For four long years, Flanders Fields was the scene that epitomised the horrors of the Great War. Four major battles were fought here and more than 250,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers gave their lives. The landscape of the region still has many tales to tell allowing you to discover the stories, tragedy and bravery of the soldiers who fought there. It is a place where the nationalities of the world came together to fight for ideals, nations and Empires that have since changed.
Ypres lies at the heart of ‘the Salient’ and during the war the town was under almost constant bombardment, reducing it to ruins. The Menin Gate marks the route that many soldiers took on their journey to the front line; it is the location of the Ypres Memorial to the Missing. Every evening the Last Post is sounded here in honour of the soldiers of the British Empire who lost their lives in the Salient. Find out about some of the nearly 52,000 names that are on the memorial and how many places they came from.
Key Subject Knowledge
- Medicine and medical evacuation
- Women and the First World War
- Diversity and the range of troops that served and where they came from
- Technology and how it changed over the war
- The Pals Battalions
- Daily life in the trenches
- The relationship between the Home Front and the Western Front
- Propaganda and communication
- Commemoration and legacy
Also available supporting elements of wider Humanities (geography, English, social sciences and citizenship)
- The battlefield and the physical landscape
- War poetry and war artists
- Decision making in the British Armed Forces and the relationship between politicians and Generals
- The different faiths that were in the British Forces
