Download Chapter 24

NDP, World History (Shuler),
Fighting World
War I (19141918)
Focus: Describe the course of war
in the five major theaters (Western
Front, Eastern Front, Middle East,
colonies, and Atlantic Ocean).
What new technology added to the
war’s brutality? Why did the
Central Powers lose?
TOTAL WAR! Some Key Terms
Stalemate: neither side can win… just keep
throwing troops at each other
Attrition: slowly wear down the other side
Which side will be able to keep fighting after
losing 1,000,000 men? 2,000,000? Etc.
Total War: involves the entire country…
Factories changed to produce war goods
Food rationed to provide for soldiers
Women take on factory jobs
Therefore civilians may be targeted by armies
Propaganda
To win a total war, need
to keep up public
enthusiasm (morale)
Propaganda: public
posters, movies, etc.
designed to raise public
support
This cartoon, entitled
Bravo, Belgium, shows
the Prussian bully
threatening poor little
Belgium, yet Belgium is
bravely prepared to fight
The Opening Participants (not Italy and
almost not Britain)
By 1915, promises of land lure in other powers…
ALLIANCES and 5 THEATERS of WAR
5. Atlantic
Ocean
4. Western
Front
1. Colonies
3. Eastern
Front
2. Middle
East
Theater 1: The Colonies and Globe
Germany has few colonies and quickly loses
outside of Europe
Japan joins the Allied Powers to snatch up some
small German colonies
World War I is mainly a world war only because
soldiers come from the colonies to fight in Europe
Where do you think this is?
Theater 2: The Middle East
Britain fights the Ottoman
Empire: a stalemate until 1917
when Britain begins to win
Failed attempt at Gallipoli
(1915) to conquer the Ottoman
capital of Istanbul
To gain support, Britain
promises parts of the Middle
East to the French, to Jewish
spies, and to Arab nationalist
revolutionaries… often the same
land to each!
Gallipoli
Arab Revolt
vs. Ottomans
Theater 3: The Eastern Front
More dynamic than the Western Front (see shaded
areas to either side of double arrow on map)
Russia can beat Austria, but Germany can beat
Russia when it can spare the soldiers
• 1917: Russia collapses
from attrition…
Communist revolutionaries
overthrow the czar and
surrender to Germany
• This frees up German
soldiers… could
Germany’s eastern army
now give it victory in the
west?
Theater 4: The Western Front
1914: Germany’s
initial invasion halted
30 miles from Paris
Photo: Paris taxi used
to rush soldiers to the
front
Stalemate: 1,500
miles of trenches are
dug… can’t maneuver
E.g. Somme (1916):
British lose over
600,000 men in 4
months and advance
only 5 miles!!!
“Going Over
the Top”:
Charging
Machine Guns
Trench Warfare
Great for defense, horrible for offense
Thus stalemate and a war of attrition
Trench
Warfare:
Layers of
Defense
Artillery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82GoiIMS6Ig
Attrition in the Trenches: Snipers,
Trench Foot & Shellshock (PTSD)
Technology to Break the Stalemate?
Heavy Artillery
“Big Bertha” could fire
6 miles
Any movement of an
army was preceded by
days of artillery attack
Cities & civilians
became targets of these
attacks
Fails to break the
stalemate
Technology to Break the Stalemate?
Airplanes and Zeppelins
Used as spotters
for artillery
First bombers…
but can only
carry very small
explosives
Fails to break the
stalemate… but
looks glamorous
Technology to Break the Stalemate?
Poison Gas Attacks
Mustard and chlorine gas (both drift downwards)
Effective as a first surpise… but fails to break the
stalemate
Forbidden by treaty later as a war crime
Technology to Break the Stalemate?
Tanks and Armored Cars
Protection vs. machine guns in no-mans land
Slow, expensive, and break down often, but
actually pretty effective by the end of the war
Theater 5. The Atlantic
Naval battles are surprisingly rare
Britain blockades Germany, which causes mass
starvation by the late war (total war!)
But Britain and France rely on overseas supplies too…
Theater 5. The Atlantic
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
Germany responds by building submarines (called
untersee or “U-Boats”) to sneak past the British navy
and sink merchant ships (war of attrition)
Theater 5. The Atlantic
The Problem? Sinking U.S. Merchants
1915: the sinking of the U.S. ship Lusitania leads to
an ultimatum from the U.S.A.
Germany has to abandon submarine warfare
But, in 1917, out of desperation, Germany resumes
sinking merchant ships without warning
1917: The U.S.A. declares war on Germany,
sending troops to the Western Front
Why?
Submarine warfare vs. U.S.
ships
Zimmerman Telegram
German telegram to Mexico
The Germans offered to
restore Texas & the Southwest
to Mexico if the Mexicans
would help the Germans fight
the United States
British intercept and give to
the U.S.A.
The End of the War (late 1917)
Central Powers:
Ottoman Empire is collapsing
Austria-Hungary is alive but completely exhausted
Germany is okay-ish
Allied Powers:
Russia has collapsed
France is alive, but its soldiers refuse to attack
Britain is okay-ish
America has joined, is strong, and is fresh
The Question: Can German reinforcements from
the Eastern Front crush France before the U.S. can
make a difference?
The Answer: NO!
Armistice
Day
The last German offensive fails
U.S. & British armies push forward towards Germany
German soldiers begin to run away, forcing the
German government to sue for peace
Armistice (= truce): 11:00am Nov. 11, 1918
Why did the Central Powers lose?
Fighting on two fronts
America’s superior industrial might
Bad luck