be my friend, torn into pieces. At that, I realised what my fate was, and why that girl waved.
      My friends started to mourn, for they knew that I wasn't going to be coming back. A few of them started to lick my fur, kissing me good byes.
       Anger rose within me, as I thought of how inhumane humans were these days. How can they disregard life, for the sake of their own needs? What needs are those anyway? Greed? Pleasure?

       I quickly snapped back to reality and barred my teeth at the man. He was taken aback, unprepared for this unanticipated reaction. Past victims have just let him take them, accepting their fate...

      Without wasting time, I grabbed this opportunity to flee away from this hell on earth. Swiftly, I dodged his meaty hands and dashed between his legs. As I made my way towards the exit, the man started searching for his hand pistol in frustration. With all my strength, I dug under the fence as quickly as I could. After much digging, a huge hole was evident, inviting me to crawl in. In a blink of an eye, I dived through it and sprinted away aimlessly.

Freedom... ?

FREEDOM~~~!!!

     I erupted in happiness, no longer having the fear of being chopped and crushed into pieces. I suddenly remembered my friends, how they were still in danger. However, I urged myself to go on, knowing that I didn't have to capability to rescue the others.

    After what seemed like an eternity I plopped down on the pavement, succumbing to fatigue...

The Children Suffered

In World War 1 children evacuation programs have not been organised, as there was no systematic bombing of cities as planes were still in infancy. Other factors contributing to its undevelopement are the civilian bombing campaign theory hadn't been formed, and the range of destruction was restricted to the range of the guns, so outside the fighting zone people felt no effect, other than rationing and the lack of metal and other essential things for the war effort. The children stayed with their parents, died with their parents, or ran away from the front with their parents. And of course the loss of those fathers, uncles, cousins who left and never came back. Some children, who were big enough, were enrolled into the army when men were needed. A large amount didn’t make it back alive.

Many fathers and brothers progressed into war, not knowing their fate. Several lives were consequently maimed and taken during war, which resulted in many children to be raised by single mothers. After the male family members who were positioned in workforces left for battle, the sisters and mothers started to do work in factories in place of them. This impacted children because they had less valuable time to spend with their family. Children who were involved in youth organisations began to help collect money for war purposes and stamps, in order to acquire money for war effort. World War I greatly impacted the children in the United States through many economic and social alterations in the school curriculum and because of the changed roles in parental relationships.

Origins of World War 1

The Great War began in central Europe in July, 1914. Many interwined factors contributed to the outbreak of the war, including the conflicts and hostility between Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, Austria-Hungarian Empire and Russia. The rivalry lasted for 4 decades, before War was declared.

The origins of War lay in the decisions made by generals and statesmen during the July Crisis, which was in 1914. An incident of war caused the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife by Gavrilo Princip, who was an unredeemed Serb. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, and announced that when he became Emperor, he would make changes that were not mutual with the citizens. Therefore, he was very unpopular. Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assasinated by Gravilo Princip; He was shot in the neck, his wife was shot in her pregnant belly.

The main cause was the competition for territory and influence in the land. Austria-Hungary competed against Serbia and Russia, and therefore created tensions against those countries and therefore created a battle. Claiming the most territory was very important to the countries, and having the least can humiliate and make a country vulnerable. So, these countries were competing for land, to have the position as a Great Power. Austria was holding the position, and was fighting to maintain their reputation and strength.