World War I 1914-1918

1. World War I1914-1918 The Great War

2. Allied Powers • GB • France • Russia • Belgium • Italy (1915) • Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania, Portugal. Luxembourg, Albania, Japan, USA The Sides Central Powers • Germany • AH • Ottomans • Italy (until 1915) • Bulgaria 31 countries will be involved

4. I. Alliance System leads to war A. AH presented Serbia with an ultimatum (final set of demands) • Said Serbia must end all agitation and punish any Serbian officer involved in the murder • Serbia refused and Austria declared war on July 28, 1914

5. II. The Western Front • Germany, France, GB, Belgium • The Schlieffen Plan • Gen. Alfred von Schlieffen dev. A plan against France - designed to avoid a 2-front war (France west, Russia east) • assumed Russia would be slow to mobilize • Russia mobilized fast! • Plan = defeat French in a quick attack, then move on to Russia

6. Aug. 3, 1914 – Germany invaded Belgium • Since Belgium signed a treaty with Britain and other European powers to remain neutral, an enraged Britain declared war on Germany

7. C. Battle of the Marne 1. French pushed Germans back 2. Schlieffen plan abandoned 3. French morale boosted (b/c of victory) Battle of the Marne

8. D. Trench Warfare 1. trenches stretched from the Swiss frontier to the English Channel 2. underground network linked bunkers, communication trenches, and gun emplacements a. soldiers roasted under the boiling hot summer sun or freezing through long winters b. soldiers shared their food with rats and their beds with lice

9. Trench Life

10. Digging the trenches and tunnels

11. Waterlogged trenches

13. A trench would after a while collect water. Still, men stood and sat in the murky liquid in the trenches. The result of this was trench foot … This disease was the basic rotting of your flesh and the wearing of your bones from consistent water in your shoes or boots. Not only were a man’s feet engulfed in this mud, their legs and sometimes entire bodies were consumed. Trench Foot Victims

14. Trench Foot

17. Coming out of the trench...

18. The first thing was it smelled bad. It smelled bad because there were bodies rotting everywhere. Nothing could be done about them. It’s hard to imagine people living for years in the middle of that smell. Then, of course, no bunks, no places to lie down when you weren’t on duty; so you lay in the mud, in a hole cut in the side of a trench.

19. There’s nothing to do all day, except listen to the bangs as shells went off everywhere. And, the object of each side was to try to put mortar shells into the enemy trench and destroy it or blow it up, or kill people in it. So, there’s constant noise and bombardment all day long.

20. A German Trench Mortar in Action

21. Rats & Lice. There were rats the size of cats. Both the Germans and the British were troubled with rats. The rats ate corpses, then they came in and snuggled next to you while you were sleeping. And, they ate your own food, and they were filthy creatures. And, they also carried disease-- bubonic plague, primarily. Actually, more American troops died of flu than of bullets and shell fragments in the war!

22. b/w opposing trench lines lay “no man’s land”; - soldiers peered over coils of barbed wire watching for their next attack Crossing No Man’s Land

23. E. Costly Battles 1. In 1916 both the Allies and Central Powers launched massive offenses to break the stalemate (deadlock in which neither side is able to defeat the other) F. Battle of Verdun (11 months) • Allied Victory • One of the bloodiest battles in the war First shot fired at Battle of Verdun

24. G. Battle of Somme • British and French launched an attack against Germany—lasted 6 months • Just as bloody as the one in Verdun • GB introduced the tank--too clumsy and slow Arial View of the Battle of Somme

25. INNOVATIONS

26. GUNS

27. Lewis Machine Gun

29. Australian anti-aircraft gun in position Anti-aircraft guns were used for the first time in WWI because WWI was the first war in which airplanes were used!

30. German Krupp Railroad Gun

31. German 420mm Krupp Howitzer "Big Bertha"

34. Excavated site of a Big Bertha

35. Long Range Gun of U.S. Coastal Artillery Water

36. “Calamity Jane”A U.S. Field Artillery Howitzer Fired the last U.S. shot of the war at 10:59 AM on Nov. 11, 1918 Germany signed the armistice at 11 am

37. Transporting the guns

39. Flame Gun

41. Used by snipers Fake Tree

42. A ten-acre British Ammunition Warehouse

43. Grenades

44. U-Boats

45. U-Boat = Submarine

46. Inside

47. The back

48. TANKS

49. Mark I "Mother Tank" British

50. German Tank