Wales in the World Wars

Just under 275,000 soldiers from Wales fought in World War I, with 35,000 combat deaths, in particular at Mametz Wood and Passchendaele. Welsh battalions also had other encounters on the Western, Tsingtao and Gallipoli fronts during the war. Frongoch, in Merionethshire, was the site of a World War I internment camp, initially housing German prisoners of war, but later Irish republicans after the Easter Rising.

In World War II, 15,000 soldiers from Wales were killed, with notable regiments such as the Royal Welch Fusiliers, had battled in the Western and south-east Asian theatres, whilst the South Wales Borderers had battled in the Mediterranean and Middle East, Norwegian and Normandy campaigns. Cardiff, Swansea and Pembroke experienced bombing raids from the German Luftwaffe during World War II, with the Cardiff Docks being a strategic bombing target for the German air force as it was a major coal port.

Just prior to World War II, a "bombing school" of RAF Penrhos was set up in Penyberth, Caernarfonshire, which received opposition from Welsh nationalists. The bombing facility was used throughout World War II. Island Farm near Bridgend, Glamorgan, housed German and other Axis prisoners of war, of whom had later attempted the largest escape by German POWs in Britain during World War II. Island Farm later housed senior SS military leaders awaiting extradition for the post-war Nuremberg trials.

World War I

Historian Kenneth Morgan described Wales on the eve of the First World War as a "relatively placid, self-confident and successful nation". The output from the coalfields continued to increase, with the Rhondda Valley recording a peak of 9.6 million tons of coal extracted in 1913.

The first quarter of the 20th century also saw a shift in the political landscape of Wales. Since 1865, the Liberal Party had held a parliamentary majority in Wales and, following the general election of 1906, only one non-Liberal Member of Parliament, Keir Hardie of Merthyr Tydfil, represented a Welsh constituency at Westminster. Yet by 1906, industrial dissension and political militancy had begun to undermine Liberal consensus in the southern coalfields. In 1916, David Lloyd George became the first Welshman to become Prime Minister of Britain.

Fighting Welsh

The First World War (1914–1918) saw a total of 272,924 Welshmen under arms, representing 21.5 per cent of the male population. Of these, roughly 35,000 were killed, with particularly heavy losses of Welsh forces at Mametz Wood on the Somme and the Battle of Passchendaele.

The 1st and 2nd battalions of the Royal Welch Fusiliers served on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918 and took part in some of the hardest fighting of the war, including Mametz Wood in 1916 and Passchendaele or Third Ypres in 1917. The Welsh-language poet, Hedd Wyn was part of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was killed during the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. He was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod for a poem he wrote on his way to the frontline. Evans, who had been awarded several chairs for his poetry, was inspired to take the bardic name Hedd Wyn ("White Peace" or "Blessed Peace") from the way sunlight penetrated the mist in the Meirionnydd valleys.

One of his other poems, Rhyfel ("War") is quoted in popular media;

Of the South Wales borderers, the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 3rd Brigade in the 1st Division with the British Expeditionary Force in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. The 2nd Battalion landed at Laoshan Bay for operations against the German territory of Tsingtao in September 1914 and saw action at the Siege of Tsingtao in October 1914. After returning home in January 1915, the 2nd Battalion landed at Cape Helles as part of the 87th Brigade in the 29th Division in April 1915; it was evacuated from Gallipoli in January 1916 and then landed at Marseille in March 1916 for service on the Western Front.

Mametz battle

Mametz Wood was the objective of the 38th (Welsh) Division during the First Battle of the Somme. The attack was made in a northerly direction over a ridge, focusing on the German positions in the wood, between 7 July and 12 July 1916. On 7 July the men formed the first wave intending to take the wood in a matter of hours. However, strong fortification, machine-guns and shelling killed and injured over 400 soldiers before they reached the wood. Further attacks by the 17th Division on 8 July failed to improve the position.

The Welsh soldiers did not lack in courage, but had been given an impossible task. Eventually Welsh troops fought their way into the woods but were outnumbered by German defenders three-to-one. The Welsh had been trained for this type of warfare. In addition, the wood had poor visibility and was difficult to maintain one's bearings. By dawn of 12 July, the Welsh had taken Mametz Wood. The 38th (Welsh) Division was relieved and taken out of the front line.

The commander over British forces at the Somme, Douglas Haig was later described as "The Butcher of the Somme" and 'Butcher' Haig.

Frongoch prisoners of the Irish Easter Rising

Until 1916 the camp housed German prisoners of war in a yellow distillery and crude huts, but in the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, the German prisoners were moved and it was used as an internment camp for approximately 1,800 Irish republicans, held without trial. Among them such notables as Michael Collins, who were accorded the status of prisoners of war. Among the prisoners were the future Hollywood actor Arthur Shields and sportsman and referee Tom Burke. Later the camps such as Frongoch became known as ollscoil na réabhlóide ("Universities of Revolution") where future leaders including Michael Collins, Terence McSwiney and J. J. O'Connell began to plan the coming struggle for independence. Elwyn Edwards, a local councillor, historian and poet suggests that the Irish War of Independence was won in Fongoch in Wales.