World War One

World War One“The war to end all wars”

- U.S. President Woodrow Wilson

The Sides

Allied Powers Central Powers Britain GermanyFrance Austria-Hungary

Russia (1917 exit) Ottoman EmpireUnited States (1917 entry) Bulgaria

ItalyJapan, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Czechoslovak legions

The Fronts• WWI is fought on two main fronts (contested area

where the two sides are fighting) – the Eastern Front and the Western Front.

The Eastern Front (1914-1916)

• Much more action than the Western Front – both sides push back and forth with Russia first invading Germany, and then the Germans and Austrians drive them back.

The Western Front (1914-1916)

• Germany sweeps through Belgium but is stopped near Paris at the First Battle of the Marne.

• Both sides set up trenches and the Western Front turns into a stalemate for almost four years.

Trench Warfare• The soldiers live in holes in the ground, separated by “no-man’s-

land.”

• The trenches include barbed wire, machinegun nests, gun batteries and heavy artillery.

Trench Warfare• Unfortunately, military leaders had never fought

this way before – they were used to mobile battles.• The only plan they could come up with was to order

masses of soldiers into a frontal assault to try to break through the enemy trenches.

• Begin with heavy artillery (bombing/shelling) and then send thousands of troops across no-man’s-land while completely exposed to machine-gun fire.

• Thousands of men could be mown down in minutes and the few that made it to the other side then had to face the enemy in their trenches.

“Going over the top”

The Battle of the Somme

DE Video

War of Attrition• Very few armies were able to break through

and the war becomes a war of attrition (each side tries to wear the other down).

• Since the war in Europe was a stalemate, both sides tried to widen the war by getting more countries involved.• Allies declare war on the Ottoman Empire and

British forces defeat them in the Middle East.• Japan seizes German colonies in the Pacific

Ocean.

The Russian Revolution (1917)

• Russia becomes embroiled in a communist revolution and is forced to sign a peace treaty with Germany, taking them out of the war.

(To be continued next week…)

United States• U.S. had remained neutral but were pulled in because of the naval

war in the Atlantic.

• Both sides had blockaded the other and the Germans were sending submarines to attack all ships crossing the Atlantic (unrestricted submarine warfare)

The Lusitania• 1915 – Germans sank a British ship, killing 1,100 civilians (including

some Americans).

• The U.S. convinces the Germans to stop unrestricted sub warfare (for a while), and we remain neutral…

The Zimmerman Telegram (1917)

• A secret telegram from the German Foreign Minister was intercepted by the U.S.

• The telegram was meant for Mexico and it asked Mexico to attack the U.S. from the South so that the U.S. would be too busy to get involved in Europe.

• It also hinted that the Mexicans should try to get Japan to attack the U.S. colonies in the Pacific. (The Japanese insisted they had nothing to do with the telegram.)

The Last Push• The stalemate had dragged on from 1914-

1917. But when the U.S. entered the war, the Germans decided to gamble and launch an all-out offensive on the Western Front (hoping to win before the U.S. could send too many troops over).

• They came within 50 miles of Paris, but were stopped at the Second Battle of the Marne by French, Moroccan, and American troops.

The End of the War• With 2 million American troops, the Allies

were able to push Germany back.• 11:11 AM, 11/11/1918 – armistice ends the

fighting

WWI• 65 million soldiers involved in the war

• 37 million casualties (dead or wounded)

ALLIED POWERS

Country Killed Total Casualties

Russia 1,700,000 9,150,000

Britain 908,371 3,190,235

France 1,357,800 6,160,800

Italy 650,000 2,197,000

United States

116,516 323,018

TOTAL 5,142,631 22,062,427

CENTRAL POWERS

Country Killed Total Casualties

Germany 1,773,700 7,142,558

Austria-Hungary

1,200,000 7,020,000

Turkey 325,000 975,000

TOTAL 3,386,200 15,404,477

Important Outcomes of WWI

• The Allies were not willing to negotiate with the German Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhem II and so the people, tired of war, overthrew him and created a democratic republic.

• Poverty and loss of life in Russia is one of the causes of the Russian Revolution.

Important Outcomes of WWI

• Treaty of Versailles (dealt just with the Germans)• Forced to accept responsibility for causing the war

(along with Austria and Hungary)• Had to disarm and give up territory• Forced to pay an enormous amount in reparations

($442 billion in 2013)

• WWI is going to put Germany in a precarious position – it has not had time to acclimate as a democracy and an extreme depression will allow a militant regime to take over in the 1930s…