World War I

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World War I
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Vocabulary

• Total war When warring countries mobilize every
  resource available and use any means necessary to
  completely destroy an enemy
  
• Trench warfare warfare where enemies sit in
  trenches and the battle line does not move
  
• Alliance an agreement between countries to
  further common goals such as security
  
• Berlin to Baghdad railway a railway Germany
  tried to build to transport oil from the Middle
  East to mainland Europe
  
• Triple Entente Britain, France, Russia, Italy,
  and the U.S.
  
• Central Powers Germany, Austro-Hungarian
  Empire, Ottoman Empire
  
• Neutrality When a country declares not to
  interfere with a war on either side

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Berlin to Baghdad Railway

• German banks were paying for a railway to be
  built from Baghdad in the Ottoman Empire to
  Berlin in Germany
  
• This would bring Ottoman oil to mainland Europe,
  especially to Germany
  
• The British strongly opposed the project because
  it gave oil to Germany and avoided
  British-controlled sea trade

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Alliances

• Balance of Power politics had led to many
  alliances to balance different countries against
  each other. Some of these alliances were secret
  
• These alliances required countries to defend each
  other if one country was attacked
  
• How might this lead to a larger war?

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Franz Ferdinand

• Archduke of Austro-Hungarian Empire
• Tensions between Serbia and Austria were already
  high when a Serbian extremist group assassinated
  Ferdinand

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July Crisis

• Austria sent Serbia a list of 10 extreme demands
• Serbia removed one of the demands and held
  reservations about some of the others
  
• Austria declared war on Serbia
• By treaty, Russia mobilized for war to defend
  Serbia on July 28, 1914
  
• Germany, an ally of Austria, declared war on
  Russia and France
  
• When Germany invaded France through Belgium,
  Belgiums neutrality was violated and, by treaty,
  Britain had to declare war on Germany
  
• 5 out of 6 major European powers were at war

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Trench Warfare

• Trench warfare was a major part of World War I
• Soldiers would fire back and forth from their
  trenches
  
• It was a slow and bloody way to fight war

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New Weapons

• Infantry usually had 4 weapons rifle, bayonet,
  shotgun, hand grenade
  
• Mustard gas and other gas killed soldiers in
  large numbers
  
• Machine guns also killed many people

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Submarine

• The submarine became a popular weapon in the war
• German submarines or U-boats attacked Entente
  supply ships

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American Neutrality

• President Woodrow Wilson vowed to keep America
  out of the war
  
• Public support for the war in America was low

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The Lusitania

• Wilson continually pressured Germany to stop
  torpedoing ships bringing peaceful supplies to
  Entente countries
  
• Actually America had been selling weapons and
  other war materiel for some time
  
• When a German U-boat sank a British ship carrying
  American passengers, the U.S. public was enraged

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The Zimmerman Telegram

• In January 1917, British intelligence intercepted
  a letter from Germany to Mexico telling her to
  declare war on the U.S. if the U.S. entered the
  war
• After German U-boats sank 7 American merchant
  ships and the Zimmerman Telegram was revealed to
  the public, the U.S. declared war on Germany

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World War I

• With the Americans now on the side of the Entente
  powers, the collapse of the Central Powers came
  quickly
  
• The war devastated Europe, destroyed millions in
  productive wealth, and left America as the
  worlds largest creditor nation

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The Numbers

• Entente Powers
• 5,525,000 dead
• 12,831,500 wounded

• Central Powers
• 4,386,000 dead
• 8,388,000 wounded

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Wilfred OwenDulce et Decorum Est

• Bent double, like old beggars under
  sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed
  through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we
  turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest
  began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had
  lost their bootsBut limped on, blood-shod. All
  went lame all blindDrunk with fatigue deaf
  even to the hootsOf disappointed shells that
  dropped behind.GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An
  ecstasy of fumbling,Fitting the clumsy helmets
  just in timeBut someone still was yelling out
  and stumblingAnd floundering like a man in fire
  or lime.--Dim, through the misty panes and thick
  green lightAs under a green sea, I saw him
  drowning.

• In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,He
  plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.If
  in some smothering dreams you too could
  paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in,And
  watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His
  hanging face, like a devil's sick of sinIf you
  could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome
  gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene
  as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable
  sores on innocent tongues,--My friend, you would
  not tell with such high zestTo children ardent
  for some desperate glory,The old Lie Dulce et
  decorum estPro patria mori.