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Dear Home: Letters from World War I

Dear Home: Letters from WWI draws upon the millions of letters written during World War I, letters that were lifelines for both the people on the front and at home, to reveal what it was like to experience

Discussion Questions

  1. On what date did the United States declare war? What country did the United States declare war on? Why?

  2. At the time World War I was a war unlike any the world had ever seen. After viewing the clip about this topic, discuss what made World War I different from other wars.

  3. When the United States declared war, it was unprepared. In order to meet the need for more trained soldiers, a draft was held, the first draft since the Civil War. How many men did the United States draft? Why do you think so many soldiers were drafted?

  4. Before American soldiers were sent to Europe, they had to go through military training. It was during this training that the Army first encouraged soldiers to write letters home. What did the army do to help soldiers write letters? How many sheets of stationary and envelopes do you think were used by the soldiers?

  5. Imagine you are a soldier preparing to go to war, what might you write about in your letters home? Why was it important for both the soldiers and their families to write each other? What made the information contained in these letters so important to the readers?

  6. Read some of the letters found at HistoryChannel.com/letters. What did the authors write about? What were they feeling? How did they communicate their experiences to the reader?

  7. The military had censors read letters that were written and being sent home. Why do you think this was done? Was it necessary? How would you feel knowing that your letters were going to be read by someone other than the person you were sending them to?

  8. Information printed in newspapers at home often conflicted with information written in the letters soldiers sent home. What could have been some reasons for the discrepancies? How do you think this made relatives and soldiers feel?

  9. How did American soldiers react to the Armistice? Discuss some of their concerns about going home after seeing such death and destruction.
Extended Activities

  1. The letters written during WWI are excellent primary sources (a primary source is a first-hand or eye-witness account of an event). Using the letters found at HistoryChannel.com/letters and in the program, write a newspaper article about the war experience. Be sure to make direct references to the primary sources that you use.

  2. Select one of the letter’s found on HistoryChannel.com/letters and draft a response to the author. Imagine that you are the person to whom the letter was written. What would this person's daily life have been like? What would she or he want to include in this letter?
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