History

Year 9 Home Learning Task

The Home Front – World War One & Two

Name

Tutor Group

Teacher

Given out Monday 6 January Hand in Monday 13 January

Parent/Carer Comment

Staff Comment

Target

Dear Year 9 History Students,

Here is your latest Home Learning Booklet for History. This will focus on the

Home Front in World War One & Two (1914-18 and 1939-45). It will

hopefully be interesting, allow you to use your imagination, and also give you

a flavour of one of our units that is coming up in the spring term.

Reading task:

During both world wars fighting moved from being two armies on the

battlefield and affected people in the towns and cities of the countries

involved in the wars.

The home front covers the activities of the civilians in a nation at war.

This covers the actions of people who didn’t go off to fight. All of the

powers involved learned from their experiences on the home front during

World War I. Their success in mobilizing economic output was a major

factor in supporting combat operations. Among morale-boosting activities

that also benefited the war effort, the home front engaged in a variety of

scrap drives for materials crucial to the war effort such as metal, rubber,

and rags. Women played a major role in the work done on the home front in

both wars.

Total war demanded total mobilisation of all the nation's resources for a

common goal. Manpower had to be channelled into the front lines Behind the

lines labour power had to be redirected away from less necessary activities

that were luxuries during a total war. In particular, vast munitions industries

had to be built up to provide shells, guns, warships, uniforms, airplanes, and a

hundred other weapons, both old and new. Agriculture had to be mobilized as

well, to provide food for both civilians and for soldiers (many of whom had

been farmers and needed to be replaced by old men, boys and women) and

for horses to move supplies. Transportation in general was a challenge,

especially when Britain and Germany each tried to intercept merchant ships

headed for the enemy.

World War II was a total war; homeland production became even more

invaluable to the war effort. Life on the home front during World War II

was a significant part of the war effort and had a major impact on the

outcome of the war. Governments became involved with new issues such as

rationing, manpower allocation, home defence, evacuation in the face of air

raids, and response to occupation by an enemy power. The morale and

psychology of the people responded to leadership and propaganda.

Task 1 – Know your dates / know which war! (Bronze)

Try to match the statement on the left with the one on the right. Just draw

arrows to match them please.

1. World War One started in

1914 and…

2. World War Two started in

1939 and…

3. Home Front means…

4. Zeppelins were German

airships which they…

5. Rationing was…

6. Propaganda means…

7. Censorship means…

8. Morale means…

9. The Blitz was the…

10. During both wars the British

government needed to take…

…ended in 1945.

…how the war was dealt with and supported by

people back home who were not necessarily

fighting.

…used to bomb London in WW1.

…more power to win.

…bombing of London and other cities in WW2.

…how happy or determined people were to win.

…the control of how much food and clothing

people could have.

…ended in 1918.

…making your side look good and the enemy

look bad.

…the control of information.

Task 2 – Which war do you think the following pictures come

from – WW1 or WW2? (Bronze)

a) World War _____

b) World War _____

c) World War ____

d) World War ____

e) World War ____

f) World War _____

Task 3– Answer these two questions. (Silver)

Choose which picture you think would be the

best to make British people feel good about

their chances of winning a war.

_______________________________

_______________________________

Choose which picture you think would be the

best to make British people feel hate or be

more determined to beat the enemy

(Germans) (Silver)

_______________________________

_______________________________

Task 4 – What does propaganda mean?

Propaganda means the use of information to persuade people that they are

winning the war, that they are the “good guys”, or that the enemy is losing,

and the enemy are the “bad guys!” Propaganda can be used in a very positive

way to boost morale, or it can be used in a very negative way to make people

hate the enemy. Propaganda can be lies and it can be distorting the truth.

During World War One (1914-18) the Germans bombed

French and British cities using massive airships called

Zeppelins. The bombing of cities could have made people

at home feel bad about the war, but propaganda posters

like this made by the British government helped to keep

people’s morale high.

Explain why this poster is a good piece of propaganda.

(For Silver & Gold make sure you reference the source)

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

________________________

Task 5 –MORE World War One propaganda.

How does this poster try to persuade men during World War One to JOIN

UP and fight? (Bronze)

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_______________

Task 6 – Find the meanings of these words and write them

down. (Bronze)

1. Propaganda

2. Censorship

3. Western Front (WW1)

4. Zeppelin

5. Gothas

6. Blitz

7. Heinkels

8. Rationing

9. Conscription

10. Evacuees

11. Conscientious Objectors

12. Munitions

Task 7 – Imagine you are the Propaganda Ministry in 1940.

Britain is being bombed by the Germans. Make up propaganda captions or

statements which could go with the following pictures of the bombings.

(Remember you are trying to boost morale of people.) (Bronze)

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_____________

Task 8 – The Blitz (1940) Fill in the gaps. (Bronze)

What was The Blitz?

The Germans tried to bomb British _________ to make the British

surrender. They used hundreds of bombers to smash city centres, factories

and housing. Hitler hoped to make the British feel that the war was not

worth it.

The main aims of The ______ on British cities by Germany’s Luftwaffe were

to destroy targets which could be useful for the British war effort such as

the London docks, and to destroy British ____________ by bombing large

residential areas of cities. The latter aim was more psychological, so it was

very important for British people to keep their spirits and morale high.

During the terrible bombings of British cities many people were determined

to survive, work and stay happy in the most frightening of times. People still

speak of the Blitz spirit because neighbours helped each other, people sang

songs such as “London Pride”, and businesses often had signs outside with

slogans such as “bombed but not defeated.” Communities often came

together out of necessity, and because they had a common ________ trying

to kill them they could cope with the hardships of blackouts, bombings,

rationing and evacuation by showing resolve and

courage. This was not just felt in London, but

also in badly bombed cities such as

_____________ and Coventry, which

continued to produce more and more war

resources such as Lancasters and Spitfires in

spite of homes and factories being bombed. For

many people it was true that they were

determined not to let ___________ “knock”

their spirits.

enemy morale cities Birmingham Hitler Blitz

Task 9 – Blitz exam work.

(This is the most important part of the booklet.)