Rise of Nationalism – Can unify a country or cause intense competition (example – Britain & Germany competed for industrial dominance) and for reclaiming.

Setting the Stage for War - CausesSetting the Stage for War - Causes

•Imperialism – countries competed for overseas empires•Growth of Militarism – The policy of glorifying military power and keeping an army prepared for war. Except for Britain, all Great Powers had large standing armies (Britain had the largest navy)

Rise of Nationalism – Can unify a country or cause intense competition (example – Britain & Germany

competed for industrial dominance) and for reclaiming territory / independence. Germany had been recently

unified under Otto von Bismarck.

• “Bring me back the Kaiser’s mustache”

The Aussie love to go casual

• Tangled Alliances – Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (Bismarck thought that France was the biggest threat to Europe).

• Triple Entente was Britain, France, & Russia (later to include Japan)

• In 1908, Austria annexed Bosnia & Herzegovina. Serbian leaders were upset because these 2 countries were predominantly Slavic, like Serbia.

• France was still upset that Germany controlled the Alsace-Lorraine that they took during Franco-German war of 1870.

The Ottoman Empire was in decline and some of its territory had broken away and formed new nations. This included Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.

• But Austria feared a unified Slav border to the south (they already had one with Russia to the east)

• In actuality, both hoped to exert influence in the area now that the Ottoman Empire was gone.

Archduke Franz

Ferdinand of Austria

• A few hours before he was shot

• On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, shot and killed the Archduke of Austria and his wife. He was the heir to the throne of Austria. Because of the confusing system of treaties, Austria couldn’t stop the ball rolling and on July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia.

Two Armed CampsCentral PowersCentral Powers::Central PowersCentral Powers::Allied PowersAllied Powers::Allied PowersAllied Powers::

• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia

• Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary

• France declared war on Austria-Hungary

• Germany declared war on Russia & France

• Etc, etc, etc

Zeppelins were used for observation as they could get up in the sky and look out for long

distances, and later used for air raids on cities

World War I was a war that allowed industrialized countries to test their modern weapons.

A German hand grenade – grenades became more reliable and could help you out if you were overrun

(or attacking someone)

Something not very successful were attack dogs trained to attack rifle fire

The automobile lived up to it’s name – mobile. Supplies could be quickly moved to the front lines

A bit slower on the straight away, but at times more efficient than the auto was the bike

The Schlieffen PlanThe Schlieffen Plan• The Schlieffen Plan had been designed The Schlieffen Plan had been designed

to fight two wars at once (France and to fight two wars at once (France and Russia). Under the Plan, Germany would Russia). Under the Plan, Germany would sweep thru France, by way of Belgium, sweep thru France, by way of Belgium, and after defeating them turn to Russia.and after defeating them turn to Russia.

• Germany didn’t know Belgium had an Germany didn’t know Belgium had an alliance with England so when Germany alliance with England so when Germany invaded Belgium (because they wouldn’t invaded Belgium (because they wouldn’t let Germany pass thru them to get to let Germany pass thru them to get to France, England entered the warFrance, England entered the war

• When Russia mobilized its troops to the border, Germany declared war on Russia.

The Western FrontThe Western Front

• The German plan wasn’t successful and was stopped part way into France. Both sides started digging in and making trenches.

• Life in the trenches was miserable. Mud, rats, sewage, dead unable to be removed, disease.

• Although originally a member of the Triple Alliance, Italy switched sides

• The Western Front stretched almost 500 miles, from the North Sea to the Switzerland.

• Belgium soldiers dug in by rail line

British soldiers Battle of the Somme

Could a guy get a little privacy please?

• French soldiers French soldiers attacking German trenchattacking German trench

• French officers in dugout French officers in dugout

“you mean they had color back then”

Up Periscope!

Not all trenches were full of mud – it depended upon

what resources you could find

But this one was

The Machine GunThe Machine Gun

• This was the ultimate killing machine. This was the ultimate killing machine. In the 1In the 1stst day of the Battle of the day of the Battle of the Somme, Britain sustained over 57,000 Somme, Britain sustained over 57,000 casualties, including 20,000 dead, while casualties, including 20,000 dead, while Germany had 8,000 casualties (about Germany had 8,000 casualties (about 5,000 dead or wounded). Guess who 5,000 dead or wounded). Guess who was attacking whom?was attacking whom?

One of these and 3 men could hold off a hundred men quite easily.

Getting to the machine gun sometimes was very difficult – crossing areas covered with

barbed-wire. Appropriately it was called “NO MANS LAND”

This is a railroad gun (14 inch shells)

The infamous Paris Gun. This monster had a range of 75 miles but little accuracy. The gun had an overall length of 112 feet (34 meters) and weighed 138 tons (276,000

pounds).

Try moving this on a rainy day

These French projectiles

can probably cause a little

damage

Trying to shoot down an airplane

Good Luck!

British artillery

sending a personal message

Busy day at the office – these are the empty shell casing after a bombardment

A town after the bombing

This was a forest a few days before

Remember those beautiful

cathedrals we learned about

earlier this year? War doesn’t

bypass anything

They are still finding unexploded shells even today

The Eastern FrontThe Eastern Front

• Russia had inferior weapons, but they had the shear numbers advantage.

• They were effective against the Austrians, but once Germany sent troops it was all downhill for Russia.

• But they did manage to tie up hundreds of thousands of German troops that could have been used on the Western Front

• Russian women soldiers training with rifles

Russian "Women's Battalion of Death"

Russian infantry attacking German positions

Russian prisoners crossing the Vistula River

Gas attack over No-man’s land

Gas Mask for man & horse

The after effects of a gas attack