The Great War 1914-1918

The War Begins

The Impact of Technology

The Western and Eastern Front

The Expected War

• European leadership believed the War would be a limited one

• Modern weapons, numerous alliances, the cult of militarism and the belief of cultural superior lead Europeans to believe the war to be a quick and decisive

Friends and Foes

• The alliance system allowed for weaker nations to act with a chip on their shoulders

• They were secure in the knowledge that a powerful nation supported them

• The Triple Entente (France, Britian and Russia) and faced off the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy)

A War Based on Time Schedules?

• Military strategist used timetables to give their forces a military edge• The Schlieffen Plan, called for Germany to

immediately attack France using railroads to move troops quickly, removing France would allow Germany to fight Russia by itself

• Russia’s Mobilization Plan, plan was to begin moving troops on Germany before war declared

• French Plan XVII, plan to mass troops on Germany’s border for the one decisive battle to end the war

The Assassination of the Archduke

• Visiting Bosnia Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian Empire is assassinated 28 June 1914. This triggers the war in Europe

• Austria invades Bosnia triggering the numerous alliances beginning the war

World War I Begins

• Europe expected a short quick war but in reality got a global conflict

• Japan and the U.S would join the Allies and the Ottoman Empire would join the Central Powers

• Technology and its adaptability will change the face of war forever

Technology and Trench Warfare

• New weapons like artillery, tanks, machine guns, submarines, biological weapons and airplanes multiplied the destructiveness of human life

• Forced to overcome technology the armies continued to concentrate on manpower as the force to break the stalemate

Technology and Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare

• Trench warfare dominates fighting along the western front in 1914

• Hundreds of miles of trenches will be dug and house tens of thousands soldiers from artillery barrages and infantry attacks

• The area between two trench systems was known as “No Man’s Land”

Trench Warfare

• Trench system purpose was to protect soldiers from enemy fire

• A trench was typically a seven foot deep and six foot wide dug walkway protected by barb wire and sandbags

• Living conditions were horrible because of weather and dead soldiers

The Battle of Marne

• After smashing through Belgium in 1914 to invade France

• Germany decides to divide its army and send troops to the Russian border as well

• Weakened it faces the French and British at Marne and it is forced to dig in outside of Paris

The Battle of Marne

• Both sides hoping to out flank each other begin digging trenches in a “race to the sea”

• The strategy of trench warfare will now lengthen the war as does the beginning of a two front war

The Eastern Front

• Poor leadership and ill supplied troops hampered the Russians

• After severe losses the Russians hold off the Austrians even though they now control 20% of Russia

• Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Russia withdraws from the war

• Russia signs a treaty with Germany in 1917• This allows Germany to shift troops back to the

Western Front

The Western Front

• At Verdun Germany launches an offensive on British and French trench lines

• 10 months of artillery barrages and infantry wave attacks leave over 700,000 men dead

• Leadership philosophy on war is still fixated on using infantry to break the deadlock on the frontlines

A World At War

• War spreads into the Middle East because Germany’s ally the Ottoman Empire threatens the flow of oil from the Suez Canal

• Britian seizes Iraq in 1917 and sends Australian and New Zealand troops to open another front on the Gallipoli Peninsula

• The Gallipoli is a disaster for the British

The At Sea

• The British navy blockades landlocked Germany from supplies

• Germany in response launches u-boats to strangle British sea supply lines by using “unrestricted warfare”

• The invention of depth charges and the convoy system defeat the u-boat threat

The Blackest Year of The War

• Numerous Allied nations are removed from the War allow Germany to concentrate its forces on France and Britian

• Germany itself is suffering from shortages as the War continues

America Enters The War

• 1915 the ocean liner Lusitania is sunk by the Germans and 128 Americans are killed

• January 1917, Germany seeks an alliance with Mexico if it invades the U.S. in the Zimmerman Telegram

• April 1917, Germany sinks 5 American ships using submarines after it pledged not to do so

• America declares war April 6, 1917

The Real Face of War