Download The First World War

The First World War
Time Line
• 1914
World War I breaks out in
Europe.
The Germans fail to take Paris;
trench warfare begins in France.
The Germans defeat a Russian
offensive in East Prussia.
The Ottoman Empire enters the
war on the side of the Central
Powers.
Time Line
• 1915
Italy enters the war on the Allied
side.
The British launch the Gallipoli
campaign.
Germany’s campaign of
unrestricted submarine warfare
results in the sinking of the
Lusitania.
Time Line
• 1916
• 1917
The German offensive at Verdun
and the Allied offensive on the
Somme fail to produce
breakthroughs.
The British and German fleets
fight the Battle of Jutland.
David Lloyd George takes office
as Great Britain’s prime minister.
The U. S. Enters the war on the
Allied side.
Georges Clemenceau becomes
premier of France.
Time Line
• 1918
• 1919
President Woodrow Wilson
announces the Fourteen Points.
Soviet Russia signs the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk.
Germany agrees to an armistice.
The Paris Peace Conference
begins its deliberations.
The Germans sign the Treaty of
Versailles.
The War in the West
1914-17
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Battle of the Marne
Stalemate on the Western Front
Battle of Verdun
Battle of the Somme
The Western Front in 1917
Changes in Political Leadership
The War in the West
1914-17
• Battle of the Marne
• 8/4/14: Germans invaded Belgium.
• As the Germans advanced, the British
Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to
France.
• End of August, Germans defeated the
French in the Battle of the Frontiers.
• 9/5/14: In the Battle of the Marne, French
turned back the Germans 12 miles short of
Paris.
The War in the West
1914-17
• Stalemate on the
Western Front
• After the Marne, both
Germans and French dug
trenches.
• Trench warfare in France
continued for the better
part of 4 years.
• Failed offensives.
• Heavy artillery.
• 4/1915: Chlorine gas at
Ypres.
The War in the West
1914-17
• Battle of Verdun
• 2/1916, Germans massed for assault
on French stronghold at Verdun.
• Battle continued until December.
• No decision.
• French losses: 540,000.
• German losses: 430,000
The War in the West
1914-17
• Battle of the Somme
• 7/1916, British and French launched an
offensive at the Somme River.
• Battle lasted into November.
• British introduction of the tank.
• Allies advanced the line only 7 miles.
• British casualties: 400,000.
• French casualties: 200,000.
• German casualties: 650,000.
The War in the West
1914-17
• The Western Front in 1917
• French war-weariness required the British
to assume greater responsibility for the
front in France.
• British offensives as Passchendaele and
at Cambrai both indecisive and costly.
• After 3 years of fighting, no real gains and
tremendous casualties on both sides.
The War in the West
1914-17
• Changes in Political
Leadership
• 12/1916: Liberal British PM
Herbert Asquith stepped
down.
• Gave way to a war cabinet
headed by Liberal David
Lloyd George, the “Welsh
Wizard.”
• 11/1917: Georges
Clemenceau became
premier of France,
providing them with
determined leadership.
The Eastern Front, 1914-17
• German Victories in East Prussia
• The War in the East, 1914-16
• Defeat of Russia
The Eastern Front, 1914-17
• German Victories in East Prussia
• Summer, 1914, Russians mobilized
faster than the Germans expected.
• 2 Russian armies invaded East
Prussia.
• August, Battle of Tannenberg.
• Sept., Battle of Masurian Lakes.
• Crushing defeats for the Russians.
The Eastern Front, 1914-17
• The War in the East, 1914-16
• Russians scored some successes against
Austria-Hungary.
• Germans pushed toward Warsaw.
• Russians ran short on ammunition and
military equipment.
• Germans advanced into Russian Poland
and Lithuania.
The Eastern Front, 1914-17
• The War in the East, 1914-16 (cont’d.)
• 9/1915, Tsar Nicholas II took personal
command of the Russian army.
• 6/1916, Russian offensive in Galicia halted
by the Germans.
• 1/1917, Austro-German forces defeated
and occupied Rumania.
The Eastern Front, 1914-17
• Defeat of Russia
• End of 1916, Germans had, in effect,
defeated Russia.
• Revolutions of 1917 ended any possibility
of continued Russian fighting.
• 3/1918, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended the
war between Russia and the Central
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