War Consumes

1
War Consumes

• Realities of
• World War I

2
Alliances

• Triple Entente (Allies)Britain, France, Russia,
  Belgium
• Central PowersGermany, Austria-Hungary,
  Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire
• Italy joins the Allies in 1915 and America joins
  the Allies in 1917

3
Western Front

• Germany tried to take France quickly in the
  Western front and then turn to Russia
• Schleiffen Plan
• Battle lines formed in France and become a
  stalemate
• Long, bloody battles
• Verdun680,000 causalities
• Sommeover a million casualties

4
Eastern Front

• Lack of technology caused Russia enormous defeats
• Treaty signed with Russia, ¼ of country was lost

5
New Weapons

• Machine Gun
• Replaces single-fire,
• short range rifle
• British machine guns
• fire 8 rounds a second,
• at a distance of 2,900 yards
• Artillery
• Greater power and traveled a further distance
• 24 million shells used in the Battle of Verdun
  alone

6
New Weapons

• Weapons of the Industrial Era
• 75 different types of poison-gas bombs
• Flame throwers
• Tanks
• Airplanes

7
Casualties of Modern Warfare

• Sending masses of men toward the enemy didnt
  work against modern weaponry
• Britain suffered 57,470 casualties in the first
  day of the Battle of Somme
• Total losses for WWI exceeded 10 million

8
Reality of War

• Many Europeans looked forward to war at the
  beginningPatriotic Fervor
• Soldiers change Europeans optimistic fervor
  through letters about the horrors of war
• Soldiers PoemWilfred Owen

9
Trench Warfare

• 475 miles of trenches were dug across northern
  Europe
• Horrible living conditions
• No mans land

10
Trench Layout

• Paradosprotection for soldiers
• Communication trenchused to move food, men, and
  supplies
• Listening postused to listen to enemy plans
• Fire baywhere shooting occurred, artillery
  stored
• Dugoutsprotected area for soldiers and officers
• Front-linewhere the main fighting occurred

11
Hygienic Conditions

• Licetrenches were normally infested with lice.
  Lice carried diseases such as Trench Fever
  (shooting pains in shins and a very high fever)
• Trench Ratsattracted to trenches by food and
  rotting corpses. Rats grew to enormous sizes
• The rats were huge. They were so big they would
  eat a wounded man if he couldnt defend himself

12
Trench Rats
13
Fighting in TrenchesGas Shells

• Chlorineslow death by asphyxiation, it often
  took days. They remained conscious right to the
  end.
• Mustardtook 12 hours for the effects to appear.
  Rots the body inside and out, skin blisters,
  nausea, vomiting. Lastly it attacks the
  bronchial tubes. Most men had to be strapped
  down from the pain. It took 4-5 weeks to die.

14
Fighting in TrenchesNo Mans Land

• Usually crossed over at night
• Had to cut barbed wire and avoid machine gun fire
  and snipers

15
Disease and Death

• Dysenterydiarrhea with blood and mucus in the
  feces and is associated with fever and pain in
  the body
• Caused by impure water and improper sanitation.
  Latrines were a pit 4-5 feet deep
• Shell Shock
• Symptomstiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack
  of concentration, and headaches
• Led to a mental breakdown caused by shell bursting

16
Disease and DeathTrench Foot

• Caused by wetness and are eaten away from the
  moisture
• Feet would gradually go numb and the skin would
  turn red or blue
• If untreated the foot could turn gangrenous and
  result in amputation
• During the winter of
• 1914-1915, 20,000 men
• were treated for trench foot
• Only remedy was to keep
• feet dry
• Soldiers required to
• have at least 3 pairs
• of socks
• Required to steal
• socks from the
• dead enemy

17
Disease and Death

• Self-inflicted Wounds
• Those that could not handle the conditions of war
  would hurt themselves so they could be sent home
• Suicide was also common