Hello, I'm Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about the Great War.

And thinking about the question, how did the Great War affect my local area? So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain what World War I was.

And before we start, I'd like to introduce you to some keywords.

And we'll be using these keywords during the lesson so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we are using today are allies, imperial, globe, treaty.

I'm going to say those again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Allies, imperial, globe, treaty.

Good job.

So let's think in more detail about what these key words mean.

Here are the definitions for our keywords.

Countries who support each other during war are known as allies.

Imperial refers to things or people which were part of the British Empire.

The globe refers to the whole world.

A treaty is a formal agreement of support between two or more countries.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

What made the Great War so great, and why was the Great War a World War? In the first learning cycle, we will explore what made the Great War so great.

The Great War began in 1914, and it ended in 1918.

It lasted four long years.

But how did the Great War begin? Well, on the 28th of June, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was shot and killed by a Serbian man.

In 1908, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire.

And this angered some Serbians who thought that these territories should be part of Serbia and not Austria-Hungary.

So because the Archduke had been shot, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

And this started a chain of events leading to the Great War, which was fought across the globe.

The Great War was fought between the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and their allies, and the Triple Entente, Great Britain, France and Russia.

So why did these countries get involved in a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia? Well, let's take a look at Russia and Germany first.

Russia became involved because Russia had an alliance with Serbia.

Can you remember that to be an ally means to support another country during war.

So Germany then declared war on Russia because Germany had an alliance with Austria-Hungary.

So you can see Russia and Germany both became part of the war because they had an alliance with Serbia and Austria-Hungary.

Let's take a moment to pause and check for our understanding.

Explain to your partner how other countries got involved in the Great War.

A good explanation will include the word alliances.

So pause the video here and take a moment to have a discussion with your partner and explain how other countries got involved in the Great War.

When you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So you could have explained something like this.

Other countries such as Russia and Germany got involved in the Great War because they had alliances with the countries being invaded.

These alliances meant they had to support a country during war.

So Russia was supporting Serbia, and Germany supporting Austria-Hungary.

Well done if you got something similar in your explanation.

So these countries became involved because they had formal written agreements in the form of treaties, promising to support each other.

So these alliances that promise that they would support each other were written down in a treaty.

And here's an image of one on screen.

In 1871, so we're going back before the war started, Germanic states came together to form the German Empire.

And as a result of this unified Germany, the previous balance of power in Europe was disrupted.

The Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary was formed in 1879, and because they were both in the centre of Europe, their alliance gave them great strength.

Now, thinking about Austria-Hungary, it's commonly known as the Austria-Hungarian Empire.

And it's a political and military alliance of two states with a single monarch.

So this monarch was both King of Hungary and the Emperor of Austria, and Austria-Hungary was a big power in Europe at this time with a large population and a large geographic area.

Only the German Empire and Russia had a greater population, and Russia had a greater geographic area.

So joining with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Germany together made them a really strong, powerful alliance.

Now, this worried people and other countries.

France and Russia created an alliance in 1894, known as the Dual Entente, because they were worried about this strength that Germany and Austria-Hungary had together in their alliance.

And in 1907, the alliances developed, and Italy joined Germany and Austria-Hungary to form the Triple Alliance, because there's now three countries.

And Britain joined Russia and France, forming the Triple Entente.

Now, Britain wasn't as committed to the alliance as Russia and France were.

However, Germany planned to attack France through neutral Belgium.

Now, to be neutral means to refrain from joining either side of the conflict.

So Belgium didn't want to be involved in the war at any point.

And Britain had promised to defend Belgium under the Treaty of London.

And if Germany gained control of Belgium and was able to invade France, this would've seriously threatened Britain.

So take a look at the map there.

That picture, looking at the top of the magnifying glass, you can see the country Belgium.

Can you see how it's joined onto France? So invading Belgium meant easier access to France.

Now, because of this, Britain declared war on Germany, because of its invasion of neutral Belgium, and Germany also invaded Luxembourg.

So taking a look at that image again, you can see just below Belgium is Luxembourg.

So that's another place in which if Germany invaded that neutral Luxembourg, they were able to access France easier.

So that was also a threat.

So all of these countries involved, Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain and France, they all had these vast armies that were secured by compulsory military service.

So these countries invested large amounts of money in the armies in order to maintain pace with technological advances in military warfare.

Let's pause and check our understanding.

World War I was referred to as the Great War because everyone thought it was great, it affected people from across the globe, it was led by great leaders.

Hmm, what do you think? Have a discussion with your partner.

Why was it referred to as the Great War? If you said it affected people from across the globe, that's correct, well done.

All of those different countries had got involved.

This brings us to our first learning task for this lesson.

Give one reason why so many countries became involved in the Great War.

A good reason would mention the word treaties.

So pause the video to give yourself enough time to either write your reason down or have a discussion with your partner.

Give one reason why so many countries became involved in the Great War.

Pause the video now, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer could include one reason why so many countries became involved in the Great War was because of old treaties.

A treaty is a formal agreement of support between two or more countries.

These treaties were in place before the war began.

Good job, well done for completing that learning task and if you got something similar in your reasoning.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of this lesson.

Why was the Great War a World War? Even an army as large as four to 5 million in the British Army was not enough to fight the Great War.

As the war progressed, Britain was strengthened by forces from across the British Empire.

And for many Imperial soldiers, this would've been the first time that they would've left their country to support the British Empire in the Great War.

Around 3 million soldiers made up the British Imperial and Commonwealth Troops in World War I.

Soldiers from Britain, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and African countries were all involved in the fighting alongside the British Army.

So you can see from this pie chart here how many of those Imperial troops helped support the British Army.

Aisha and Alex are discussing the Imperial soldiers.

Who do you agree with? "Many Imperial soldiers fought for Britain in the Great War "to leave their country for the first time," Aisha says.

Alex says, "Many Imperial soldiers "fought for Britain in the Great War "because the British Army was not strong enough." Have a discussion with your partner.

Who do you agree with and why? When you're ready to restart the video, press play.

How did that go? How was your discussion? Well, in this case, Alex is correct.

Many Imperial soldiers fought for Britain in the Great War because the British Army was not strong enough.

But like Aisha said, for many Imperial soldiers, it was the first time they had left their country.

But that was not the reason.

Well done if you agreed with Alex.

Soldiers from many countries across the globe fought for Britain during the Great War.

And these soldiers fought against Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and their allies.

Can you see the Ottoman Empire on the map in the bottom right corner? Well, the Ottoman Empire, it was established by Turkish tribes in Anatolia and expanded to become a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries.

For more than 600 years, the Ottoman Empire thrived, and it eventually, it ended in 1922 by being replaced by the Turkish Republic.

But when it was at its most powerful, the Empire was made up of most of the southeastern Europe, including modern Hungary, the Balkan region, Greece and parts of Ukraine, portions of the Middle East, now occupied by Iraq, Syria, Israel and Egypt, and North Africa, as far west as Algeria and large parts of the Arabian Peninsula.

So that is a rather large empire that is supporting Austria-Hungary and Germany.

So you can see why the Triple Entente of Russia, France and Britain were worried about the strength of the Triple Alliance and their other allies.

And the fighting in World War I took place across the globe in many continents and countries.

So this is why it's referred to as a World War.

Looking at the map on the screen, you can see the scale of World War I.

Looking at all the red areas, those are the countries and the continents that were involved in the war.

So where did most of the fighting take place? Well, much of the fighting involving British Commonwealth and Imperial troops took place in France and Belgium.

Now, this was because Germany invaded Belgium and Luxembourg, those neutral countries, in the hope that they could capture Paris, the capital of France, quickly.

Can you remember, that's the reason why Britain got involved in the World War, because of that invasion to those neutral countries.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

The soldiers of the British Empire fought Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

Is that true or false? Take a moment to think.

If you said that that was true, that's absolutely right, well done.

How would we justify our answer? Let's take a look at these two sentences.

Soldiers of the British Empire fought against the Triple Alliance, made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary and their allies, or Germany was an ally of Britain.

Talk to your partner.

Which of these two sentences helps to justify your answer? If you said that soldiers of the British Empire fought against the Triple Alliance made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary and their allies, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our second learning task of this lesson.

I'd like you to provide two reasons why the Great War was referred to as a World War, and you may find it helpful to use this vocabulary in your answer.

Allies, imperial, British Empire, globe and continent.

So grab yourself a pen and some paper, and take some time to write down two reasons why the Great War was referred to as a World War.

When you are ready to continue, press play.

How was that? Did you manage to write two reasons? Shall we take a look at some examples? So your answer could have included the Great War was referred to as a World War because soldiers came from across the globe.

For example, the Imperial soldiers fighting for the British Empire came from many countries, such as India, Australia and South Africa.

Another reason for this name is that countries and their allies fought in battles across the globe.

Well done if you wrote something similar, and well done for completing that learning task.

Now, before we finish this lesson, let's summarise all that we've learned about the Great War.

World War I took place between 1914 and 1918 and involved countries from across the globe.

It became known as the Great War as it affected people all over the world, and it was the biggest war ever fought at the time.

The Great War was fought between the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary and their allies, and the Triple Entente, Great Britain, France and Russia.

These countries supported each other due to old treaties.

Much of the fighting that British and Imperial troops were involved with took place in France and Belgium.

This was because Germany invaded Belgium and Luxembourg, those neutral countries, in the hope they could capture France quickly.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson, and I look forward to seeing you for the next one.

See you next time.