The Beginning

44mins

Setting the Stage  Europe had been at peace for three decades  The major powers at this time were Germany Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, Russia, Italy and France  Causes of the outbreak of WW I: Gavrillo Princip assassinates the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. He was a member of the black hand, a terrorist group that wanted Bosnian independence from Austria-Hungary. Militarism Alliances Imperialism Nationalism

Nationalism: Extreme pride in your country or culture Led to competition between countries for power which led to…

Colonizing was important because it provided the colonizing nation with more resources, military bases to control the area and a bigger market to sell their goods. In order to colonize, countries needed a stronger military which led to… Imperialism: The idea of one country dominating another country. Countries trying to expand into other areas of the world.

Militarism- Having a large army ready for war The idea that several countries had so much military power with up to date weaponry created a lot tension throughout Europe. Building of a stronger and more effective military by improving weapons/technology.

Alliances Countries teamed up to work together against another group of countries. Alliances help create a Balance of Power. Equalizing power between nations. Alliances were believed to prevent war.

Archduke of Austria-Hungary Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophie are assassinated by a Serbian, Gavrilo Princip while visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia June 28, 1914

1. Princip was supplied weapons by the Serbian government and Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the murder of their leader Franz Ferdinand and declared war on Serbia. 2. Russia was allies with Serbia, so Russia came to help protect Serbia. 3. Germany was allied with Austria-Hungary and jumped in to help by declaring war on Russia. 4. Then Austria-Hungary declared war on France because France was Russia’s ally and bordered Germany.

5. Germany takes Belgium -Germany needed to catch France off guard and took over Belgium. 6. Belgium was allies with Britain, so Britain jumped in to protect Belgium. Britain declared war on Germany.

According to the map what are the alliances at the start of the Great War?

Two Major Alliances formed: Central Powers Germany, Austria, Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Bulgaria Allied Powers Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Serbia and Romania

New Kind of Warfare -Considered the first modern war because new modern weaponry/technology was used. -The war spurred new innovations. -French military was out gunned by the Germans. Germans had powerful new machine guns. -French tried to charge the Germans with swords and the Germans mowed them down with their machine guns

French were able to hold off the Germans from capturing France. This battle to hold off the Germans allowed Russia enough time to gather their army to fight Germany on the eastern border. This caused Germany to have to pull some of its troops out in France to fight Russia on the other eastern side. Battle of Marne

1. Fighting in the Trenches 2. New Weapons War Reaches a Stalemate

-Created protection from enemy fire -created a stalemate or deadlock between the fighting sides because:  a. machine guns were always point at the opposing sides trenches. Anytime a soldier appeared from the trenches, he was littered with machine gun bullets.  b. soldiers tried to run to the enemies trench but was mowed down by machine guns  -no progress was made on either side

New Weapons -New weapons were developed because of the lack of progress from trench warfare -Germans launched canisters of Poisonous chlorine gas that would fill the air and be breathed in, destroying soldier lungs and making it impossible to breath. -British and French eventually began using poisonous gas as well. -Poisonous gas became useless when soldiers started to wear gas masks. -British created an armored tank -Airplanes were used to map enemies location and drop bricks and heavy objects on enemy soldiers. Soon machine guns were mounted on airplanes and bombs were dropped -Air warfare started when pilots would shoot other pilots in the air called “dogfights.”

Tech Developments of World War I