World War I

Official Alliances are made Allies: Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy Central Powers: Germany, Austria- Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria

The Western Front Schlieffen Plan – Germany tried to take France quickly in the Western Front and then turn to fight Russia Germany goes through Belgium instead of straight through France Britain joins in defense of Belgium Instead, battle lines formed in northeastern France and changed little Battles Along the Western Front - Long, bloody battles: Verdun – 680,000 casualties Somme – over one million casualties

The Eastern Front Lack of modern technology caused Russia enormous defeats Treaty (Brest-Litovsk) signed with revolutionary government in Russia – lost one-fourth of country Russia will pull out of WWI in 1918 due to civil war They will sign treaty with Germany, losing ¼ of population, ¼ of its industry, and 9/10 of its coal mines The Balkan Front The Allies abandoned attempts to land in Balkans after losing The Italian Front Italians joined the Allies in 1915 and fought Austria- Hungary

Weapons and Strategy of War Guns- Technology replaces single fire, short range rifles Gatling guns Machine guns Sniper rifles Multi fire, long range rifles British rifles -8 rounds/second at distance of 2900 yards Tanks Poison gas Chlorine Mustard gas phosgene Propaganda Used by both sides to both gain support for the war, and depict the evils of the opposing side Trench warfare 475 miles of trenches were dug in northern France New strategy of warfare, ultimately stalemated the war and led to untold number of deaths Airplanes Used more for transportation of troops or supplies, not much fighting took place in the air Flame throwers