WWI: The Great War

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WWI The Great War

• 1914-1918

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The Two Sides

• Allied Powers (was _____________)
• England, France, Russia,
• Italian becomes PART OF ALLIED in 1915
• Central Powers (was _____________)
• Germany, Austria-Hungary and TURKEY
• Italy declares neutrality in 1914 WHEN WAR BREAKS
  OUT

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How WWI become a WORLD war?

• Alliances
• Dragged into it even if do not want to be
• Colonialism/Imperialism
• Mother country at war, so are you!

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What about the USA?

• US Joins 1917 to, Make the world safe for
  democracy.

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• http//www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/
• Interactive war map

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The War Begins

• Both sides thought it would be quick easy
• Germans, French, Russians, A-H all had offensive
  strategies
• German Schlieffen Plan, Paris for lunch, St.
  Petersburg for dinner.
• Belgium to Paris in 42 days, force French
  surrender. Then move East and defeat the Russians
  before they were fully prepared to fight.
• Offensive Strategy go in and get them!!!
• Great naval battle

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Schlieffen Plan in Action

• Aug 3, 1914 - Germany Invades Belgium to get to
  Paris
• Belgium is neutral!
• French launch attack in north east (Alsace
  Lorraine)
• French lose 27,000 in one day
• How is this possible???
• German plan starts to fall apart!
• Tired far from Germany
• 25 miles short of Paris
• Cannot destroy French or British resistance along
  Marne River
• Germans forced into a two front war

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Things Get Bogged Down Trench Warfare

• Trenches dug intricate holes in the ground for
  protection (what type of war now?)
• September,1914 Germans first to employ
  trenches
• Allies followed suit
• Germans had higher elevation, Allies dug through
  water-logged areas

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Trenches

• Many lines - connected in zig zag shape
• Front about 7 feet deep, 6 feet wide
• Barbed wire, sandbags machine gun posts in
  front
• support trenches in the back
• Rotation system for the front versus back lines
  of the trench (3 weeks)

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Fighting in the Trenches

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vN84Iq1PnEPQ
• 2 min. trenches War Horse
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWo-3x2khwZ0
• 2 min no mans land War Horse

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Fighting In Trenches

• 50 yards 1 mile between trenches
• Area btwn trenches known as No Mans Land
• Plant mines
• Night time danger
• Reconnaissance Patrols (eavesdrop steal plans)
• Raiding Parties to capture men interrogate
• The return had to worry about friendly fire
• Very small advancements

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What does this tell us?

• I've a Little Wet Home in a Trench I've a
  little wet home in a trenchWhere the rainstorms
  continually drench,There's a dead cow close
  byWith her feet in towards the skyAnd she gives
  off a terrible stench. Underneath, in the place
  of a floor,There's a mass of wet mud and some
  straw,But with shells dropping there,There's no
  place to compare,With my little wet home in the
  trench.

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Living in the Water
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Trench Foot
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The British Army treated 20,000 soldiers for
trench foot during the winter of 1914-15.

• Bad water
• Lice
• Rats

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Back to the Fighting..
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February-Dec 1916 Verdun

• Germans wanted to - Bleed France white
• Verdun had psychological significance in France
• Germans attacked (flame throwers)
• June - 2.5 miles away Germany faltered
• Attention turns to Somme
• Dec 1916 over 300,000 deaths 750,00 wounded
• A War of Attrition
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animation
  s/western_front/index_embed.shtml

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July Nov 1916 Somme

• French British attack Germans to relieve
  French at Verdun
• 8 day bombardment 1.6 million shells fired
• Try to walk across No Mans Land (750,000 Brits)
• Germans had taken cover, many duds
• 58,000 casualties first day (20,000 dead)
• German transfer men from Verdun
• Brits and French take 12 km
• Casualties 420,000 British 200,000 French
  500,000 German
• Use of Tanks
• http//www.history.com/videos/1916-battle-of-the-s
  omme1916-battle-of-the-somme

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An example of modern war Somme

• It was too late to change course. At precisely
  730 in the morning on July 1, whistles blew
  along the British front lines, which stretched
  more than 12 miles. In unison, infantry soldiers
  loaded with more than 70 pounds of clothing and
  equipment clambered out of their trenches and set
  out at a walk across no-man's-land in neat,
  orderly lines. They were tangled in barbed wire
  or cut down by withering machine-gun fire before
  they could come close to the German trenches. The
  toll was devastating 19,240 men died in a single
  day. The British officer corps, expected to lead
  their men "over the top," suffered especially
  high losses
• The Battle of the Somme dragged on
  inconclusively for another five months. By the
  time winter set in, the British had gained two
  miles of ground - and lost 420,000 young men.
  Almost nothing was accomplished, and a total of
  about 1.5 million French, British and German
  soldiers were killed or wounded. The Somme
  defined the futility of trench warfare. It was
  the bloodiest single battle in history.
• http//www.history.com/videos/1916-battle-of-the-s
  omme1916-battle-of-the-somme

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Why are these battles so deadly??
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• Machine Guns, Bolt Action Rifle, Artillery
  Zeppelin, Tank, Planes
• Read about each of these weapons then make two
  lists1. List the three weapons that you think
  made WWI the most deadly
• 2. List the three weapons that you think made
  this a modern war.

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The Chemists War

• Tear Gas French 1914
• Chlorine Gas Germans 1915
• Yellow green cloud
• Slow death, asphyxiation
• Cover mouth with wet cloth (urine)
• Blow back on you
• Gas masks
• White Star Chlorine and Phosgene French) 24
  hours
• Mustard gas, German, 1917
• Internal and external bleeding

"I wish those people who talk about going on with
this war whatever it costs could see the soldiers
suffering from mustard gas poisoning. Great
mustard-colored blisters, blind eyes, all sticky
and stuck together, always fighting for breath,
with voices a mere whisper, saying that their
throats are closing and they know they will
choke."
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Nation Fatal Non-fatal
Russia 56,000 419,340
Germany 9,000 200,000
France 8,000 190,000
British Empire (includes Canada) 8,109 188,706
A-Hungary 3,000 100,000
USA 1,462 72,807
Italy 4,627 Estimated gas casualties35 60,000
Total 88,498 1,240,853
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The War in the East Lots of Russian Casualties,
Not too Much Success for Germany
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The War on the Seas
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The Germans were losing on land

• No great naval battles
• Naval blockades both sides England advantage
• German U-boats (submarines) Feb 1915 Germans
  used
• Impact on neutral countries
• Could u-boats destroy Britain before American
  intervenes?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v7fCIsQT_jCg
• 1916 Uboats destroyed 1/3 of a million tons per
  month then 1917 up to 400,000 plus, 500,000 plus,
  April 800,000 tons
• By April 1917 6 weeks of food for British
  people
• Germans lost bet - 6 April 1917 Americans arrive
  anti sub devises hydrophones, aircraft
  sailed merchant ships with convoys

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• http//www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_gallipoli.ht
  ml
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animation
  s/western_front/index_embed.shtml
• Interactive map of battles

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How might this impact the USA?
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• http//www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/414.cfm

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• Each battalion had its own supply of rum that it
  distributed to its soldiers.
• Each division of 20,000 men received 300 gallons.
• Every soldier carried iron rations -- emergency
  food that consisted of a can of bully bee,
  biscuits and a tin of tea and sugar.
• A single pair of rats could produced up to 880
  offspring in a year
• A total of 3,894 men in the British Army were
  convicted of self-inflicted wounds. A
  firing-squad offense -- none were executed, but
  all served prison terms.
• The British Army treated 20,000 soldiers for
  trench foot during the winter of 1914-15.
• One-third of all casualties on the Western Front
  may have been killed or wounded in a trench.
• A lit candle was fairly effective in removing
  lice, but the skill of burning the lice without
  setting yourself on fire was difficult to learn.
• Soldiers in the trenches often depended on
  impure water collected from shell-holes or other
  cavities, causing dysentery. 

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• "I had a peculiar passion for the navy. It sprang
  to no small extent from my English blood. When I
  was a little boy... I admired the proud British
  ships. There awoke in me the will to build ships
  of my own like these some day, and when I was
  grown up to possess a fine navy as the
  English."-- Kaiser Wilhelm II, autobiography My
  Early Life

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