The Grim Cost of War

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The Grim Cost of War

• We set to work to bury people. We pushed them
  into the sides of the trenches but bits of them
  kept getting uncovered and sticking out, like
  people in a badly made bed. Hands were the worst
  they would escape from the sand, pointing,
  beggingeven waving! There was one which we all
  shook when we passed, saying, Good morning, in
  a posh voice. Everybody did it. The bottom of the
  trench was springy like a mattress because of all
  the bodies underneath
• Leonard Thompson, quoted in Akenfield

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LONG-TERM CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I
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NATIONALISM

• Loyalty and pride for ones nation
• People usually share common language, history or
  culture
• In Germany, many small regions united to form one
  country (late 1800s)

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• Problem small disputes between 2 countries can
  become major issues and involve many countries
• Austria-Hungary and Russia
• Made up of many minority groups
• Many had a desire to unify all Slavic people
  (Pan-Slavism)
• Austrian government was loyal to
• Germany (Pan-Germanism)

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MANY ETHNIC GROUPS FOUND WITHIN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
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ALLIANCES

• Fear and distrust among countries led to the
  formation of alliances
• Discouraged attacks from enemies
• Dangers
• Gave countries a sense of security
• A country may deal differently with another if it
  has support
• Conflict will involve numerous countries instead
  of the original 2

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Triple Entente
Triple Alliance
Great Britain
Germany
Austria-Hungary
France
Italy
Russia
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IMPERIALISM

• Domination by one country of the political,
  economic, or cultural life of another country or
  region (Colonies)
• Major European nations began dividing up Africa,
  Asia and the Middle East into colonies
• Supply raw materials for production
• Larger market to sell goods
• More opportunities for investments

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EUROPEAN COLONIES WORLDWIDE
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• Britain was the worlds superpower throughout
  most of the 1700s and 1800s
• However Germany began to out produce Britain by
  early 1900s
• Also competing for colonies worldwide
• Created an economic rivalry

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MILITARISM

• Glorification (build up) of the military
• Military leaders began to gain more influence in
  national policy due to rivalry among countries
• The public supported military build up and the
  use of force to achieve national goals

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• BRITAIN
• Worlds best navy
• Began to fear Germanys strength

British Warship
Kaiser Wilhelm

• GERMANY
• Best trained army in world
• Significant increase in naval power(u-boats)

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American Neutrality

• Wilson declares the US to be neutral
• Britain uses propaganda to gain US support
• Also cut transatlantic cable to limit media
  coverage
• US businesses and banks support Allies

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Lusitania

• May 1915 British passenger ship, Lusitania, sank
  by German U-Boat (128 Americans on board)

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Sussex

• U-boat shot at French ship, Sussex
• Results in Sussex Pledge
• President Wilson issued Germans a warning
• Germany promised not to fire on merchant ships
  without warning- kept US out of war for a little
  longer

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Zimmermann Telegram

• Zimmerman Telegram
• Secret telegram from Germany to Mexico asking
  them to fight against the U.S.intercepted by the
  British, angers the U.S.

US declares war on Germany
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Buildingup the Military

• National Defense Act increased the size of the
  army and trained officers through conscription
  and selective service (2.8 million drafted)
• Women and African Americans served in the armed
  forces
• Women in non-combat positions
• African Americans faced discriminations and
  prejudice

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Organizing Industry

• War Industries Board- coordinated production of
  war materials
• Victory Gardens
• Liberty/Victory Bonds

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Ensuring Public Support

• Set up Committee on Public Information/George
  Creel
• Hired writers to create propaganda to swing
  public opinion in favor of the war
• Espionage Act of 1917- made it illegal to spy or
  interfere with government
• Sedition Act of 1918- no public opposition of war
• Schenck v. the United States- Supreme Court rules
  that a persons freedom of speech is limited when
  the words constitute a clear and present danger
• Ex. Yelling fire! in a crowded theatre

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An Industrialized War

• Weapons were produced with the same efficient
  methods of mass production that industrialists
  had applied to other products

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TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN WARFARE

• Machine Gun
• Accurate and rapid fire
• 1 man could hold off a hundred

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The Machine Gun

• One of the most important weapons of WWI
• Highly effective
• Land armies often found any advance difficult and
  costly

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Machine Guns
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Trench Warfare

• Protection from machine gun fire and artillery
  bombardments
• Armies dug large trenches where they might live
  for months

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(No Transcript)
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British boys play acting Trench Warfare
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Tanks

• Introduced by the British
• An armored vehicle mounted with guns
• Enabled troops to break though enemy lines

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TANKS

• Armored vehicle designed to break trenches
• Protected advancing troops
• Often slow and clumsy

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POISONOUS GAS

• Various gases caused choking, blinding, or skin
  blisters
• Used to kill or disable troops during an attack
• Gas masks lessened the effectiveness

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Poison Gas

• Germans were 1st to use chlorine gas in 1915
  (Battle of Ypres)
• Caused a burning sensation to the throat and
  chest pains. Painful death by suffocation
• Weather had to be just rightany wind could blow
  gas back on your own men
• Mustard gas was most deadly weapon used
• Fired into the trenches in shellscolorless and
  takes 12 hours to begin working (death can take
  up to 5 weeks)
• Effects include blistering skin, vomiting, sore
  yes, internal and external bleeding

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Poison Gas

• The Germans were the first to use it
• The Allies quickly followed suit

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American wearing a Gas Mask
British Horse wearing a Gas Mask
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American wearing a respirator
Sounding the gong in preparation of a gas attack
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Casualties From Gas - The Numbers
Country Total Casualties Death
Austria-Hungary 100,000 3,000
British Empire 188,706 8,109
France 190,000 8,000
Germany 200,000 9,000
Italy 60,000 4,627
Russia 419,340 56,000
USA 72,807 1,462
Others 10,000 1,000
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FLAMETHROWERS

• Used to clear enemy trenches
• Could be hazardous carrying into combat

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• Used for observation early
• Later on dogfights were carried out
• Overall, minor impact on the war

AIRPLANES
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Airplanes

• Airplanes in the early 1900s were neither very
  maneuverable nor very fast
• They were used primarily for observing troop
  movements and for dropping explosives

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Gun on German Airplane
Balloons were also used in WWI
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U- BOATS (Unterseeboot)

• Underwater ships launch torpedoes or bombs
• Used mostly by Germans to destroy Allied shipping
  and break blockades

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Submarines/U-boats

• Did serious damage to Allied shipping

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Loading torpedoes into a French submarine
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The Draft

• Most European wars before this time had been
  fought by professional soldiers who worked for
  money and rations
• WWI was fought by armies of drafted citizens
• Those who could not fight worked at home to help
  the war effort
• Many women participated in the war effort by
  working in factories
• Governments made use of propaganda

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Move Toward Peace

• Peace conference begins January 1919 in Paris
• Big Four
• President Wilson, British Prime Minister David
  Lloyd George, French Premier Georges Clemenceau,
  Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando
• Fourteen Points
• President Wilsons plan for peace
• League of Nations- help to prevent wars

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Fourteen Points

• Allies felt it was too easy on Germany
• Required Germany to disband armed forces
• Had to accept blame and pay reparations
• Many members of Congress opposed the Treaty of
  Versailles (thought the League of Nations would
  drag the U.S. into conflict)
• Wilson suffers a stroke
• Senate refuses Treaty of Versailles, signs
  individual treaties with the Central Powers
• League of Nations starts without the U.S.

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The Red Scare

• Strikes cause fear of Communist revolution within
  the U.S.
• U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmers house
  is damaged by a bomb (Communists are blamed)
• Palmer sets up General Intelligence Division,
  headed by J. Edgar Hoover (later became the FBI)
• Palmer Raids- Raids on private homes and
  businesses conducted by the GIB to investigate
  communists