WW1 Battle Notes

The Western Front

Alsace and Lorraine

• Franco-Prussian War of 1870

• 1871 France surrenders

• France paid 5 billion francs ($1 billion) and gave up the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine

• France burning for Revenge!

Schlieffen (SHLEE*fuhn) Plan 2 front war with France and

Russia

Germany army carry out rapid invasion of France by going

through Belgium

After France defeated, German army go east against

Russian troops (6 million of them)

Plan for France was to sweep around Paris and surround most of the French army

Battle of Marne (September 6—10)

German attack slowed by Belgian

resistance

German army 30 miles from Paris

Parisian taxicabsFrench military leaders loaded over 2,000 taxis

and sent troops to the front line at the

Marne

German flank exposed so they

retreat

Trench WarfareBoth French and Germans dig trenches

Trenches run from English Channel to Switzerland

Western Front becomes bogged down for remainder of war as no more outflanking

Leads to permanent stalemate and a war of attrition= idea that the enemy must be worn down to the point of collapse by continuous losses

Stalemate = a point where neither side can achieve victory

Life in trenches is miserable, mud, lice, trench foot, rats, et cetera

Ypres, Flanders, Belgium (1914)

First Battle at Ypres, Flanders, Belgium

1914After the Battle of Marne

Race to the North Sea

3 total battles in this region

Known as the most damaged area in all of Europe during WW1

Great Britain lost 86,000 men

One division lost 9,865 men (a division could have between 10-15,000 men) of which 372 were officers.

Allied victory

Fields of Flanders became infamous for loss of life, associated with poppies

Battle of Somme (River in France)

Soldiers PrepareEach soldier carried 70 pounds of gear

• Rifle• Ammunition• Grenades• A shovel• A mess kit• Water bottle

Made it very difficult to move quickly

Great Britain launches attack on German troops, July 1, 1916

Great Britain Plan15—25 miles of troops on Front

Launch shells over towards German trenches in effort to

wipe them out

Germany had fortified the area with 3 rows of trenches,

dugouts, shelters, and barbed wire stretched out across

No Man’s Land

When German guns fell silent, GB left safety of their own

trenches and attacked

GB slaughtered: 21,000 dead on first day alone!

French join their GB allies under General Joffre

After 4 months of fighting:

• Heavy and relentless rains brought an end to the offensive.

• Clouds prevented aerial reconssince

• Although Allies gain between 5—7 miles of territory there is no clear victory

Loses:• 1 million Allied and German

soldiers lay dead or wounded:• Great Britain: 400,000• France: 200,000• Germany: 400,000—500,000

Battle of Verdun (France) 1916Symbolic of the “new kind of war”

Kaiser Wilhelm (Germany)Key to victory was on the eastern front because the Russian Revolution was near.

Believed that if he defeated France, Britain would seek reconciliation

Verdun is an old fortress city and France’s “line in the sand”

Germany attacks France at Verdun with 500,000 troops

French troops supplied by one truck every 14 seconds Day and Night!

War of Attrition10 months of fighting

Only a few miles of land changed hands

Futile loss of life= Thousands of wounded soldiers left to die because not enough medical care

French and German700,000 deaths460,000 were French

WW1 Battle Notes

Eastern Front

Eastern Front

Tannenberg (August 1915)• Russians defeated, no

longer threat to Germans

Gallipoli (April 1915)• Central Powers victory in

the Balkans region

United States Enters War

April 1917

Lusitania & Zimmerman Telegram

“New Kind of War” (Thank you IR)