1. Europe Plunges into War HSCE 7.2.1 Ch. 29 sec. 2
* Europe divided into 2 sides:
-Triple Entente---Gr. Britain, France, Russia
-Triple Alliance---Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
*Tangled alliance system explodes when Austria-Hungary declares war after Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated
***Mid-Aug., WWI begins….
*After Aust.-Hung. declares war, Russia moves to A-H border
-Germ. declares war on Russia & two days later, France…….later, Gr. Britain declares war on Germany
Animated map of WWI

2. *Central Powers----Germany, Austria-Hungary --later Ottoman Empire & Bulgaria would join *Allies---Great Britain, France, Russia --Japan joined later *most felt the war would be quick & painless…..WRONG!!! --Fall of war is a bloody stalemate---neither side winning *Western Front---deadlocked region in Northern France where stalemate & most of the fighting took place

3. *Germans fighting on 2 fronts: Western & Eastern
*Schlieffen Plan---attack & defeat France (Western) quickly, then turn East & knock out Russia
--had to act quickly---Russian railroads bad & can’t re-supply as fast as Germany
--Germany easily gets to France……Allies re-group & stop the Germans from taking Paris. = Schlieffen Plan is ruined
--Germs. took too long in France
--Russia already invading Germany
*Germany has to fight a 2 Front War!!!
--Western Front turns into bloody stalemate
*Trench Warfare---soldiers fought from MILES of dug trenches to be protected from enemy fire
--each side gained not much ground on the other
--1000s of wasted lives in “no man’s land”--- space between the opposing trenches
All Quiet

8. Trench warfare was BRUTAL
*Trench warfare was BRUTAL!!!! Horrible conditions & new weapons just killed more efficiently----not end the war sooner. *New weapons first used in WWI: --poison gas = Germans first used it, but both sides soon did --Machine gun = way improved by WWI --Tank = 1st introduced by Brits in 1916 at Battle of the Somme --Submarine = 1914—Germans perfected it & it was their greatest weapon *Eastern Front---- German-Russian border Russia’s war effort was nearly wiped out -Russia had not been industrialized & could not keep up war manufacturing -Short on food, guns, ammo, clothing -U-Boats kept supply ships out of Russia in the open seas *Russia’s # 1 weapon = NUMBERS-----country’s HUUUUGE population kept rebuilding the army’s ranks to keep fighting---kept the Germans busy in the East so they couldn’t throw it all to the West.