 On a scrap sheet of paper:  What does M.A.I.N. stand for?  Which two countries are members of the Central Powers?  Which three countries are members of the Triple Entente or “Allies”?

 Take out your already labeled “Europe in 1914” map and open your textbook to page 385.  Get three colors from the box in the front of the room.  Color in the countries that became the Allies, Central Powers, and Neutral Nations.  Put a key somewhere on your map.

 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary decided to visit Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia.  Bosnia was under the rule of Austria-Hungary at the time. ▪ Bosnia had very strong nationalist feelings  Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro- Hungarian throne.  On June 28, 1914 Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie drove through Sarajevo.  The archduke and his wife were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip.

 On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia, Bosnia’s ally.  Germany, bound by their alliance, sought to help Austria-Hungary.  Serbia asked Russia, their Slavic allies, for help.  Russia began to mobilize, or prepare its military forces for war.  Germany declared war on Russia.  Russia appealed to its ally, France.  Germany then declared war on France.

 Italy and Britain tried to remain neutral in the war.  General Alfred von Schlieffen of Germany developed a plan to avoid a two-front war.  The Schlieffen Plan was to defeat France before fighting Russia.  On August 3 rd, Germany invaded Belgium to get to France.  Outraged, Britain declared war on Germany.

 Germany had to split forces to fight Russia on the east.  In September 1914, British troops joined the French to fight the German offensive at the Marne river.  The war quickly turned into a stalemate  A stalemate is a deadlock in which neither side is able to defeat the others.  Both the Allies and Central powers launched offensives to break the stalemate.  There was a German offensive at Verdun that lasted 11 months  An Allied offensive was launched at the Somme, which lasted five months.

 In August 1914, Russian armies pushed into eastern Germany.  At the Battle of Tannenberg, the Russians suffered one of the worst defeats of the war, causing them to retreat. ▪ After the Battle of Tannenberg, armies in the east fought on Russian soil.  In 1915, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and helped crush its old Balkan rival Serbia  That same year, Italy declared war on Austria- Hungary, and later, on Germany.  In October 1917, the Austrians and Germans launched a major offensive against the Italian position at Caporetto.  The Italians retreated in disarray

 Japan allied with Britain and seized German outposts in China and islands in the Pacific  The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in 1914  They closed off the Dardanelles, a vital strait connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean  In 1915, the Allies sent a massive force of troops to open up the strait  At the battle of Gallipoli, Turkish troops tied down the trapped Allies on the beaches.  In January 1916, the Allies withdrew from the Dardanelles  European colonies tried to aid in the battles  Some colonial troops volunteered with the hopes of attaining citizenship and independence.