Medicine on the Western Front (Part Two)

The National Archives holds many documents pertaining to the First World War, allowing us to investigate many aspects of wartime life. Within these collections we have gathered together examples of a variety of records that relate to Medicine on the Western Front. The collections cover key examples of the medical issues faced during wartime, innovations inspired by the war, and the triumphs and struggles of those serving as doctors and nurses as well as the soldiers abroad.

Both these collections of original sources, Part 1 and Part 2, can be used to support GCSE thematic modules which cover Medicine through Time to the present day and the historical context of the British sector of the Western Front. Teachers have the flexibility to download and create their own resources from these documents, to develop their pupils’ understanding of how to work with sources and prepare and practice for source based exam questions. Each collection includes a wide range of sources to encourage students to think broadly when exploring these topics.

With each collection we have suggested 5 tasks based on some of the documents. The tasks can be completed individually or in groups. There is a downloadable pdf of questions to help working with sources. All documents are provided with transcripts. We hope that exposure to original source material may also foster further document research. The following themes covered by the documents in Part 2 include:

• Treatments for ‘shell shock’, neurasthenia and gas attacks, government reports on ‘shell shock’ and ‘mustard gas’
• The trench system and its organisation and topography.
• Weapons, experience of being under fire, defensive mining, gas masks
• Daily life on the front: from mud to hair cuts
• The attack on Hill 60, south west of Ypres, April 1915
• The experience of ordinary men of their medical treatment and trench warfare gathered from some letters written by those who had worked for Great Western Railway before the war.
• The experience of some of the Women’s Army and Nursing Services on the Western Front