1. World War I
Warm-Up: Please answer the following question- Why is World War I known as the “Great War”?
John Nash, Over the Top, oil on canvas
Source:

2. I. Long Term Causes of the War
Modernization in Europe
Imperialism
Militarism
Nationalism
Complex Systems of Alliances

3. II. The Belligerents Triple Alliance Triple Entente Germany France
Austria-Hungary
Italy
Triple Entente
France
Russia
Great Britain

4. III. The immediate causes of World War I
Contributing Causes of World War I:
Assassination of Austro-Hungary Archduke Franz Ferdinand
National desires for empire, wealth and territory
Treaties that if one country went to war, more would follow
Social turmoil brought about by the Industrial Revolution
Miscalculation by rulers and generals in power
“The Great War was without precedent…never had so many nations taken up arms at a single time. Never had the battlefield been so vast…never had the fighting been so gruesome.”
Jay Winter and Blaine Baggett
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century

5. IV. World War in 5 Days
July 28, 1914 – Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, confident with German backing.
July 29 - Russian government orders mobilization of forces.
August 1 – France honors treaty with Russia and begins to mobilize forces and minutes later Germany does as well.
August 3 – German troops enter Belgium expecting France to surrender before the British get involved.
August 4 – Britain demands German withdrawal from Belgium, Germany refuses and Britain declares war on Germany.

6. V. The Western Front A. Intention
Germany tried to take France quickly in the Western Front and then turn to fight Russia
B. Reality
battle lines formed in northeastern France
Little change (Stalemate)
C. Battles on the Western Front
Verdun -680,000 causalities
Somme – Over one million casualties
The Schlieffen Plan
Battle of Verdun, 1916
Battle of the Somme, 1916

7. The Western Front Key Military Technologies:
Machine Guns – Good for defense, useless for offensive moves
Trenches – Dug for defense and also communication trenches
Poison Gas – Used by both sides
Tanks – Introduced in Battle of the Somme by British

8. VI. The Eastern Front Russian lack of modern technology
caused Russia enormous defeats
Treaty signed with revolutionary government in Russia
lost one-fourth of country

9. VII. The Balkan Front A. Ottoman Empire joins Central Powers
Old rival of Russia
The allies abandoned attempts to land in Balkans after losing
Allied Victories
Limited
Only real victories in the Middle East

10. VIII. The Italian Front
A. Italians joined Triple Entente in 1915 B. Fought Austria-Hungary

11. IX. New Weapons Used in the War
“Deadly Pigeon”
German plane used to bomb Paris
“World War I marked the first use of chemical weapons, the first mass bombardment of civilians from the sky and the century’s first genocide.”
Jay Winter and Blaine Baggett
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
Picture posed in France
to illustrate effects of phosgene gas
Turkish ethnic cleansing practices killed over a million Armenians

12. X. Results of Modern War Massive Human Casualty
Tactics of sending masses of men toward enemy didn’t work against modern weapons
Britain suffered 57,470 casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme
Trench Warfare
475 miles of trenches were dug across northern France
British troops used over 10 million shovels during the war
Life in the trenches
Charging over the top crossing no man’s land to reach enemy trenches
Boring terrifying and caused shell shock
Horrible living conditions

13. XI. Effects of the war on the Home Front
A. Mobilizing for the total war
B. Home front sacrifices
Governments controlled industries, supplies through rations
Lives of Women Impacted

14. XII. The War Ends
Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire were first Central Powers to be defeated
Revolts inside Austria-Hungary and Germany helped end the war quickly
German republic proclaimed and new German leaders signed the Armistice ending the Great War on November 11, at 11 A.M.
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