Chapter 27

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Chapter 27 World War I and Its Aftermath
Section 3 A New Kind of Conflict
The Central Powers
The Allies
Kaiser Wilhelm II Enver Pasha Franz Joseph
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• Setting the Scene
• The Great War as newspapers soon called it, was
  the largest conflict in history up to that time.
  The French mobilized almost 8.5 million men, the
  British 9 million, the Russians 12 million, and
  the Germans 11 million. But for those who fought,
  the statistics were more personal. "One out of
  every four men who went out to the World War did
  not come back again," recalled a survivor, "and
  of those who came back, many are maimed and blind
  and some are mad."
• The early enthusiasm for the war soon faded.
  There were no stirring cavalry charges, no quick
  and glorious victories. This was a new kind of
  war, far deadlier than any ever fought before.

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I. The Western Front

• The Germans followed the Schlieffen Plan and
  swept through Belgium toward Paris

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I. The Western Front

• Russia mobilized quicker than expected and
  Germany had to shift troops to the Eastern Front

The Tsar, Head of the Russian Army
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I. The Western Front

• September 1914 - British and French troops halted
  the German offensive in the battle of the Marne

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I. The Western Front

• Both sides dug in for the winter, creating a
  system of trenches from Switzerland to the
  English Channel

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I. The Western Front

• Battle lines in France remained almost unchanged
  for four years during the trench warfare

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I. The Western Front

• Between the opposing trench lines lay "no man's
  land

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I. The Western Front

• Soldiers would go "over the top" and charge
  across no man's land toward the enemy lines

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I. The Western Front

• The enemy would counterattack and the fighting
  went back and forth, gaining little territory

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I. The Western Front

• In 1916, German forces attacked the French at
  Verdun there were more than a half-million
  casualties

Massacre at Verdun
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I. The Western Front

• In 1916, the Allies launched an offensive at the
  Somme River - in the 5 month battle, over 1
  million soldiers were killed

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II. Technology of Modern Warfare

• Modern weapons - machine guns, larger artillery,
  and poison gas - added to the destructiveness of
  the war

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II. Technology of Modern Warfare

• In 1916, Britain introduced the armored tank, but
  it did little to break the stalemate

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II. Technology of Modern Warfare

• Both sides used airplanes and Germany used
  zeppelins to bomb the English coast

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II. Technology of Modern Warfare

• German U-boats sank Allied merchant ships
  carrying supplies to Britain

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III. A Global Conflict

• In August 1914, the Russians opened the Eastern
  Front but were defeated at the Battle of
  Tannenburg

Russian Troops Fleeing after the Battle of
Tannenberg
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III. A Global Conflict

• In 1915, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and
  Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany

WWI Italian postcard represents Serbia fighting
with Austria and Germany, while Bulgaria tries to
kill Serbia with a knife and Greece watches from
the sideline.
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III. A Global Conflict

• Japan allied with Britain and seized German
  outposts in China and islands in the Pacific

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III. A Global Conflict

• The Turks closed off the Dardanelles and in 1915,
  the Allies attacked and lost at Gallipoli

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III. A Global Conflict

• In 1916, Arabs led by Husayn ibn Ali revolted
  against the Ottoman Empire

Sharif Hussein bin Ali, King of the Arabs and
King of the Hijaz
The Great Arab Revolt, Wadi Rum, 1917
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III. A Global Conflict

• The British sent Colonel T. E. Lawrence - aka
  Lawrence of Arabia - to support the Arab revolt

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III. A Global Conflict

• European colonies provided troops, laborers, and
  supplies

A day for the African army and the Colonial
troops. French soldiers with black soldiers from
Africa and the colonies