04/08/2014 Newsround

Some of the most important battles took place here.

Today it's 100 years since the UK joined the First World War, the

Millions of people died in the Great War, and it changed society forever.

With so many men away fighting, women became much more involved

in the war effort, as nurses, factory workers and farm workers.

On August the 4th, 1914, war was declared.

Six million men from the UK fought during the four year conflict.

It would come to be known as the war to end all wars.

And it wasn't just men on the frontline.

Women were also willing to risk everything by looking

after the injured men who had come straight from the battlefields.

Women like Nelly - a trained nurse who volunteered to work

These were usually a safe distance from the fighting,

made up of large tents with up to 800 beds for the wounded men.

In the summer of 1917, Nelly's clearing station was closer

to the danger - based beside a railway track which

It was the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele,

and Nelly's station was overwhelmed with casualties.

Throughout the coming weeks the area was under constant attack.

This is where Nelly's story comes to an end.

On the 21st of August, 1917, she was killed.

A bomb landed close to the tent where she was catering to

Amongst the 10,000 men who were buried in this cemetery, she's the

only woman - a brave nurse who died when she was just 26 years old.

Nelly was one of many women who worked tirelessly in horrendous

conditions to provide the immediate care that soldiers needed.

Soldiers with more serious, long-term injuries needed somewhere

safer to recover, well away from the dangers of battle.

Many made the long trip back to Britain where they would be

Universities, town halls, even sport stadiums were transformed

into places that looked after sick and injured soldiers.

One of those places was right here at Dunham Massey in Cheshire.

Describe what a typical day would have been like in this ward.

The soldiers here were very much still serving soldiers so they

It tells us the things that were happening - when they had meals,

when lights out was, and how visitors were encouraged to behave.

The length of time it took to get soldiers back from France...

Lots of back problems, broken limbs, lots

Dunham Massey and other hospitals like this were

They had a lasting impact on society.

Before the war, the women who worked here, and those

Now they were working in factories, operating machinery

and jobs often reserved for men - and doing them well.

This hospital had a few strands of management - so the person

in charge of the hospital, and that was Lady Stanford.

It would have been such a different experience for them,

they probably would never have been used to something like this prior to

It would have been really empowering for these women

and girls to see what they could achieve if they worked together.

The world for women changed dramatically

For the first time, years after, women were allowed to vote

and have their say about who ran the country politically.

That really helped women - their prospects, and

Places like this show everyone the important work that women

The sacrifices they made started a real change in attitudes