Battles of WWI

Do Now

• Take out web activity from Friday• If you could have watched any of the

battles that you learned about, which would you select and why?

War on the Home Front:Government Action

• Total war governments taking stronger control of citizen’s lives– Changes nations’ industries & economies– Factories produced military equipment – Citizens conserved food & other goods

War on the Home Front:Government Control

• Tried to controlled public opinion– Censored newspaper reports about fighting

to keep from discouraging public

• Created propaganda - information to influence opinions– Encouraged volunteers– Posters, pamphlets, articles about enemy’s

brutal actions

Thinking Question

• In what ways did the war affect the home from?– The government took over factories– Civilians conserved food and materials– Propaganda was produced

Battles on the Western Front

• While people on the home front supported their troops, the war in Western Europe was going badly for the Allied Powers

Battles on the Western Front:The Italian Front

• Italy joined Allied Powers, May 1915• Sent forces against Austria-Hungary at

border with Italy• Series of back-and-forth battles• Little progress

Battles on the Western Front:The Battle of Verdun

• Germans planned assault on French fortress, Verdun– Believed French would defend fortress at all

costs– Meant to kill, injure as many French soldiers

as possible

• 400,000 French casualties in 10 months of fighting, almost as many for Germany

Battles on the Western Front:The Battle of the Somme

• British launched attach in Somme River area to pull German troops away from Verdun– Main assault during 1916, but no major

breakthrough

• Both sides lost great numbers of troops– British suffered nearly 60,000 casualties on

the first day of fighting

Battles on the Western Front:The Third Battle of Ypres

• Failed French offensive caused rebellion among French soldiers, spring 1917– British began offensive near Ypre, Belgium,

site of German attacks

• Third Battle of Ypres a disaster for British

Thinking Question

• What was the result of the battles of the Western Front?

War Around the World

• Early fighting took place in Europe• Conflict quickly became a true world

war as fighting spread around the globe• Over 30 nations officially took sides in

the war

War Around the World:Gallipoli Campaign

• Ottoman Empire joined Central Powers, late 1914– Controlled sea passage, Dardanelles– Used by Allies to ship supplies to Russia

• Spring 1915 Allies land on Gallipoli Peninsula and attempt to destroy forts on Dardanelles– Gave up after months of fighting, 200,000

deaths

• Later in war Arabs overthrow Ottoman rule

War Around the World:Armenian Massacre

• Same time as Gallipoli Campaign • Ottoman leaders claimed Armenians

aided Russians– Began forcibly removing Armenians– Ottoman leaders accused of genocide,

destruction of racial, political, or cultural groups

War Around the World

• War also fought in Asia and Africa• Japan declared war on German

– Part of military agreement with Great Britain

– Japanese captured German colonies in China

– British, French attacked German colonies in Africa

• Allied colonies scattered around world made contributions to war

Venn Diagram: WWI Battles

• Explain how the war on the Western Front was different than the war elsewhere in the world?

West OtherBoth

Venn Diagram

•German forces typically

attacked first•Front lines did

not move•Trench warfare

and new technology

•Russian forces attacked first•Front lines moved east

•Massive casualties