Practise Exam Questions

World War One

Source B is about conditions on the Western Front

Source B

The trenches stretched from the Swiss Alps to the English Channel. In these trenches, soldiers were often knee-deep in mud. Many were drowned when they slipped into flooded shell holes. When the temperature dropped they suffered from frost-bite.

2. Describe conditions for soldiers in the trenches on the Western Front.

Exam Question

Study the sources carefully and answer the questions which follow.

You should use your own knowledge where appropriate.

In Source A Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes about a gas attack in 1915.

Source A

Poison gas was a dreadful weapon which most cruelly affected the victim. The Germans won ground using the methods of the mass murderer. Their great army became in a single day an object of tremendous horror and great contempt.

2. Discuss the attitude of the author of Source A towards the use of poison gas.

Exam Question

Study the sources carefully and answer the questions which follow.

You should use your own knowledge where appropriate.

In Source B a British soldier writes about the aftermath of a gas attack.

Source B

We have heaps of gassed soldiers. The poor things are burnt all over with great blisters and blind eyes all glued together. They speak in a merest whisper saying their throats are closing and they will choke.

3. How fully do Sources A and B describe the use of gas in the First World War?

You must use your own knowledge and give reasons for your answer.

Describe fully how women helped the war effort.

8 marks

Source C is a photograph from the Imperial war Museum collection of a tank in action in 1916.

3. How useful is Source C as evidence of the use of tanks in the First World War?

Source D is from a modern history textbook.

Source D

The tank had a maximum speed –on a good road-of about six kilometres an hour. It was driven by caterpillar tracks, protected by steel armour and could carry four machine guns. They were to be used against entanglements of barbed wire. Tanks had a crew of eight who had to face many problems.

4. How far do Sources C and D agree about the tank?

In Source A George Coppard describes his experiences of the First World War

Source A

The Battalion moved up the communication trench to the front line trench at a snail’s pace, suffering heavy casualties from shrapnel fire. We passed stretcher bearers with the wounded and groups of tired troops going to the rear. We would soon be in the attack on the German front line.

1. What methods of fighting were used on the Western Front in the First World War?

Source E was written in the memoirs of Lieutenant F. Mitchell who was in charge of a tank in 1917.

Source E

The trenches stretched from the Swiss Alps to the English Channel. In these trenches, soldiers were often knee-deep in mud. Many were drowned when they slipped into flooded shell holes. When the temperature dropped they suffered from frost-bite.

5. How fully does Source E describe life in the trenches in the First World War?

Source A is a photograph taken in 1917 on the Western Front

3. How useful is Source A as evidence of the conditions in which men fought in the First World War?