1. 1914-1918

2.  Avoid a two front war  Attack one at a time  6 weeks to take France  Austria will hold off Russia  Attack north through Belgium and circle around Paris  Trap the French against the Alps

3.  Battle of the Marne – stops the Schlieffen Plan in it’s tracks. Will cause the German Army to retreat to a defensive position. Trench Warfare will ensue  Battle of Ypres – Germans will try to drive the British back to seize the port of Calais. Famous for Flanders Fields, and gas attacks from both sides  Battle of Tannenberg – Eastern Front. An outnumbered German Army will capture two Russian armies with little trouble (Bad news for Russia

4.  Gallipoli (1915) – b\c of stalemate on the Western Front the British will try to open a front in the Balkans. Will suffer massive casualties and lead to the firing of the British Minister of Defense, Winston Churchill.

5.  Machine guns and Heavy artillery require soldiers to take cover  14 000 miles of trenches will be dug on a 750 mile front  The area between them would be referred to as No Mans Land  Western Front would be known as a war without Flanks

6.  The Front line would be made up of 4 lines of defenses with communication trenches connecting them  Barbed wire would be lined in front of them  Dugouts were dug into them  Sappers would dig tunnels into no mans land and set off massive explosions

7.  Mass production (could supply million man armies)  Trains and steamships could mass transport soldiers and goods  Communication – Radio(still relied on wires) and telephone  Machine guns, rifles that fire 1000 yards, heavy artillery (rifled 15-20 miles) creates a death zone between enemy lines.  War needs to take on a defensive posture. The weapons are too good

10. The Machine GunHeavy Artillery

11. U-BoatsAirplanes

12. Dreadnaughts Poison Gas (Mustard and Chlorine)

13.  All these European powers went all in  Losing could not be an option b\c it would mean ruin  The Stalemate on the Western Front meant no one could win a decisive victory  Governments turned to their populations  Total War means the total resources of society are committed to the fighting effort  Gov’t would ration and conscript/draft soldiers into military service  6 million went to war in 1914, and 65 million by the end

15.  1915 the secret Treaty of London promised Austrian territory (Balkans) to Italy if they switched sides  1917 Balfour Declaration promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine to win Jewish support  Britain coaxed Arab leaders into revolt by promising to liberate them from the Turks  1917 – Germany sneaks Vladimir Lenin into Russia to start a Revolution

16.  United States industrial might was supplying the British and French war effort  British navy neutralized the German navy at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and was choking off German supply lines  German high command declares the Waters around Europe a battle ground and any ship carrying supplies to England or France is to be sunk  The United States will declare war on Germany

17.  1916 – Jutland: the show down between the German and British navies. Germany realized how quickly they could have lost their fleet that cost billions of dollars. They will resort to their U-Boats  1916 – Verdun: Symbol of French military glory. 1 million German shells bombing seven French forts. 280 000 Ger. And 315 000 French and the Germans gain 7 km.

18.  1916 – Counter the Ger. Offensive  60 000 British Casualties on the first day  450 000 Ger. And 420 000 British Casualties for 10 km of ground

19.  Russia pulls out of the War because of Communist take over  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gives the Ukraine to Germany  Spring sees a German Ludendorff offensive to make the final push to take Paris  The French and British stop them at the Marne River for a second time

20.  Sept. 27 th 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II is forced to step down  Bread riots break out in the Streets of Berlin  German Banks refuse to loan any more money to fight the War  November 11 th, 1918 Germany officially surrenders  Jan. to July 1919 – Paris Peace talks present Germany with the terms of Surrender. The Treaty of Versailles