1

The Great War

KTHSModern World History, 2014-15Mr. Peal

2

1. What were the causes of the Great War

2. Where was it fought?

3. How was it fought?

4. What were the results?

3

• The countries of Europe fought the _________ War between 1914__and 1918_.

• It was the largest war in history up to that time. It was renamed WW1__ in the 1930s, when it was clear there would be another world___war.

1. WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT WAR? N + I + M + A

a. Nationalism__: The nations of Europe were proud of their achievements – industry, wealth, and empires. National communities were sometimes too proud to compromise with each other.

b. Imperialism_: As nations acquired empires, the empires competed for wealth and power.

c. Militarism__: Competition for empire led to the desire to build larger and better equipped armies___and navies. Industry made it possible to create deadlier weapons and to move soldiers quickly over long distances.

d. Alliance system__: Close relationships between nations meant they would defend each other in case of war. As a result, small conflicts between nations could become big conflicts between empires__.

4

Europe’s two alliances• Europe was divided into 2 alliances.

• ALLIES. Great _______________ was the world’s strongest country because of its enormous ________ empire. Britain’s allies were ______________ and Russia.

• CENTRAL POWERS. _____________had a growing land empire. Germany had only one real ally: ____________________. Germany was also allied with the Ottoman Empire, a large but declining ______________ Islamic.

5

An alliance is an agreement between countries to work together to reach shared goals.

6

Germany’s problemGermany _________France in a war in 1870-1871. France and __________ became allies in 1892. Germany felt surrounded by enemies.

Circle France and Russia.

Germany’s plan, if there was a war with France and Russia, was to defeat _________quickly and then collect its armies to fight Russia, a much bigger country.

Serbia was an independent nation. Many Serb people also lived inside Austria; they were a ________________within Austria. Serb ____________________ wanted ALL Serbs to live in their own country. In late June 1914, the son of Austria’s ruler, Franz Ferdinand, visited the city of ________________ in Austria, a place where many Serbs lived.

7

Background to the war

8

1

•Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot and killed by a 19-year-old ________nationalist on June 28.

2

•Austria wanted to fight Serbia. Its ally, _____________, encouraged Austria. In late July, Austria forced Serbia to _______________ or go to war.

3

•Serbia refused to apologize. Austria declared _______________ on Serbia on July 28, 1914

Six steps to war

9

4.

• ____________ supported its ally Serbia and called up its solders to defend Serbia. It issued a general mobilization (called up its entire army).

5.

•Feeling threatened by Russian mobilization, Germany _____________________ its army too. Germany threatened France not to support Russia. When France refused, Germany declared war on Russia and France on August 1.

6.

•When Germany marched through Belgium to fight France on August 3, ________________ decided to help Belgium, a neutral country. The war was on. All countries are involved Six steps to war (cont.)

“If you hit that little feller, I’ll…”

10

Serbia Austria Russia Germany France & England

WHERE WAS THE WAR FOUGHT?• In the Great War, there were

three major fronts:1. __________ Front in

Northern France.

2. Eastern Front along Russia’s border with Germany and Austria. It was almost 1,000 miles long!

3. The Home Front refers to the people back home who _______________the soldiers.

11

A ________ is the term for “where the fighting takes place during a war.”

Western Front• By the end of 1914, Germany

and France reached a ___________.

• Neither side could win. Both dug into ________________, deep ditches that stretched for 400 miles across Northern France.

12

HOW was trench warfare fought?

100 years of industrial growth led to the creation of new, deadly weapons. • Airplanes – to __________on

enemy positions• Poison ________– to attack

enemies you couldn’t see (because they were in trenches); the gas settled in enemy trenches

• Tanks – to move safely over __________trenches

• Planes - to ________on enemy trenches

13

What was artillery?

• Used on battleships and on land

• Howitzers lobbed __________ high in the air, so they would land on targets (e.g., fortifications)

• The biggest howitzers could fire shells that weighed more than a ton kg more than 50 miles (Big Bertha)

• France’s strong fortifications (forts) were quickly destroyed

Some people estimate that more than 60% of casualties in World War 1 were

caused by artillery.

14

Three great battles on the Western Front15

Marne Verdun Somme

September 1914 Feb. – Dec. 1916 July to Nov. 1916

• French stopped German attack against its capital city, Paris, at the start of the war.

• ________ warfare began.

• It continued for __________ years.

• Germany started a gigantic offensive against the French and British.

• Together, Germans and French lost 250,000 men without gaining land

• 40 __________artillery cannon shells were fired.

• British and French started this battle to take the pressure off Verdun.

• The first day was the bloodiest day of any battle in ___________.

• The ____________ was used in war for the first time.

These great battles accomplished very little. Neither side was winning until 1917, when the United States entered the war on the side of France and Britain.

Eastern Front• Russia divided its army to

fight Germany and ____________________.

• Germans were successful against the Russian troops from the beginning.

• Russia had a huge army, but it suffered from poor transportation and lack of _______________.

• Russia could not easily fight both Germany and _______________.

• By 1917, Germany and Austria took over large parts of Russia.

16

Austria

Germany

Ru

ssia

Germany and Austria were winning on the Eastern Front. In 1916 they controlled the black areas on the map. Russia was __________________.

The Two Russian Revolutions of 1917: Background

Russians were ________________ badly. In the cities, people were starving.

In February 1917, workers in Russian factories went on ____________. They wanted the emperor to stop the war.

February Revolution: The emperor ______________________ (quit). A more democratic government took over. It continued fighting the Germans and continued _______________.

October Revolution: The _________________ took over, promising FOOD and PEACE. Russia left the war. _______________ was the new, Communist ruler. Germany could now focus all its soldiers on the Western Front.

17

Home Front ALL governments wanted people

at home (women, children, and the elderly) to help the war by…Working in ________________to

make weaponsGrowing __________ for soldiersNot ____________________food

and metal objects that could be melted down

Lending ______________________to the government for the war

Governments communicated with people on the home front through ________________ posters

18

Propaganda – government messages (posters, movies, flyers) that try to change people’s attitudes and behavior.

Home Front _______________: Men were asked to fight for the nation (positive message).

19

Nationalist propaganda also taught people to hate their enemy (_______________message). How were the Germans depicted?

20

WHO WON THE WAR?• In 1917, the _________ entered war

because its ships were being sunk by German ____________.

• American soldiers made it possible to push the Germans back on the Western Front in 1918.

• The Germans realized they could not win and asked for a _____________________fire.

• War ended with an _________________ (agreement to stop fighting) on November 11,1918.

• The Germans lost but never really surrendered. They were TREATED as if they had started the war.

21

Europe in 1914 and 1924. Notice the borders of Germany, Austria, and Russia before and after the war

22

How empires changed after the war

1. The __________ Empire disappeared. Germany became a republic

(democracy). Germans started looking for people to blame for losing

the war.

2. The ________________ Empire disappeared. Nationalities like

Serbia became new countries. Circle them.

3. The ___________________ Empire disappeared. It was replaced by a

____________________government that took over all factories and

claimed to speak for workers.

4. The _______________________ Empire was divided up. It was

replaced by countries that are having troubles today: Syria,

_______________, _________________, and _________________.

23

24

Europe in 1920

Some facts about the war

65 million (mostly) men were called up to fight

Almost 10 _____________ were killed in battle. More than 20 million were wounded.

7 million ______________________ (non-soldiers) were killed.

Every day of the war, for four years, 900 Frenchmen were killed and 1300 Germans were

killed

On July 1, 20,000 British soldiers killed in one day, the first day of the battle of the

_________________

First war in history where most deaths were from war, not ____________________

Half of all ______________ born in 1890 in France were killed or wounded.

20 million or more died from the global Spanish ________ pandemic in 1919. Disease spread

quickly because communities everywhere were weakened by poor nutrition during the war.

Millions more starved in Europe.

25

At the end of the war…

Nationalism, militarism, and imperialism were

still problems.

The new countries in Europe were even more

___________________ than before the war.

Germany and Italy were _________________

with the results of the war.

After the Revolution, millions died in a Russian

_____________ War.

World War II breaks out less than 20 years

later.

26

Some facts• 17% of French soldiers were killed• 15% of German soldiers• One in five British officers was killed• More than a third of Serb soldiers were killed• Every day, 900 Frenchmen killed; 1300 Germans killed

every day• July 1, 20,000 British soldiers killed in one day, Somme• First war in history where most deaths were from war, not

disease• Some – five months; Gallipoli – eight months• FOUR million fought at Somme• Attitude toward others changed• Germans killed 5,000 civilians in Belgians

27