Transcript
Cause and Effect
Imperialism
Arms RaceAlliances
Nationalism
ROAD TO WAR• Germany, Italy, Russia, Austro-
Hungary all fairly recently “unified” with significant internal unrest
• Germany seeks new markets/prestige of colonies
• Massive arms race
• Multiple and extensive alliances
Defence Spending, 1870-1914
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
£m 94 130 154 268 289 398
1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1914
Causes World War I
Imperialism
Arms RaceAlliances
Nationalism
First, nationalism led to …… Transition, imperialism led to…, Transition, the arms race led to…. Transition, the alliances led to
led to
resulted
caused
produced
brought about
set off
First,
Second,
Third,
In addition,
Finally,
Germany/Austria-Hungry Alliance
Austria declares war onSerbia
Russia/Serbia Alliance
Gavrilo Princep of Serbia assassinatesArchduke Ferdinandof Austria
Russia Declares war on Austria
Germany Declares war on Russia
France declares war on Germany
OVERVIEW
• 65 million combatants from 30 countries representing every continent• 29 million become casualties
• Naval battles around the world and land battles in Europe, Africa, and Asia
• Triple Alliance = Germany, Austria, Italy• +Turkey + Bulgaria - Italy = Central Powers
• Entente Cordiale = Britain, France• + Russia + Italy + (later) US = Allied Powers
• Revolutionary technology, but evolutionary tactics
Wilson - pro-Neutral but also pro-Britain Submarines – British navy blockades German
ports, u-boats only way to fight back-Lusitania – part cruise ship, part munitions transport
Economic ties – America was in a recession – JP Morgan and bankers loan vast money
-Military orders from France and Britain huge Psychological and ethnic ties – align with British
(democratic) – Germany embodies autocrat Germany’s unscrupulous war efforts – makes
Germans look like opportunists-Zimmermann Note-Attack on neutral Belgium
Russian Issue- Autocracy pre-1917 then Communist in 1917. US can not join the other democracies of the world
U.S. Motives
The Great War: Modern Warfare
STALEMATE• Allies halt Central
Powers; both sides dig in• No flanks for either side
to attack• Barbed wire
entanglements up to 150’ deep
• Neither side gains more than 10 miles in over 2 years
• Mass is supreme principle• Massed assaults• Massed fires
Trench Warfare• Machine gun and
artillery make it difficult to attack a trench
• Huge artillery preps make “No Man’s Land” virtually impassable
Trench Warfare Evolves
• Three group (squad) infiltration:• Squad one finds and fixes enemy• Squad two finds and exploits weak spots• Squad three supports two and exploits
breaches• Strong points reduced later from rear/flanks
• Combined arms: • grenades, machine guns, flame throwers in
infantry squads• fires smoke, gas, to keep defenders’ heads
down
RUTHLESS TACTICS• Chemical warfare
made trench warfare more horrible– Mustard agents
deployed– Nerve agents
• Machine Gun– Maxim– 600 b/m
Tanks• Brits introduce in
Sept 1916
• Means to cross No Man’s Land with protection from machine guns
• Initially employed piecemeal and in too small numbers to be decisive
• Unreliable and slow
Tanks• Battle of Somme, Sept 1916• 36 of 60 tanks make it
into battle• Scattered across 3 mile
front
• Cambria, Nov 1917• Used in mass (300 tanks)• Opened 12x6 mile front
• Amiens, August 1918• 500 tanks, 13 infantry
divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, 2000 artillery pieces, 800 aircraft
First modern “combined-arms” battle
Submarines• New aspect of “Total War”
• Targeting “neutral merchant” ships
• Germans announce submarine blockade• Part physical, part psychological
weapon
• Draws Allied resources away from offensive operations• Civilian control of production
• Sinking of ships with US passengers is major factor in US’s eventual entry into the war
Aviation
“Red Baron”• Used initially for
reconnaissance/spotting• Wireless communication
critical development in spotting
• Arial combat originally a counter-reconnaissance function
• Troops on the ground don’t like the planes overhead….
• By the end of the war, planes were being used to drop bombs on railways, intersections, factories, etc…
“Jenny” JN-4
Jaeger
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