1. World War I Course of War

2. Schlieffen Plan

3. German Strategy & the Western Front
Schlieffen Plan to fight a war on 2 fronts (France West & Russia East)
While Russia mobilized
Germans would go through Belgium, circle behind France and conquer.
Defeat it in 6 wks- then turn to Russia.
Transport troops from West to East for a much longer, harder battle.
French Military load 2,000 taxis with soldiers and drove to the front lines.
Battle of Marne: French stop Germans. They attacking right flank. Western front becomes a stalemate.
Soldiers were in trenches for 4 years.
Russia mobilized. Germans need to send troops to the East.

4. Western Front
@ Battle of Marne (Sept 1914), the French fought back (using Parisian taxies to move troops); Germans forced to retreat. Paris was saved
Hope for quick war dashed as both sides settled into trenches
@ Verdun (Feb-Dec 1916) over 700K French casualties
@ Battle of Somme (July-Nov. 1916) 1 million casualties (the Brits lost 60K in one day)
@ Passchendaele (July-Nov 1917) Brits lost 250K men for 5.0 square miles of Belgian Flanders

5. Eastern Front Front not as trench-ridden as West- troops more mobile.
In beginning, Russians pushed into Germany
Under Gen. Hindenburg Germans defeat Tannenberg

6. 1915 over 2.5 million Russian soldiers killed, wounded, taken prisoner
Russia almost knocked out of war
Russians now weak, never re-cooped from loss.
Revolution in Russia = Russia out of war bye 1917.
Germans now focuses on Western Front

7. War Widens Italy betrays Triple Alliance: attacks Austria 1915
Italy Joins Fr./G.B./Russia/Serbia/Belgium
Triple Entente becomes the Allied Powers (Allies)
Japan joins allies to gain Pacific Islands under German Control
A-H, Germany, Ottoman Empire becomes Central Powers

8. America Enters the War British set up Naval Blockade of Germany
Germans set up Naval Blockade of Britain
Germans use submarines to sink Lusitania (passenger ship): May 1915 (100 Americans onboard )
U.S. threatens to enter war if Germans continue use of submarine warfare.
Germans resume submarine warfare Feb 1917 attempting to starve British of supplies within 6 months

9. Zimmerman Telegram: Jan. 2017
Telegram from German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador to Mexico.
The Goal: a Mexican-German alliance in the case of the United States entered the war.
Germany offered a great deal of financial support.
And promised Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico would be given to Mexico if the Central Powers won the war
U.S. enters war April 1917
New source of money, war goods and morale boost to the allies

10. The First Technological War
Machine Gun
Lewis Guns- 500 shells/minute
Large artillery- “Big Bertha” Cannons (Krupp)
15 miles away (by ’18, shelling Paris from 70 miles away)
Tanks
1st used at Battle of Somme by Brits
U-Boats
After Dreadnoughts, Germans focused on these to break Brit blockade
Poison Gas
1st used by Germans at Ypres, eventually both sides used it
Airplanes
Manfred von Richthofen- most famous ace
Zeppelins
Dirigible bombers could level building in seconds; susceptible to ground fire
Radios
1st used to communicate battlefield messages