The other legacy of the First World War The First World War immediately makes us think of suf fering, fear, death , destruction , etc. However, some practices, materials and objects that we use today were created or developed during the war to meet the needs and improve the situation of the soldiers. Look at these examples. 11 Read the texts and think. To which field do you relate the objects and techniques: economy, medicine, wellbeing, etc.? Why do you think these objects and techniques were invented or became popular during the First World War? How did they change people's lives? Would you include any of them in the list of humanity's greatest inventions? Explain your answer. 12 If you had lived during the First World War, what inventions would you have found most important? H I S T O R Y I N M Y L I F E 13 Research the relationship between the following aspects and the First World War. Discuss as a class. Mass production of prosthetic limbs. The popularisation of wearing wristwatches. The discovery of stainless steel. 14 MAKE CONNECTIONS. Answer the questions. How useful are the objects, techniques and aspects mentioned above in your daily life? Could you live without any of them? If so, explain which ones. ZIPS Invented in the mid-19th centur y, they were made popular by US Navy and Air Force troops during the First World War. BLUE GOWNS IN OPERATING THEATRES During the war, the surgeon René Leriche ordered operating theatres and the surgeons' clothes to be blue so that they could be distinguished from the dirty white cloths in which the wounded arrived . This helped to reduce infections. PL ASTIC SURGERY It was developed to reconstruct the damaged faces of soldiers by grafting skin from their own bodies. One of the pioneers was the surgeon Harold Gillies. PIL ATES The basics of this exercise technique were devised by the German Joseph H. Pilates while he was in a prison camp in the UK during the war. TRANSFUSIONS Various scientific discoveries allowed transfusions to be carried out using blood bags. This saved the lives of many people during the war. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME A new timetable was first introduced in Germany in 1916, because of a coal shortage. It saved energy and provided an extra hour of daylight. Shortly afterwards, it was introduced in France and the USA. 44
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