Chp. 14 section 3 pp. 383-387

Setting the Scene• WWI was known as the “Great War” as it was named by the press in Europe

• Mobilized armies were the largest in history– France 8.5 million

– Great Britain 9 million

– Russia 12 million

– Germany 11 million

• “One out of every four men who went out to the World War did not come back again, and of those who came back, many are maimed and blind and some are mad!”

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• German forces following the Schlieffen plan were soon sweeping through Belgium and into France but,

• Russia mobilized more quickly then expected and won some battles forcing German Generals to send troops to the eastern front from the western front

• By September 1914 British troops had reached France and along with the French troops began the counteroffensive of the battle of the Marne which pushed the Germans back and shattered their hopes for a quick victory.

• Both sides dug in for the winter (trenches) neither realizing that this was the beginning of a Stalemate, or a deadlock in which neither side is able to defeat the other.

• The Stalemate would last for almost 4 years

The Western Front

The Western front was a vast network of trenches, stretching form the Swiss frontier to the English Channel and American saw it this way

“There were vast stretches of mud, of fields once cultivated, but now scarred with pits, trenches, rusty barb wires. The roads were rivers of clay. They were lined with dugouts, cellars, a and caves. These burrows in the earth were supported by beams, and suggested a shaft in a disused mine.”

This underground network linked bunkers, communications trenches, and large gun sites.Millions of soldiers endured the heat, cold, rain, snow, rats, lice and disease.“No Man’s Land” was the space between enemy trenches. It was full of craters from artillery, any buildings or trees were destroyed tons of barb wire, and barricades. Soldiers charged hopeless into the waste land and the other side counter chargedAs advances failed both sides re-supplied their trenches and continued the pointless attacks

Trench Warfare

Costly Battles

• In 1916 both the sides launched offensives to try to break the stalemate

• Germans at Verdun, tried to overrun the French troops, but with the battle cry of “they shall not pass” the French held although the 11 month battle claimed over 500,000 lives

•The Allies attacked at the Somme River, the result was similar no territory gained and this time in a single day 60,000 British troops died and over 1,000,000 died during the 5 month battle.

Technology of Modern Warfare

• New advances in weapons made this war more deadly than any previous war– Machine Guns– Artillery [up to 10 miles]– Poison Gas

• “I suppose I resembled a kind of fish with my mouth open gasping for air. It seemed as if my lungs were gradually shutting up and my heart pounded away in my ears like the beat of a drum… To get air into my lungs was real agony”

– Tanks– Zeppelins, or large gas filled balloons used for

bombing by the Germans– Airplanes, w/ flying aces battled but had little effect– U-boats, or German Submarines forced the Allies to

travel in Convoys, or groups of merchant ships protected by warships

Europe at War, 1914–1918

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A Global Conflict*

• On Europe’s Eastern Front, battle lines swayed back and forth, sometimes over large areas. Casualties rose even higher than on the Western Front, but the results were just as indecisive.

Eastern Europe• August 1914 Russian Armies pushed

into Germany• Battle of Tannenberg the Russians

suffered a defeat which caused them to retreat most of the rest of the Eastern Campaign was fought on Russian Soil

• Russia, being the least industrialized of European countries lacked the goods for war, sometimes their soldiers didn’t even have guns

• Thousands of Russians were forced to charge enemy lines and defend territory, most were peasants who had to fight or would die at the hands of Russian Military Leaders

Southern Europe

• 1915 Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and helped crush Serbia

• In 1916 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary and later on Germany

• Italy had signed a secret treaty with the Allies to get land after the war from Austria-Hungary

• 1917 at Caporetto the Germans and Austrians forced the Italians to retreat, as decisive of a defeat as Tannenberg for the Russians

The War Outside Europe• Japan was an Ally, they took German

colonies in China and attempted to make China a protectorate

• Ottoman empire joined the Central Powers in 1914, eventually the Allies sent ships and troops to take the Dardanelles [the entrance to the Black Sea

• Battle of Gallipoli the Allies were eventually defeated after 10 months and 200,000 casualties

• Muslim areas rebelled against the Ottoman Turks, led by Husayn ibn Ali and “Lawrence of Arabia” [T.E. Lawrence a British Colonel sent to aid the Muslims.

• These groups blew up bridges and trains and eventually gained control of Baghdad.

War and the Colonies• As Europe was at war their colonies went to war as

well• Allies defeated the colonies of Germany in Africa• Allies drew troops, laborers, and supplies from their

colonies• Colonists had mixed feelings about serving in WWI

– In South Africa one man wrote “When we speak of joining, our women curse and spit at us, asking us whether the Government, for whom we propose to risk our lives, is not the one which sends police to our houses at night… to trample us.”

– Others joined willing and eagerly hoping that their service would be rewarded by gaining full citizenship with their mother country, in almost all cases this did not happen