War Consumes Europe Ch. 29.2

The Balkan Region was known as the “powder keg” There was much political unrest in that region. Many countries were fighting for their independence.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, paid a visit to Sarajevo. (The capital of Bosnia.) The royal pair was shot at point-blank range as they rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open car.

Ferdinand was shot in the jugular and died within minutes. Sophie was shot in the abdomen and died in route to the hospital. Ferdinand’s dying words were, “'Don't die darling, live for our children.”

The car the royal couple were killed in

Ferdinand’s blood- stained jacket

The Killer The killer was Gavrilo Princip, a 19 yr old member of the Black Hand. The Black Hand was a secret society committed to ridding Bosnia of Austrian rule. Because Gavrilo was Serbian, Austria decided to punish Serbia.

An angry Kaiser Wilhelm II offered Germany’s unconditional support. On July 23, Austria presented Serbia with a list of demands. –End anti-Austrian activity –Allow Austrian officials into their country to investigate the assassinations.

War declared Serbian leaders accepted some of the demands and offered to have the other demands settled at an international conference. On July 28, Austria rejected Serbia’s offer and declared war.

Russia gets involved The same day, Russia (Serbia’s ally) took action. Russian leaders ordered the mobilization of troops toward the Austrian border.

Uh-oh Leaders all over Europe suddenly took alarm. The British foreign minister, the Italian government, and even Kaiser Wilhelm II urged Austria and Russia to negotiate. But it was too late. War had already been set in motion.

WWI The assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark that ignited a giant blaze. This single terrorist act set off a chain reaction within the alliance system that would result in the largest war the world had ever seen. It was THE GREAT WAR, later known as WWI.

The Alliance System Collapses By 1914, Europe was divided into two rival camps. –Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, Russia –Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy This system of alliances brought nearly all nations of Europe to war within days.

Russia heads toward Germany In response to Austria’s declaration of war against Serbia, Russia moved its army toward the Russian-Austrian border. Because Germany and Austria were allies, Russia also moved troops to the German border.

War for Germany Czar Nicholas II told the Kaiser it was just a precaution. But Germany viewed as a declaration of war. On August 1, Germany declared war against Russia.

France Russia turned to France for help. (its ally) Germany did not even wait for France to respond. Two days after declaring war on Russia, Germany also declared war against France.

Schlieffen Plan This plan called for attacking France and then Russia. The German general (General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen) thought that since Russia lacked railroads, they would have difficulty mobilizing its troops. Under this plan, a large part of the German army would race west to defeat France and then return to fight Russia in the east.

Belgium Speed was vital to this plan. Germany demanded that its troops be allowed to pass through Belgium on their way to France. Belgium, a neutral country, refused. Germany invaded Belgium.

Great Britain gets involved The invasion of Belgium brought Great Britain into the conflict. Outraged over the violation of Belgian neutrality, Great Britain declared war against Germany on August 4.

Battle Lines Central Powers –Germany and Austria Hungary –Because of their central location in Europe. –Bulgaria and Ottoman Empire would later join Allies or Allied powers –Great Britain –France –Russia –Japan –Italy at first was neutral and later joined –(Italy was an ally of German at first, but after Germany invaded Belgium, Italy switched sides)

Western Front

France gains Intel In the beginning, the Schlieffen plan worked. By the end of August, Germany captured Belgium and invaded France. By September 3, German units were on the edge of Paris. The French then intercepted intelligence that told them the exact direction German troops were headed.

Battle of Marne On September 5, the Allies attacked Germans northeast of Paris in the valley of the Marne River. More than 600,000 taxicabs rushed soldiers from Paris to the battle front. After four days of fighting, the Germans retreated. The Germans had been driven back 60 miles.

First Battle of Marne

Schlieffen Plan will not work The defeat of the Germans at the Marne River forced them to abandon the Schlieffen Plan. A quick victory against France did not seem possible. Russia had already invaded Germany. The Germans were now fighting battles on the Western and Eastern borders. Many German soldiers left France to fight the Russians in the East. This left the Western Front in a stalemate.

Trench Warfare By early 1915, opposing armies on the Western Front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire. This became known as trench warfare. Soldiers fought each other from trenches. Armies traded huge losses for small land gains.

Life in the Trenches Life was miserable “The men slept in mud, washed in mud, ate mud, and dreamed mud.” Infested with rats Fresh food was non-existent Sleep was impossible

No Man’s Land The space between opposing trenches was termed “No man’s land” When the officers ordered an attack, the soldiers ran into ‘no man’s land’ under machine gun fire. Staying in the trenches did not ensure safety. Artillery fire brought death right into the trenches.

Western Front was a terrain of death It stretched 500 miles from the North Sea to the Swiss border. “Shells of all calibers kept raining on our sector. The trenches disappeared, filled with earth…the air was unbreatheable. Our blinded, wounded, crawling, and shouting soldiers kept falling on top of us and died splashing us with blood. It was living hell.”

New Weapons The new tools of war had not delivered a quick war. Instead it killed huge numbers of people more effectively. –Machine guns –Poison gas –Armored tanks –Larger artillery Airplanes and submarines were also used for the first time in warfare.

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Battle of Somme The slaughter reached a peak in Germans launched a massive attack against the French. Each side lost more than 300,000 men. The British army tried to help France and attacked the Germans northwest of Verdun, in the valley of the Somme River. The first day of battle, more than 20,000 British soldiers were killed.

By the time the Battle of Somme ended in November, each side had suffered over half a million casualties. Near Verdun, the Germans advanced four miles. In the Somme valley, the British gained five miles.

The Eastern Front The Eastern Front was the battlefield along the German and Russian border. At the end of August 1914, Germany counterattacked the Russians near the town of Tannenberg. During the 4 day battle, the Germans crushed the Russian army and drove them into retreat. Germany regained East Prussia and seized numerous guns and horses from the enemy. More than 30,00 Russian soldiers were killed.

Limanowa In a 17 day battle near Limanowa, Austria defeated the Russians and drove them eastward. Two weeks later, the Austrian army pushed the Russians out of Austria- Hungary.

Russian Industrialization Russia had yet to become industrialized. As a result, Russian army was continually short on food, guns, ammunition, clothes, boots, and blankets. The Allies were unable to ship supplies to Russia’s ports. In the North Germans blocked the Baltic Sea. In the South the Ottomans controlled the Mediterranean Sea. The only asset Russia had were its numbers.

Russia Valuable Throughout the war, More than 2 million Russian soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured in The army was still able to rebuild ranks. For more than 3 years, the Russian army managed keep hundred of thousands of German troops in the east. Thus, German could not hurl its full fighting force at the West.

As the war waged on, the fighting spread beyond Europe. –Africa, –Southwest and Southeast Asia

Causes of WWI What were the causes of WWI? –Militarism –Alliance System –Imperialism –Nationalism The spark that set the fire was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand