The War in Europe

A Multi-Front War

The Western Front

New Weapons  The machine gun  Was able to fire hundreds of rounds per minute  Changed warfare due to the destruction these new weapons caused  Cut men down, forced trench warfare

Trench Warfare  New weapons and military strategy forced armies to dig deep trenches and fight a defensive war  No Man’s Land – Strip of land that separated the trenches of opposing armies along the western front during World War I

Trench Warfare

Trenches

No Man’s land Full of barbed wire, land mines, and open to enemy fire.

White areas, no man’s land

Conditions in the Trenches  Lice  Rats  Mud  Trench Foot

Trench Foot

Verdun – February, 1916 e German offensive. e Each side had 500,000 casualties. e German offensive. e Each side had 500,000 casualties.

The Somme – July, 1916 e 60,000 British soldiers killed in one day. e Over 1,000,000 killed in 5 months. e 60,000 British soldiers killed in one day. e Over 1,000,000 killed in 5 months.

War Is HELL !!

New Weapons  The tank was a new weapon to help cross ‘No Man’s Land’  The first tanks brought terror to the German troops  Developed to counter the machine gun’s impact  Unreliable, Slow

French Renault Tank

British Tank at Ypres

Poison Gas  Against the rules of war?  Spread by artillery shells or canisters

Victims of poison gas attacks

New Weapons  Airplane  Used for reconnaissance  Dropped bombs – manually  Romanticized, did not have a huge effect on this war  Big impact on WWII

The Airplane “Squadron Over the Brenta” Max Edler von Poosch, 1917

The Flying Aces of World War I Eddie Rickenbacher, US Francesco Barraco, It. Rene Pauk Fonck, Fr. Manfred von Richtoffen, Ger. [The “Red Baron”] Willy Coppens de Holthust, Belg. Eddie “Mick” Mannoch, Br.

The Zeppelin

Flame Throwers Grenade Launchers

U-Boats

War on the Seas German U-Boats caused havoc throughout the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean

Torpedoes fired at Allied Ships

Allied ships sunk by U-Boats

Artillery Ammunition

English Navy controlled the Seas

Death and Destruction German cemetery

Death and Destruction German dead at Verdun

Death and Destruction Results of French shells

A Beautiful forest

CountryDeadWoundedMissingTotal Australia58,150152, ,320 Austria-Hungary922,0003,600,000855,2835,377,283 Belgium102,000450, ,000 Britain658,7002,032,150359,1503,050,000 Bulgaria87,500152,39027,029266,919 Canada56,500149, ,200 France1,359,0004,200,000361,6505,920,650 Germany1,600,0004,065,000103,0005,768,000 Greece5,00021,0001,00027,000 India43,20065,1755,875114,250 Italy689,000959,100-1,424,660 Japan ,210 Montenegro3,00010,0007,00020,000 New Zealand16,13040,750-56,880 Portugal7,22213,75112,31833,291 Romania335,706120,00080,000535,706 Russia1,700,0005,000,000-6,700,000 Serbia45,000133,148152,958331,106 Turkey250,000400, ,000 USA58,480189,95514,290262,725 Totals7,996,88821,755,1961,979,55631,508,200