Alliances, no matter how you view them are preparations for war. –Allies are France, Great Britain, Russia, and turn-coat Italy. –Central Powers are Germany, Austria- Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire –Europe had been at war with one another since the mid to late 1800s that helped to cause these alliances Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated by a Serbian national organization known as the Black Hand. So in order to stop future Serbian uprisings AH declares war on Serbia. Russia promised to protect all Slavic people no matter what government they were under and therefore declare war on AH. BANG!!!

This causes Germany to declare war on Russia because of their alliance with AH, and then declares war on Russia’s ally: France. Great Britain then declares war on Germany and AH because of its alliance with France.

Germany began the war offensive with invading Belgium on August 4 th 1914 following the Schlieffen Plan. Unable to save Belgium the British and the French retreat to the Marne River and stopped the German advancement in September My plan is the bomb homeboy!!!

By the spring of 1915 two lines of deep rat-infested trenches zigzagged across northern and eastern France. German soldiers occupied one line and Allied soldiers occupied the other line. This Sucks!!!

Between them lay “no man’s land” a barren expanse of mud pockmarked with shell craters and filled with barbed wire entanglements. Every once in a while, the soldiers would climb out of their trenches and try to overrun enemy lines, while machine guns blazed and poison gas filled the air. Trench warfare was the name given to this style of combat

Began on July 1 st 1916 and lasted until mid-November the British lost 60,000 troops on the first day alone. Final casualties totaled about 1.2 million- 650,000 Germans, 420,000 British, and nearly 200,000 French. Yet only 7 miles of ground changed hands. This kind of fighting would continue for more than three years (war of attrition)

Christmas Truce Began on Christmas Eve December 24, 1914 all along the Western Front Two sides: Germans and British mainly (with some French) come together and eat, drink, sing Christmas carols, and play soccer. Soldiers would communicate with one another when they would be firing at the other’s trench It lasted until New Years Day 1914 some lasted a little longer Over 100,000 troops participated

United States Exports to Europe Numbers represent dollars (in millions) Many Americans did not see a need to fight in a war that was 3,000 miles away (isolationism) Despite the widespread opposition to war, a general feeling of sympathy for Great Britain and France emerged. They finally commit to war in 1917 to push the Allies over the top.