The Great War

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The Great War
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Militarism

• The glorification of the military
• Nations in Europe competed in an arms race
• Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest)
• Germany and Britain competed to build
• Europes largest navy Britain grew
  suspicious of the growing power of Germany

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Alliances

• Triple Alliance (1882) Fearing France would
  seek revenge for the Franco-Prussian War, Germany
  formed an alliance with Italy and
  Austria-Hungary. Germany later signed an
  alliance with the Ottoman Empire
• Allies In response, France formed an alliance
  with Russia in 1894. In 1904, Britain signed an
• entente, an agreement to follow similar
  policies. Britain later signed a similar
  agreement with Russia

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Nationalism

• Nationalists feelings were strong in both
  Germany and France
• France wanted to regain its position as Europes
  leading power and sought to recover the provinces
  of Alsace-Lorraine from Germany
• Pan-Slavism Russia sponsored this nationalist
  movement and sought to unite all Slavic people.
  As the largest Slavic state, Russia felt it had a
  duty to defend all Slavic people. Many of the
  Balkan states were ruled by either the Ottoman
  Empire or Austria-Hungary

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Imperialism

• Britain felt threatened by Germanys rapid
  economic growth. Industrialization led Germany
  into competition with Britain for overseas
  markets and natural resources
• Rivalries for colonies divided many European
  nations
• Moroccan Crisis Competition for colonies in
  Africa brought France Germany to the brink of
  war in 1911

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Assassination

• Bosnia was under the rule of Austria-Hungary,
  but wanted independence
• Nationalists groups within Bosnia formed to
  oppose Austria-Hungarys authority
• The Blank Hand, one of these nationalists
  groups, planned to assassinate the heir to the
  throne of Austria-Hungary
• On June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was
  assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. This ignited
  World War I.

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Bosnia
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The War Begins!

• Austria sent Serbia an ultimatum to end all
  anti-Austrian agitation and punish all involved
  in the assassination plot
• July 28, 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia
• Kaiser William II of Germany promised to support
  Austria
• Russia, defender of Slavic people, mobilized to
  defend Serbia
• France vowed to support her Russia.
• Germany demanded that France stay out of the
  conflict. When France refused, Germany declared
  war on France
• Britain and Italy remained uncommitted

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Allies
Central Powers

• Russia
• France
• Great Britain
• Serbia
• Montenegro
• eventually joined by
• Italy
• Romania
• Greece
• Portugal

• Austria-Hungary
• Germany
• Ottoman Empire
• Bulgaria

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Schlieffen Plan

• Plan designed by German General Alfred von
  Schlieffen.

• Goal was for Germany to avoid fighting
• Russia France at the same time.

• Russia would be slow to mobilize. Use all
• German forces to quickly defeat France,
• then focus on fighting Russia.

• Plan required Germany to invade France
• through Belgium. Belgium was a neutral
• country.

• Outraged by German invasion of Belgium, Great
  Britain declared war on Germany.

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Schlieffen Plan

• Russia mobilized quickly causing Germany
• to withdraw some troops from France to
• fight Russia on the Eastern front.

• France resisted Germanys attempt to take Paris.
• German plan for a quick victory fails.

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Two Front War
Western Front

• Sight of a series of battles that
• stretched from the Netherlands in the north
• to the Alps in southern France.
• Characterized by trench warfare
• A fight for position

Eastern Front

• Fought along border of Russia and Germany

• Large Russian army outmatched by
• technologically advanced German army

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Western Front
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Eastern Front
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Allied Powers
Central Powers
Russia France Great Britain Italy Portugal Belgium
Serbia Greece Romania
Austria-Hungary Germany Ottoman Empire Bulgaria
The Originals
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Trench Warfare

• To avoid the rapid fire of machine guns,
• both the Allies and Central Powers dug a
• complex series of trenches

• Trenches on the Western Front stretched
• from the English Channel to Switzerland

• no mans land is the area between two
• opposing trenches

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• Airplanes
• one or two-seat propeller plane equipped with a
  machine gun.
• used primarily for observation.
• skilled pilots competed in dogfights

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Automatic Machine Guns

• mounted gun that fired a rapid stream of
• bullets.
• invented by American-born Hiram Maxim,
• but first used in war by Germans
• made it difficult for troops to advance

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Submarine

• Underwater devices used to launch
• torpedoes at opposing ships
• Germans invented and used U-Boats to
• attack Allied shipping during World War I.

• German attack on a luxury cruise ship
• drew the United States of America into the
• War

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Battle of the Marne

• Year 1914
• Front/Place France (Marne River)
• Significance French troops pushed backed the
  German forces and ended Germanys plan for a
  quick victory.

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Battle of Tannenberg
Year 1914 Front/Place Eastern
Germany Significance Russia suffered a
devastating defeat to the Germans. Russia forced
to retreat and the remainder of the fighting on
Eastern Front occurred in Russia.
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Gallipoli Campaign
Year 1915 Front/Place Turkey Significance
Battle over control of the Dardanelles Srait.
Ottoman troops defeated Allied forces on the
beaches of the Mediterranean, forcing an Allied
Power retreat
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Gallipoli
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Sinking of Lusitania
Year 1915 Front/Place Off coast of
Ireland Significance British cruise ship sunk by
German submarine. 1,200 passengers killed (128
Americans). USA/Germany agree that warning will
be given before attacking ships. Germany did not
follow through with agreement, bringing USA into
war.
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Naval Blockade
Year 1915-1917 Front/Place English Channel,
North Sea, Mediterranean Sea Significance
British navy prevented weapons supplies from
reaching Central Powers.
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Battle of Verdun
Year 1916 Front/Place Northern
France Significance Battle where both Central
Allied Powers suffered heavy casualties.
Germans were unable to move deeper into France.
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Zimmerman Telegram
Year 1917 Front/Place USA, Mexico,
Germany Significance Germans sent a telegram to
Mexico, asking their support in the
war. Promised to reclaim lost territory of New
Mexico, Texas, Arizona for Mexico.
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Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Year 1918 Front/Place Germany/Russia Signific
ance Russia surrenders to Germany due to a
revolution in Russia.
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Woodrows 14 Points
Year 1918 Front/Place USA Significance
President Woodrow Wilson issues a list of points
designed to resolve World War I prevent future
wars.
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Battles on the Western Front
http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/games/western_front/i
ndex.shtml
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The Big Four

• President Woodrow Wilson (USA)
• Prime Minister David Lloyd George
• (Great Britain)
• Georges The Tiger Clemenceau (France)
• Vittorio Orlando (Italy)

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Wilsons 14 Points

• called for an end to secret treaties
• freedom of the seas/free trade
• self-determination
• reduction of arms

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France Britain React to 14 Points

• Believed the 14 Points were too easy on
• Germany
• Clemenceau Wilsons 14 points bore me.
• Why, God Almighty only has 10!
• Great Britain wanted to preserve its
• colonial empire, not lose territory

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Provision of the Treaty

• Germany was to assume full blame for
• the war
• Germanys army may have a maximum of
• 100,000 men and 6 warships in its navy.
• Germany was not permitted to have
• submarines or military aircraft
• Germany must pay reparations for all
• loses to the Allies

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Changes in the Map of Europe

• Alsace-Lorraine was given to France
• Creation of Estonia, Latvia,
• Lithuania
• Austria Hungary became two separate
• nations
• Czechoslovakia was formed from parts of
• Germany Austria-Hungary

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• Finland was created from former Russian
• territory
• Yugoslavia was a country that was formed
• in the Balkan region that included part of
• Austria-Hungary, Montenegro, and Serbia.

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Problems with Treaty

• German resentment of the Treaty of
• Versailles caused World War II
• Italy did not receive territory promised by
• the Allies in their secret treaty
• Russia was angry about the creation of
• Poland and the establishment of Estonia,
• Latvia, and Lithuania
• During the war, Japan claimed German
• colonies in China. This territory was taken
• From Japan following the war.

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Europe 1914
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Europe,1919
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