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How was World War One remembered in 1919?

School children visiting the Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres in Belgium in the present day
Image caption,
School children visiting Tyne Cot near Ypres, Belgium. The largest Commonwealth war grave cemetery in the world.

At 11 o鈥檆lock on 11th November 1919, one year after the war, people all over the country bowed their heads.

  • Buses and trains stopped moving.

  • Shopkeepers stopped serving.

  • The electricity was cut off to stop trams from running.

  • Every year on 11 November people now stop to think about the war.

School children visiting the Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres in Belgium in the present day
Image caption,
School children visiting Tyne Cot near Ypres, Belgium. The largest Commonwealth war grave cemetery in the world.
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What do people use to remember the war?

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 7, Photograph of Remembrance Day service at The Cenotaph in London, 1920s and present day, Memorials When the Cenotaph in London was built in 1920, people laid flowers there in memory of loved ones. The tradition continues to this day.
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War Poetry

Some soldiers wanted to describe the horrors of the war so that people at home could understand how it felt.

Laurence Binyon was an English poet. In 1914, he wrote 'For the Fallen'.

Watch: 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon

Watch and listen to 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon. The poem's fourth verse is known as 'Ode of Remembrance'. It is often carved into monuments and spoken at remembrance services.

Portraits of World War One poets Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon
Image caption,
Left: Rupert Brooke. Right: Siegfried Sassoon.

Rupert Brooke was one of the first British war poets.

  • He felt it was important to do your duty for your country.

  • His famous poem The Soldier said, "If I should die, think only this of me: that there's some corner of a foreign field that is forever England".

Siegfried Sassoon was another British soldier poet.

  • He thought it was wrong for humans to fight each other.

  • He wrote in a poem called A Letter Home that "war's a joke" and described it as "hell".

Wilfred Owen was another war poet who agreed with Siegfried's feelings.

Portraits of World War One poets Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon
Image caption,
Left: Rupert Brooke. Right: Siegfried Sassoon.
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Why do we wear poppies?

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae was a famous wartime poem. It says, "We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Fields".

A French woman called Madame Guerin liked the poem so much that she started to sell poppies for charity in America.Another woman called Moina Michael was also saying the poppy was a way to remember those who died.

In Britain George Howson made a simple poppy design so that people who had been disabled by the war could make them.

The poppy is still worn by millions of people every November.

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How has life changed since World War One?

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 10, A modern park with a pond merged with early 1900s families sailing toy boats, People in the early 1900s enjoyed the green open spaces of parks and countryside, as they do today. These children are sailing a model yacht. It鈥檚 before the war so their fathers are with them.

Photographs of life in the war can help us see how some things have changed.

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Activities

Activity 1: Quiz 鈥 Remembering World War One

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Activity 2: History Explorer game

Play this game to test your knowledge and learn even more facts about World War One.

History Explorer: Secrets through time

History Explorer: Secrets through time: KS2 History

History Explorer: Secrets through time
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Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

Bitesize Primary games
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