Horses in World War One

1. Horses in World War One Background to the historical setting (non-fiction) Horses pulling artillery Horses were heavily used in World War One. They were involved in the war's first military conflict involving Great Britain - a cavalry attack near Mons (in Belgium) in August 1914. They were primarily to be used as a form of transport during the war.

2. When the war broke out in Western Europe in August 1914, both Britain and Germany had a cavalry force that each numbered about 100,000 men. Such a large cavalry would have needed a significant number of horses. Senior military personnel at this time believed in the power of the cavalry attack. In August 1914, no-one could have contemplated the horrors of trench warfare. Cavalry charges were an out-dated form of attack because of the use of machine guns and barbed wire in trench warfare. However, there are war records detailing cavalry charges made right up until 1918, despite the difficulties and dangers this would have caused both horses and soldiers.

3. In March 1918, the British launched a cavalry charge at the Germans and out of 150 horses used in the charge only 4 survived. The rest were cut down by German machine gun fire. 8 million horses died in the 4 years of the war.

4. Activity 1: Perspective Write about a day in the life of your own household through the eyes of an animal. Remember to think about the characterisation work you did yesterday! Write 3-5 paragraphs. Write in correctly constructed sentences.