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Teacher Resources

Diaries from the Trenches: WW1 Voices

Understanding historical evidence

A close-reading lesson using short diary extracts to ask what soldiers' own words can tell us about life and feeling in the First World War trenches.

Suggested age

12–16

Duration

50 minutes

Type

Source analysis

Conflict / period

World War I

Subjects

History, English

Content note

Extracts include fear, cold and loss. Allow students to step out if needed.

Overview

A close-reading lesson using short diary extracts to ask what soldiers' own words can tell us about life and feeling in the First World War trenches.

Learning objectives

Read a first-person diary extract for detail and tone.
Compare two extracts to identify different experiences.
Assess the strengths and limits of diaries as evidence.

Materials required

Printed diary extracts (three, included in worksheet)
Worksheet
Highlighters

Historical context

Millions of soldiers kept diaries in the First World War, despite rules against it. These private accounts describe mud, cold, fear, comradeship and boredom. Unlike official reports, diaries record how soldiers felt, not just what they did. They are invaluable but partial: written by hand, in the moment, and only by those who could write and chose to.

Reading material

A diary is written by someone who was there, usually on the same day. That makes it vivid — but also narrow. One soldier's diary describes one corner of one trench on one day. It cannot tell us what the soldier next to him felt, or what the generals were planning. Reading several diaries together gives a fuller picture than any one alone.

Student worksheet (preview)

Extract A: 'The mud is everywhere. We have not been dry for three days. My boots are falling apart but I dare not take them off in case I cannot get them back on.' Extract B: 'We sang last night. The whole line sang. For an hour nobody fired. Then someone did and we stopped. But we had that hour.' Extract C: 'I am ashamed to say I felt relief when my name was not on the list for the patrol. Two men went. One came back.' 1. Which extract tells you most about the physical conditions? 2. Which tells you most about feelings between soldiers? 3. What does no single extract tell you on its own? 4. What question would a historian still need another source to answer?

Discussion questions

Why might a soldier write down feelings he would not say aloud?
What does a diary leave out that a letter home might include?
If diaries are written in the moment, is that a strength or a weakness?

Extension task

Write a fourth diary extract for a soldier on the opposing side and swap with a partner to compare.

Support prompts

Read each extract twice, once for what happened and once for how it feels.
Highlight feeling words in one colour and condition words in another.
Ask: what is this person not telling me?

Sources and credits

10 Second War Stories — WW1 channel
Imperial War Museum — trench diaries
The National Archives, UK — WW1 unit war diaries

Produced by 10 Second War Stories.