Zeppelin raids

Lesson at a glance

Suitable for: Key stage 3, Key stage 4

Time period: Early 20th Century 1901-1918

Suggested inquiry questions: How were the people of Hull affected by Zeppelin raids?

Potential activities: Research other Zeppelin raids: Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in January 1915; London, Liverpool and Edinburgh in 1916.

Download: Lesson pack

How did First World War Zeppelin raids affect British civilians?

Before the 20th century, civilians in Britain had been largely unaffected by war. Previous overseas wars rarely touched British shores. The First World War was to change all that. Historians have described it as a ‘total war’, a global war which involved both civilians and the armed services on a massive scale.

Count von Zeppelin, a retired German army officer, flew his first airship in 1900. They were lighter than air, filled with hydrogen, with a steel framework. When the war started in 1914, the German armed forces had several Zeppelins, each capable of travelling at about 85 m.p.h. and carrying up to two tons of bombs. With military deadlock on the Western Front, they decided to use them against towns and cities in Britain. The first raid was on Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in January 1915. Use the sources in this lesson to find out how the people of Hull responded to the Zeppelin raids on their city.


Tasks

1. This is a report of the raid by Major General Ferrier, Commander of the Humber Defences.

  • When did the Zeppelin raid over Hull start and finish?
  • How many bombs were dropped in total?
  • What kind of bombs seem to have been used?
  • What casualties resulted from the raid?
  • How did the army and fire service respond to the bombing?
  • This source is an AIR ministry document. Why do you think that it is held in this collection?

2. Read this diary of events and report of action taken, by Major Robert Hall, Fire Commander Humber Defences.

  • When did the Fire Commander receive his first information about a raid?
  • What weapons were used to try to shoot down the Zeppelin? How effective were they?
  • Why?

3. At the end of his report, Source 1, Item 17, Major General Ferrier refers to a separate letter giving suggestions for “what is in my opinion urgently required.”

After reading Sources 1 and 2, what do you suggest would improve the defences of British cities and their civilian population?

4. This is a photograph of damage caused by the raid to Edwin Place, Porter Street, Hull. Three people were killed and several injured here.

  • How does this photograph add to our understanding of the raid on Hull?
  • Why do you think this photograph was taken?
  • Which of all three sources is the most useful for finding out about the raid?
  • The Zeppelin raids of 1915 brought death to ordinary civilians, in their own homes. Had that happened before the First World War?
  • Use your knowledge of the First World War and this lesson to explain the meaning of the term ‘total war’

Background

Lighter than air flying machines were successfully developed before aeroplanes. Count von Zeppelin was impressed by their potential and built his first successful airship in 1900. From then, civilian airships developed rapidly before the First World War. Passengers travelled in considerable comfort in gondolas slung underneath the huge 190 metre-long hydrogen-filled rugby ball-shaped balloon. They had more space than in many modern aeroplanes and could stroll about admiring the view.

The German Army and Navy both saw the potential that airships had for reconnaissance. They were used almost from the opening of the war for getting information by flying over enemy lines far above gunnery range. As it became clear that the war would be long and drawn out, Zeppelins were sent to bomb British cities. Their route was over the North Sea from their bases on the north west German coast. The early raids caused lots of damage and many civilian casualties.

At first, as these documents show, British defences were totally inadequate to deal with the Zeppelin threat. However, by 1916 a range of anti-airship defence measures were introduced. Many more guns were deployed, and searchlights. Fighter aircraft were also sent against them. British defences learnt to pick up their radio messages, so had warning of their approach, and a central communications headquarters was set up. It was realised that Zeppelins were extremely vulnerable to explosive shells, which set light to the hydrogen, often in spectacular fashion. Zeppelin raids were called off in 1917, by which time 77 out of the 115 German Zeppelins had been shot down or totally disabled. Raids by heavier than air bombers continued, however. By the end of the war over 1500 British citizens had been killed in air raids.

The vulnerability of Zeppelins to explosive shells, and their relatively slow speed, led to rapid development of heavier-than-air machines. By 1918 both sides were using large numbers of aeroplanes, not just for reconnaissance, but as fighter air support and as bombers. Air war, and the threat it brought to the lives of civilians, had become part of 20th century warfare. After the war both Britain and Germany continued to develop airships for passenger services, offering a much more roomy, comfortable service than early aeroplanes could provide. However, the spectacular crash and fire of the R101 in 1930 discredited this form of air flight in Britain.


Teachers' notes

This lesson shows that the first air attacks on civilians during the First World War were serious. To start with, students explore extracts from a report of the raid by Major General Ferrier, Commander of the Humber Defences. In the second source they examine a chronology of events taken from a report by Major Robert Hall, Fire Commander of Humber Defences which reveals how machine guns were used to fire at the zeppelins. There are quite a lot of technical terms in this source which are defined in a glossary with the transcript. By way of contrast, students then look at a photographic source of the raid on Hull and are asked to consider the value of this source in the light of the other two.

The lesson itself can be used to open up discussions on the nature of ‘total war’ as the First World War has often been referred to as the first ‘total war’. From the comfortable security of an island, with war taking place elsewhere, the British people were thrown into the front line starting with the first Zeppelin raids. It meant there was no longer a distinction between soldier and civilian. However, it was not just the use of these industrial weapons of war which impacted peoples’ lives, but their other experiences as civilians on the home front. Nations waging ‘total war’ for example, affected their people through the introduction of conscription, rationing, controls over factories, railways and farms.

Finally, this lesson could also be used as part of a thematic study on the changing technology of warfare showing how new inventions completely change the way in which war was waged.

Sources

Illustration : AIR 11/241

Sources 1 – 3 : AIR 1/569/15/16/142


External links

The war in the air
Bombers : Germany – Zeppelins

Find more sources on the first Zeppelin raids on Britain
https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/airship-attacks-england-first-world-war/

Connections to curriculum

Key stage 3
The First World War and the Peace Settlement

Key stage 4
AQA GCSE History: Conflict and tension: the First World War, 1894–1918
Edexcel GCSE History: c1900–present: Warfare and British society in the modern era
OCR GCSE History: War and British Society c.790 to c.2010; attitudes and responses to war

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Lesson at a glance

Suitable for: Key stage 3, Key stage 4

Time period: Early 20th Century 1901-1918

Suggested inquiry questions: How were the people of Hull affected by Zeppelin raids?

Potential activities: Research other Zeppelin raids: Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in January 1915; London, Liverpool and Edinburgh in 1916.

Download: Lesson pack

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