World War I

� Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia set off a chain reaction within the alliance system. The countries of Europe followed through on their pledges to support one another. As a result, nearly all of Europe soon joined what would be the largest, most destructive war the world had yet seen.

� Nationalism: strong colonial ties along national lines, self-government—encouraged competitiveness and antagonism between nations

� Imperialism: competition for colonies; antagonism

� Militarism: build up of weapons & military=adjoining nations get nervous

� Alliances: if a country in your alliance is attacked, you are obligated to protect

� Checks & Balances: interwoven military alliances that stabilized Europe—countries reluctant to upset balance

� Balkan Peninsula—“powder keg” of Europe

� June 1914=Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophia assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist (member of The Black Hand)

Day of Assassination

� Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia—alliance system is put into motion...

� Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria Hungary, Italy

� Triple Entente: France, Great Britain, Russia…Italy eventually switches sides

� Called for attacking and defeating France in the west and then rushing east to fight Russia.

� Counted on the slow mobilization of Russian forces due to lack of railways.

� Called for 39 days for the fall of Paris, and 42 days for the defeat of France.

General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen

� Summer of 1914 turned to fall, the war turned into a long and bloody stalemate, or deadlock, along the battlefields of France-First Battle of the Marne…This deadlocked region in northern France became known as the

Western Front.

� The Schlieffen Plan failed-Germany was then forced to fight a two front war. Disadvantages???

� Conflict descends into trench warfare—armies fighting from trenches.

� Battles result in many deaths and very small land gains.

� Life in trenches is miserable, difficult, unsanitary.� New weapons only lead to more deaths.� The slaughter reached a peak in 1916.

� February 1916: Battle of Verdun—Each side lost more than 300,000.

� July-November 1916: The Somme—Each side suffered more than 500,000 casualties.

� Only 5 miles were gained in each of these battles.

NUMBNESS AND THEN TURN RED OR BLUE, BLISTERS, OPEN SORES, FUNGAL INFECTIONS; CALLED TROPICAL

ULCER (JUNGLE ROT).

IF LEFT UNTREATED, RESULTS IN GANGRENE, WHICH CAN

REQUIRE AMPUTATION.

� Shell Shock victims

� “We must look out for our bread. The rats have become much more numerous lately because the trenches are no longer in good condition. Detering says it is a sure sign of a coming bombardment.

� “The rats here are particularly repulsive, they are so fat—the kind we call corpse rats. They have shocking, evil naked faces, and it is nauseating to see their long, nude tails.

� Poison Gas

� chlorine and phosgene—both toxic substances that caused suffocation

� mustard gas—a blistering agent that caused severe burns and blisters on the skin and stripped severely damaged the lungs. It sometimes took five weeks to die from mustard gas exposure.

� Machine Gun Tank Submarine Zeppelins Airplanes

Australian troops in the trenches equipped with gas masks, Battle of Ypres, 1917

� Mustard gas burns from World War I

The British Vickers machine gun required a six man team to operate. One to fire, one to feed the ammunition, and the rest to help carry the weapon and supplies.

British Mark I tank on September 26, 1916

Submarines:

German U-Boat U-14

� Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen: German fighter pilot known as the "Red Baron". Most successful flying ace officially credited with 80 confirmed air combat victories. Killed in combat with Canadian pilots near the Somme River.

� Early Fighting� Eastern Front—much more mobile and costly; site of

main fighting along the German-Russian border.� Russians push into Austria and Germany, but soon

forced to retreat.

� Russia Struggles� Russia’s war effort was suffering by 1916; many

casualties and few supplies.� The huge size of Russian army keeps it a formidable

force and prevents Germany from sending more troops to the Western Front.

� Withdraws from war-1917-fighting their own civil war—Czar replaced with provisional government