1. Beginning of World War I
Mr. Meester
AP European History

2. The Alliances The Triple Alliance The Triple Entente
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Germany worried that France would try to retaken the region Alsace-Lorraine.
Made alliances with other powers that provided all members would help each other if any of them were attacked
The Triple Entente
France, Britain, Russia
France worried about Germany's growing military and industrial strength.
Britain saw Germany as a rival to its sea power and for colonies in Africa
This understanding was a treaty of friendship, not a firm military pact

3. Other Factors
Militarism - a policy of glorifying war and readying the armed forces for conflict.
Urged a constant buildup of weapons and troops.
Believed that quarrels between nations "must be settled not at the conference table but on the battlefield”
Imperialism
European Imperialism and the Balkan Crisis
Countries competed fiercely to gain colonies, new markets, and new sources of raw materials.
Germany and Italy wanted to catch up to Britain and France.

4. Nationalism French wanted to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine
Germany wanted to extend its power and territory.
Russian Pan-Slavism envisioned Russian rule over the Slavs of Eastern Europe

5. Army Increase
Russia , ,300,000
France , ,000
Germany , ,000
Austria-Hungary 247, ,000
Britain , ,000
Italy , ,000
Japan , ,000
U.S.A , ,000
Military expenditure
Germany and Russia had the largest budgets in 1914
Britain and Germany spent most per capita:
Germany $8.52
Britain $8.53

6. The Coming of War Murder in Sarajevo
June 28, 1914
Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip (The Black Hand) assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand.
Heir to the Austrian throne

7. Austrian Reaction “Blank Check” to move against Serbia.
The ultimatum - July 23, 1914
Ordered Serbia to end all anti-Austrian activities and let Austria handle the investigation of Ferdinand's murder.
Deliberately made the ultimatum too harsh to accept
The start of war
July 28, 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia
Sets of a chain reaction - WWI began August 4, 1914

8. Changing Alliances The Allied and the Central Powers
Allies - France, Britain, and Russia.
US officially joined the Allies in 1917.
Central Powers- Austria-Hungary and Germany
Italy remained neutral at first and then joined the allies in 1915 (wanted to gain land from Austria)
Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers shortly after the war began

9. The Schlieffen Plan (August 1914)
The plan was designed to prevent a 2-front war by quickly defeating France & Belgium
Belgium armies resisted the German attack and fell back in an orderly retreat
French armies linked with the retreating Belgium armies to give a stiff resistance to the German attack
English armies landed in France very quickly and joined the Belgians and French
Greatly slowed the German advance toward Paris & spread it out over a wide front

10. 1st Battle of the Marne
French counter-attack at the Marne River (September 1914)
The French sensed a gap in the German line near the Marne River
The French threw everything they had into the battle of the Marne
The French government even requisitioned Paris taxi cabs to shuttle reinforcements to the front
The ferocity of the attack forced the German advance to stall

11. The Western Front
The Schlieffen Plan - The plan called for Germans to invade France through Belgium and after (what planners believed would be a quick) victory send the troops on trains to the Eastern front to fight the Russians
Trench Warfare - instead of a quick victory battle became a war of attrition -- German advance halted at the Marne.
New weapons
machine guns, artillery, poison gas, tanks, airplanes, submarines
Stalemate
February 1916 Germany army began a major offensive at the French town of Verdun
In five months of siege, the Germans failed to capture Verdun

12. Trench warfare
Both sides dug trenches to protect themselves from machine gun fire.
By November 1914 continuous trenches extended from the Belgium ports to the Swiss border
Artillery was used to "soften up" the other side
Infantry went "over the top" and tried to run across "no man's land" and reach the opposing trench

13. Cost of War
Cost in lives was tremendous and the gain in territory was minuscule
The battle of the Somme gained 125 square miles at a cost of 600,000 allied dead and 500,000 German dead
The battle of Verdun lost 700,000 lives on both sides with no gain in territory
From Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front "We see men living with their skulls blown open; we see soldiers run with their two feet cut off....Still the little piece of convulsed earth in which we lie is held. We have yielded no more than a few hundred yards of it as a prize to the enemy. But on every yard there lies a dead man."

14. Stalemate Tactics Poison gas (chlorine and mustard gas) Airplanes
Used initially by the Germans in an experiment
Many died without warning
Later agreements limited the use of gases
Airplanes
Initially used for reconnaissance
Later loaded with hand-held bombs
Eventually equipped with machine guns
Erection of the Siegfried Line
A group of forts along the German-French line that provided improvements over the trenches
Effective in stopping French advances