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| NOTES: [WW1] |
| 03.01.10 |
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[LINK]: WW1 Reading Selections [LINK]: WW1 assignments/worksheets [LINK]: WW1 eBook |
| Great powers of Europe—England, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia— century of relative peace before 1914. They had accomplished this through a series of alliances designed to keep a delicate balance of power in Europe. None of the countries intended to have war, but their actions led to one... |
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| European Rivalries 1. competition for world trade... 2. battled for colonies in Africa and Asia: source of wealth, cheap labor, & materials for industry/war... 3. personal conflicts among monarchs: closely related by blood or marriage to Queen Victoria of England- instead of peace made rivilary... |
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| Growth of extreme nationalism, devotion to a country, created bitter racial & ethnic resentments between nations & within empires like Austria-Hungary. Nationalism made it easy to get armies gathered - each thought they were best... | |
| Triple Alliance was made up of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. These countries agreed to defend each other if one of them was attacked. Triple Alliance dissolved during war: new coalition called Central Powers- consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey), and Bulgaria. |
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| In response, the Triple Entente was formed by Britain, France, and Russia to counter any attack upon each other. Later it expanded & became the Allies: included Great Britain, Russia, Serbia, Japan, Belgium, Italy, the United States, France, Greece, Romania, Australia, Canada, & New Zealand. |
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| World War I: Early Stages The Spark of War “The war to end all wars,” as World War I was later referred to, began with a public murder. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian fanatic led to a declaration of war on July 28, 1914, by Austria-Hungry who thought Serbia had encouraged this act of terrorism against it. Once started, the fire of war spread out of control. Russia was allied to Serbia so it declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany was allied to Austria-Hungary and fearful of Russia so Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. France mobilized its army, which led Germany to declare war on France on August 3, 1914, partly because the mobilization, or preparation and movement, of an army was basically seen as an act of war itself. When Germany invaded Belgium on its way to war with the French army, Great Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914. Since Japan had an alliance with Britain, it joined the Allies (formerly the Triple Entente) three weeks later. The Ottoman Empire joined Germany and the Central Powers. Italy left the Triple Alliance and remained neutral until later in the war when it joined Britain and her allies. The United States, which had avoided entangling alliances, remained neutral until attacks on American ships compelled it to join Britain and the Allies against the Central Powers in 1917. Germany Invades Belgium The Germans had planned well. They launched a surprise offensive through Belgium and attacked France along its undefended border with Belgium. Germany intended to use its invading army to pin down France’s forces, and it almost worked. They were stopped, however, by fierce resistance from French and British forces at the First Battle of Marne along the Marne River. Both sides dug in, and a series of intense battles began. This war in the trenches resulted in millions of casualties but little movement of the opposing armies over the next four years. |
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| World War I: Early Stages Trench Warfare Military tactics at the beginning of World War I were centered around two main elements: enormous firepower and rapid movement of troops. Machine guns, powerful cannons that could fire huge explosives at great distances, and concentrated rifle fire were designed to provide cover for soldiers who attacked enemy lines in quick surges and then battled in hand-to-hand bayonet fights. (Bayonets are knives attached to the barrel of a rifle so that the rifle can be used like a spear at close range.) The war quickly settled into a fight for narrow pieces of the battlefield with men charging into massive firepower from machine guns, rifles, and cannons. Both attackers and defenders used hand grenades and rifles, but the attackers were always at greater risk. They suffered terrible casualties to gain extremely minor parcels of land. The trenches were filled with muddy water, human waste, rats, insects, wounded soldiers, and the mangled bodies of the dead. Lice fed on the living soldiers, and rats fed on the dead and dying. Some of the trenches were used as long as four years and were occupied by different armies at different stages in the war. Life in the Trenches The death rate in the trenches was extremely high. The soldiers who fought in these trenches suffered horribly. If they were wounded during a daytime attack, they were often left on the battlefield until survivors could be picked up under the cover of darkness. Disease and infections were spread to almost every soldier. Huge numbers of soldiers died from disease rather than battlefield injuries. Medical care was still primitive, and soldiers often lost arms or legs which might have been saved with proper treatment. Another horrible practice was the use of poisonous chemicals such as mustard gas and chlorine gas that were fired at enemy trenches with artillery shells. Soldiers had to wear gas masks to avoid painful injuries, disfigurement, and death. Mustard gas was the most lethal of the poisonous chemicals used during World War I. It blisters the skin of victims, irritates the eyes, causes vomiting and internal and external bleeding, and attacks the bronchial tubes. Chlorine gas destroys the respiratory organs of its victims, which leads to a slow death by asphyxiation. An estimated 91,000 soldiers died as a result of poison gas attacks, and another 1.2 million were hospitalized. |
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| World War I: Later Stages Battles at Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes: While Germany was attacking France, two separate Russian armies attacked Austria- Hungary and East Prussia. The Russian armies were huge, but they were very poorly trained, equipped, and led. The two Russian commanders hated each other and did not cooperate well. Messages were sent over wireless radio transmitters and were not coded, which enabled them to be intercepted. The German army essentially destroyed both Russian armies, first at Tannenberg and later at Masurian Lakes. Verdun By 1916 the German commander-in-chief had decided to attack and destroy the famous complex of fortresses at Verdun, which controlled access to eastern France. The intent was to kill huge numbers of French troops and end the stalemate which had developed. In February 1916, the Germans launched massive attacks against the French at Verdun and sent waves of troops to wipe out the French defenders. French reinforcements were sent in, and Germany made few real gains. With their rallying cry of “They shall not pass!” the French were able to keep the Germans from advancing. Losses on both sides were high. The battle cost the French 400,000 casualties and the Germans about 320,000 casualties. Bloodbath at the Somme The British hoped to break the stalemate near the Somme River in northeastern France. They launched a massive artillery barrage of 1.6 million artillery shells against the entrenched German forces. The German troops moved underground and avoided most of the damage from the barrage. The British troop advance was met with massive force. More than 60,000 British troops were wounded or killed on the first day. When the battle finally ended later in the year, the British had suffered 420,000 casualties, the French lost 195,000, and the German defenders suffered 650,000 casualties. No real progress was made. |
World War I: Later Stages: Other Battles A fierce battle was fought in 1915 on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey where British forces were trying to keep open a narrow waterway which supplied Russia. The British forces were defeated by the Turks with a loss of 214,000 British and Allied casualties and 300,000 Turkish soldiers. The British won a bitter and costly sea battle at Jutland near Denmark in June 1916, which gave them clear command of the seas for the rest of the war. The Third Battle at Ypres in Belgium had the same effect as the battles at Verdun and the Somme—massive casualties on both sides but no clear victor. The End of the War The Russian army simply dissolved as the war dragged on. By the end of 1917, the Russian army and nation were no longer willing or able to fight. A revolution had removed the tsar, Russia’s ruler, from the throne. By early 1918, Russia had signed a peace treaty with Germany. The U.S. Enters the War The entrance of the United States into the war turned the tide for the Allies. Two million U.S. troops were sent to France, where they fought as an independent force under American leadership. In a series of battles at the Second Battle of the Marne, Argonne Forest, and St. Michel, the Germans realized that they could not match the American forces. Germany was losing on other fronts as well as in Bulgaria, Turkey, and Italy. Armistice The Germans agreed to an armistice, or peace agreement, on Allied terms which took effect on November 11, 1918, at 11:00 A.M. World War I, the costliest war in human history up to that time, was finally over. Nearly 10 million soldiers were killed, and at least 21 million more were wounded. No one knows how many civilians were killed or injured by the war, but estimates suggest there were at least as many civilian deaths as military deaths from disease, starvation, and war- related causes. Most of the nations in Europe were financially ruined and owed massive war debts. The Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement which followed the war, was very punitive toward Germany, and aimed to punish the country. This planted the seeds for a future war. |
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