Download WWI Presentation Part 1

 Complete the map of Europe in
1914. Use the map on page 700 as a
guide
 When you finish the map, read
Chapter 27 beginning on page 698
Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism




Nations define strength as military power
Nations increase size of militaries
Development of new military technologies
Nations develop plans for rapid mobilization of
armed forces


Definition: When nations form agreements
with other nations for support
Two main alliances form:
 Triple Alliance
 Triple Entante



Triple Alliance
Germany
Austro-Hungary
Italy



Triple Entente
France
Russia
Great Britain
The Alliances of 1914
NOTE: Central Powers = Triple Alliance




Definition: expanding power by controlling
foreign territories and establishing colonies
European nations control large territories in
Africa and Asia
Colonies provide raw materials and markets
for goods/services
European nations competing against each
other to gain more colonies



Definition: An extreme sense of pride or
loyalty to one’s nation
Leads to growing competition between
countries
Leads to sense of paranoia between countries

Balkan Peninsula
 has a history of violence & political instability,
 Nicknamed “Powder keg” due to frequent
uprisings


Balkan Peninsula gains independence from
Ottoman Empire
Race of nations to extend borders or take over
Balkan region

Austro-Hungary takes over Bosnia &
Herzegovina
 Serbia had planned on joining with Bosnia,
angered by Austria’s actions
 Russia supports Serbian claim to Bosnia


June 28, 1914, Austro-Hungarian heir,
Archduke Franz-Ferdinand & his wife, Sofia,
traveling in Sarajevo, Bosnia
Gavrilo Princip assassinates Franz & Wife
 Princip was 19 year old Serbian
 Member of The Black Hand, a society developed
to remove Austrian rule in Bosnia

Austria’s demands to prevent war:
 Serbia will outlaw groups that oppose Austrian
control of Bosnia
 Serbia will dismiss teachers & ban books that are not
pro-Austrian
 Serbia government officials who speak against
Austrian rule
 Austrian officials are to participate in the trial and
execution of those who took part in the
assassination

All attempts to negotiate peace fail
The War to End All Wars
From Section 1
(p 698)
 Ultimatum
 Mobilize
 Belligerents





From Section 2
(p 704)
Propaganda
Total War
War of Attrition
Atrocities
U-Boats
Militarism
Rivalries
World War I
Alliances
Nationalism
Austro-Hungary declares war on Serbia
2. Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary
3. Germany declares war on Russia
4. France declares war on Germany
5. Germany invades Belgium to get to France
6. Great Britain declares war on Germany
 As countries enter the war, so do their foreign
colonies pulling Africa, Asia, Australia, & Canada
into the war
1.
THE CENTRAL POWERS
(FORMERLY TRIPLE ALLIANCE)




Germany
Austro-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
THE ALLIES
(FORMERLY TRIPLE ENTENTE)







France
Russia
Great Britain (+ Canada,
Australia, & India)
Italy (formally sided
w/Germany)
Japan
Greece
Portugal
6
3
5
2
4
1



Purpose:
to avoid a two-front War (Germany lies between
France & Russia)
Plan:
 Germany goes west to quickly strike at France & GB
to take Paris
 THEN - rapidly move East and strike Russia before
Russia is prepared

Based on two key assumptions
 easy victory in west
 Russian military would be slow to mobilize (prepare)

The Western Front
 The battle line that stretched from the North Sea
to Switzerland
 Crossed Belgium & Northern France (an area
known as Flanders)
Describe this
picture.
What do you
think is
happening in this
picture?
What are
conditions like for
soldiers?

Map shows the major positions of the armies along the Western Front Lines. Blue
denotes the Allies and Red denotes the Central Powers.
Along Western Front, armies dug deep trenches to
provide protection from bullets
 Soldiers lived in trenches, conditions were difficult






Constant assault from the other side
Extremely muddy & wet
Limited food, malnutrition common
Poor sanitation, disease prevalent
Fighting consisted of coming out of trenches into a
“no man’s land” to rush opposing sides trenches
 Faced heavy machine gun & artillery fire once out of
trenches
 Poison gasses developed to fill trenches - becomes a
“silent killer”
 Huge loss of life, little territorial gain
Life on the Western Front
British soldiers in the trenches
Life on the Western
Front
Soldiers trying to catch a little
sleep in the trenches
Life on the Western
Front
British soldiers crossing the noman’s land during a lull in the
fighting to search for casualties
Life on the Western
Front
British-Indian Soldiers fighting
along the Western Front in
Flanders (Belgium)
Life on the Western
Front
Soldiers preparing to launch an
attack across the no-man’s
CLICK
ME

New military technologies made killing large numbers of people easier
 Poison Gases
▪ Introduced by Germans
▪ Most common: Mustard Gas (blister agent) & Chlorine Gas
▪ Gas masks quickly developed, but not always available
 Machine Guns
 Flame-throwers
 Tanks
▪ Developed by Great Britain
▪ Could rush opposing trenches & cross all terrain types
 Submarines
▪ Developed by Germany
▪ Undetectable (sonar not developed yet)
▪ Used against both military & non-military ships
 Airplanes
▪ Developed on both sides to spy on other side’s battle lines
▪ Eventually guns added to planes

Battle of Verdun, Feb. 1916
 Germans attack French in Verdun, France
 Massive loss of life, 300,000 per side
 Germans gain only 4 miles

Battle of the Somme
 July GB sends military into N. France to aid France
 Attack Germany in Somme Valley
 GB loses 20,000 in first hour
 GB gains five miles, taking back territory claimed in
Verdun

Stretched along German/Russian border
 Did not use trenches
 armies more mobile/front lines move often

Russian Army Poorly Equipped:
 Russia had little industrialization
 Lacked military technology
 Supplies unable to reach Russian Front
▪ German subs prevent ships from aiding in the North
▪ Ottomans prevent supplies from coming from the South

Russia’s greatest asset was its large numbers
of people
 Could tolerate massive loss of life w/o depleting
armies
The World in Flames




The Central Powers
Germany
Austro-Hungry
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
The Allies
 France
 North Africa
 West Africa


Russia
Great Britain







Australia
Canada
India
Egypt
South Africa
Japan
United States

Reasons for wanting to take the Dardanelles:
 The Allies wanted to take a waterway connecting the
Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea known as the
Dardanelles.
 Would take the Ottoman Turks out of the war
 Would allow supplies to get from Allies in the west to
Russia

The Campaign:
 Began in February 1915, lasted 8 months
 Allies made repeated assaults on the Gallipoli
peninsula
 Turks able to defend position

Allies withdraw

Fighting in Asia:
 Germany had many colonial outposts in China &
Pacific Islands
 Japan quickly took control of German outposts in Asia
 Heavy fighting breaks out in the Middle East in an
attempt to control strategic waterways
 India sends troops to support British war efforts

Fighting in Africa:
 Germany quickly lost its three African colonies to
British & French colonial militaries
 France & Britain recruited troops from colonial
outposts primarily in Africa
▪ Many colonists volunteered to fight in the hope it would lead
to independence from European rule


German blockade & U-Boats a threat to US commercial shipping
 Germany announce it would sink any Allied ship in British waters,
whether civilian or military (Unrestricted Submarine Warfare)
May 7, 1915 German sub sinks the British passenger ship, the Lusitania.

Ship carried 128 Americans & ammunition for British troops
 American public outrage, Wilson called for immediate end to

policy/Germany complies
 1917, Germany returns to practice & 3 American ships attacked
Germany recruits Mexico to attack US,
 Telegram intercepted by US between Mexico & Germany
▪ Known as the Zimmerman Note
▪ If US loses, than Germany would ensure Mexico gets back Texas, California, New Mexico, & Arizona

April 2, 1917, Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war on
Germany


War affects more than just the soldiers
WWI was a total war
 All involved nations gave all their resources to the war





effort
Governments took control of national economies
Forced factories into military production
All able citizens put to work
Instituted rationing programs to ensure military receive
necessary supplies first
Opposition to war was restricted
 Anti-war protesters imprisoned
 Media reports from the fronts were censored

Governments created a “propaganda machine” to
sell the war to the people & keep up morale for the
soldiers

The role of women:
 Replaced men on the worksite and on
factory/assembly lines
 Volunteered to work as nurses on the front lines & in
military hospitals back home
 Kept the family together & the economy going w/o
their husbands

African Americans:
 Volunteered to serve in the military/were not drafted
 Allowed to become officers for the first time
 The legendary 369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem
Hellfighters) saw more front line combat than any
other US regiment

March 1917, Russia withdraws due to civil unrest
 Russia experienced largest loss of life/more than the
other Allies
 Due to German U-Boat blockade & failure of the Gallipoli
Campaign, food in short supply
 Russian army refuses to fight

Czar Nicholas abdicates
 Democratic government established under the
Menshevik Party
 New government fails after 8 months
 Lenin’s Bolshevik party takes control
 Lenin & Germany end eastern fighting w/the BrestLitovsk Treaty
Winning the War

US involvement brought over 3 million fresh troops &
supplies into war effort

Germany now fighting a one front war w/Allies
 Germany launches major assault on France/within 40
miles of Paris
 US rapidly deploys 140,000 fresh & well-supplied
troops to lead counter-offensive

July 1918 – Second Battle of the Marne
 350 Allied tanks & 2 million American troops smash
thru German lines
 German troops undersupplied & tired after months of
non-stop fighting
 Germany begins a steady retreat

October 1918 – Central Powers fall apart
 Ottoman Turks & Bulgaria pull out
 Austro-Hungary experiences
revolution/government collapses
 German public overthrows Kaiser Wilhelm II

Armistice (cease fire) treaty signed on
November 11, 1918 officially ending WWI

Eliminated nearly a generation of young men
 8.5 million died in battle/another 15-20 million would die of
disease, starvation, or other war related cause

Completely drained the economic reserves of Europe
 Financial cost estimated at $338 billion
 Factories & businesses destroyed
 High post war unemployment

Property damage also in the billions
 Farmland, homes, villages, etc were destroyed
 Extreme starvation resulted from lack of usable farmland & that
all cattle/animals killed for military support

Deeps feelings of resentment & hatred between faction
 European Allies wanted someone to pay for war

Literature & art following war extremely dark &
disillusioned


January 18, 1918 delegation of involved
nations meets at the Palace of Versailles
outside Paris
The Big Four delegates from the major Allied
powers were”
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Woodrow Wilson (USA)
Georges Clemenceau (France)
David Lloyd George (Britain)
Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
Russia not represented due to civil war/Germany not
invited!
The Versailles Treaty of 1919

Woodrow’s Fourteen Points Plan
Goal was to create a
lasting peace & end
resentment
 Plan’s key provisions:






End secret alliances
Protect freedom on the seas
Reduction of military power
Address colonial issues
divide disputed European
territories to create new nations
w/democratic governments (selfdetermination)
 Create a League of Nations whose
sole goal was to promote peace.
France & Britain wanted Germany to pay
for war & wanted Germany to be
punished






Place sole responsibility for WWI on
Germany/ The War Guilt Policy
Disbanded German military
Germany could not create a new military
Confiscated German territories in Europe,
Asia & Africa
Germany to pay monetary reparations to
Allies to cover cost of war & rebuilding
Adopted Wilson’s League of Nations
but ignored rest of 14 Points plan



Increased tensions & anger among involved nations, particularly Germany
Many new nations created out of old Austro-Hungarian & Ottoman empires
Much of the Middle East given to Britain & France




US rejects treaty



Reparations left Germany unable to rebuild economically
Starvation & economic failure persisted long after other nation’s recovered
Africa & Asia destabilized





Did not feel Germany should bare sole debt of war
Did not like League of Nations/ wanted to stay out of European affairs
The War Guilt clause led to hatred between Germany & other European nations



Palestine, Iraq & Jordan go to England
Syria & Lebanon go to France
Due to Russian pull-out, the Baltic republics & Poland confiscated from Russia
By joining in war effort, many colonial nations hoped to gain independence
Request for independence denied
French & English colonial holdings expanded!
Began open rebellion against colonial governments
League of Nations had no power to ensure peace or administer the treaty/ widely
ignored by member & non-member nations