World War I

 Longer than the Western Front  No stalemate like the Western Front, but just as deadly  Trenches never really developed, more fluid troop movement  1000 miles long, so troop density was lower

 Germany vs. Russia—almost destroyed the Russian army  Happened at the same time as the Germans were losing the Battle of the Marne in France  Kept Russia at bay the rest of the war  Russian retreat resulted in permanent loss of land (15% of its territory)

 in the Ottoman Empire  Purpose: to capture the capitol city of Istanbul and secure access for Russia to the Dardanelles strait (warm water port!)  An attempt by Britain and France to lure Greece and Bulgaria into the war on their side  Also a new front was needed since the Western Front was deadlocked.

 Half a million died in the campaign  The Allies gave up the fight after a year  Heavy involvement from Australia and New Zealand, still a deeply felt loss—prior to this loss, they had great confidence in their British military roots

 Germany’s colonial possessions came under assault  Japan attacked their holdings in China and in the Pacific islands  English and French troops attacked African possessions—not well defended (Germany only recently established presence there)  Results in Africa: Germany lost all colonies

 Almost 9,000,000 colonial soldiers were conscripted (the draft)  A million and a half came from India—all ethnicities: Sikhs, Pakistani Muslims  Others came from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica  They were given indigenous uniforms and led by an ethnic “national”

 Use the map on page 418 to answer the questions on your paper.

 1917 Germany intensified submarine use in the Atlantic Ocean—using U-boats  Announced they would sink any ship, unannounced, that was near Britain  This was called unrestricted submarine warfare  This policy had been used before—1915, Germany sank the British passenger ship Lusitania— included 128 US citizens.  Germany had stopped this kind of warfare for awhile, but needed an edge on the Allies so they resumed it in 1917

 “undersea boat”  Used for enforcing a blockade—for example, American supplies being transported to Great Britain as support in the war  Able to sink large ships with a single hit (Lusitania was a one-hit sink)

 The Germans took a gamble—they’d force the British to surrender before the US was provoked to full war  They lost the gamble.  Woodrow Wilson, the US President, warned Germany several times to stop unrestricted sub warfare, but 3 US ships were sunk  The US had previously kept a strict (?) non- intervention policy

 German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to Mexico saying they’d help them “reconquer” the land lost to the United States if they’d join with Germany in WWI.  Britain intercepted the note, decoded it, and passed it on to the US.  Zimmerman initially denied the note’s existence, but in a speech later tried to explain the tone was misunderstood…

 Read the Zimmerman Note and Arthur Zimmerman’s speech about it. Then answer the questions.

 Russia was suffering from harsh winters, low food supply, low fuel supply  Civil unrest forced the Czar to abdicate his throne  The new government tried to stay in the war, but it was still too hard to maintain  A revolution produced another new government under Vladimir Lenin—ended Russia’s involvement in the war.  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended the war between Germany and Russia

 With Russia gone, Germany could focus its efforts on the Western front  Almost to Paris, it seemed like Germany could win the whole thing, but their army was so weakened, a newly revived Allied army was able to beat them—with 140,000 new US troops  350 tanks, then 2 million more US troops arrived  One by one, Central Powers surrendered  Kaiser Wilhelm stepped down on November 9, The new government met with the French to discuss a treaty.  Armistice—agreement—signed November 11 at 11 am.