The Great War affected everyone. At home there were wounded soldiers in military hospitals, refugees from Belgium and later on German prisoners of war. There were food and fuel shortages and disruption to schooling. Meanwhile, men serving in the armed forces were scattered far and wide. This new series looks at how the experience of war impacted on towns throughout the UK, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German Kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of these towns were committed to as the war stretched out for the next four years. These accounts show a record of the growing disillusion of the people, their tragedies and hardships and ultimately a determination to see it through.
