29.2 - Europe Plunges into War

New Weapons of War

Poison Gas: a weapon of mass destruction so terrible that it was eventually outlawed. Some gases caused blindness or severe blisters, others death.

Machine Gun: more sophisticated than the Maxim gun, machine guns fired ammunition automatically and could wipe out waves of attackers (difficult to advance).

Tank: armored combat vehicle that could go across different types of terrain.

Submarine: such as the German U-Boat, submarines were armed with underwater missiles and could sink ships.

Increased the amount of people killed, and killed them effectively.

German Dilemma & The Schlieffen Plan

• The Germans faced possible battles on two fronts, the eastern and western (with Russia and France)

The Schlieffen Plan:

• The plan was to attack and defeat the French quickly, so they could then shift manpower over to the east to fight Russia

• Speed was vital to this plan

• Russia had inferior transportation and Germany believed they would take longer to mobilize for war (lacked a rail system and supply lines were weak)

• However, before Germany could defeat France, the Allies regrouped and attacked

First Battle of the Marne

German forces neared Paris and a victory seemed days away. However, the Allies (Triple Entente) regrouped and attacked the Germans northeast of Paris, in the Valley of the Marne River. The Germans were forced to retreat, leaving the Schlieffen Plan in ruins. A quick victory against in the west (against France) no longer seemed possible. Germany would have to fight a two-front war.

The Western Front & Trench Warfare

Western Front: the deadlocked region in northern France (stalemate)

Trench Warfare:

• Soldiers fought in parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire

• Life in the trenches was miserable (rodents, water, scarce food, etc.)

• The “Terrain of Death” stretched from the North Sea to the Swiss border

The Eastern Front

• Battlefield stretched between Germany and Russia

• The war in the east was a more mobile war than that in the west

• Stalemate was still common

• Russia suffered great losses (still, with their large population, they had a large amount of soldiers)

Russia in the War (Isolation and Shortages)

• By 1916, Russia’s war effort was near collapse

• Not industrialized

• Shortages of food, guns, ammunition, clothes, boots, and blankets

• Unable to get materials from the west (Allied supply shipments to Russia couldn’t get through because of blocked waterways)

• Still, their one important asset was manpower (enough troops to continue fighting)