WW1 8th grade SS

Militarism

The belief that a country should have a strong military and be prepared to use it if necessary. Aggressively for both defense and offensive purposes

Arms Race

Unhealthy competition among countries

Weapons acquired from militarism

• Artillary

• Canons

• Boats/Submarines

• Machine guns

• Spying & surveillance

• Poison gas

• Tanks

• U boats (underwater)

• Airplanes

• Barbed Wire

Alliances

Agreements among countries to cooperate with, protect, and defend one another. Alliances can lead to competition

Alliances leading up to WW1

• Russians + Serbians

• Germany + Austria-Hungary

• Belgium + Britain

• France + Russia + Britain

Why was Germany + Austria-Hungary allies?

They share a common culture and language

Why were the Russians allied with Serbia?

Slavic bond - dominant ethnicity in eastern Europe

Why was Belgium allies with Britain?

Trading partners - $$$ and defense

Why was France allied with Russia + Britain?

Political alliance

Imperialism

• (empire-ism) - A nation or country working to create an empire

• Occurs when a nation increases its world power, influence, and territory internationally through military force or diplomacy

Diplomacy

Communicating + negotiating with other countries

Nationalism

• Extreme blind pride in one’s country

• Extreme desire in national independence

Armed Peace

Describes a situation where nations are technically at peace but remain heavily armed, maintaining stability through military strength and the threat of force rather than a mutual trust

Blank Check

An expression or metaphor meaning to extend one’s full support. With this assurance and pledge from Germany, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

Mobilization

To prepare for war.

Ex: Gather heavy artillery; position troops and equipment near the point of attack

Preemptively

Taking action before someone else does, before something unwanted happens, to stop it, or gain an advantage, often as a defensive or strategic move. (Before the fact). Germany declares war on Russia preemptively.

“Fronts”

Are an area of battle. Germany has a war on two fronts; the eastern front on Russia and the western front with France.

National sovereignty

The principle that a nation has the authority to govern itself and its territory without interference from outside powers

Stalemate

A situation in a contest, war, or negotiation where neither side can make progress or win, resulting in a deadlock; neither side can move. No one is gaining ground.

Trench Warfare

Trench system can span 100’s to 1,000’s of miles

No Man’s Land

The area between trenches where soldiers are exposed to deadly enemy fire.

Casualties

Include deaths, serious injuries, and those missing in action.

Europe was a Powder Keg

Unable and ready to explode. There was competition and tension

What assassination leads to war?

• Occurs in the capital city of Sarajevo in Bosnia

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand - heir to the throne

• Assassinated by the terrorist group called the Black Hand

The Black Hand

• A group of young Serbian nationalists

• Goal is to unite all Slavs in southern Europe

• Plans an assassination

Goal for murder of Ferdinand

Bosnia can join Serbia to join a larger Slavic nation

Why did the Black Hand aim to assassinate Ferdinand?

Austria-Hungary will be terrified and will grand Bosnia sovereignty

June 14th in Sarajevo

• Planned parade route to City Hall is shared in the news and alerted the assassins as to his whereabouts

• 8 members of the Black Hand line the parade route ready to kill

• Grenade is thrown and Franz Ferdinand escapes, races to city hall arriving safely

• Archduke leaves City Hall and drives to visit injured people in the hospital

• Driver makes a wrong turn in convertible and stops car, Principle shoots

• Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie die

Gavrilo Princip

• 19 year old member of the Black Hand

• Shoots Archduke and his wife

• 2015 Serbia erects statue to Gavrilo Princip in Belgrade, Serbia

Sequence of Key Events leading to Outbreak of War

• Serbian assassinates Ferdinand (1914)

• Austria Hungary holds Serbia accountable for death of archduke

• Austria-Hungary does not have a strong military and is hesitant to wage war

• Germany promises Austria a “Blank Check”

• Russia mobilizes for war against Austria-Hungary

• Germany sees war w/ Russia as unavoidable

• Germany declares war on Russia

• 2 days later… Germany declares war on France

• Germany is now committed to fighting a war on two fronts!

Schlieffen Plan (Developed in 1905, executed in 1914)

Germany needs to plan to fight a war on 2 fronts

Part 1: Germany will quickly invade France and quickly defeat France

• Based on speed

• The French will expect an invasion through Alsace Lorraine (fastest route) Germany will ove through Belgium to get to France

• Use overwhelming force

• Plan is to take Paris and France will surrender

• Germany sends a few soldiers through Alsace Lorraine as decoys

Part 2: Once France surrenders Germany can focus all its troops on the eastern front against Russia

• Germany defeats the Russian army

The First Battle of the Marne

• September 6th, 1914, the French engage the German army at The First battle of the Marne

• The British arrive and join forces with the French to defeat the Germans

• The German forces are stopped (not defeated) at what becomes the Western Front

Results of the Schlieffen plan

The War in Europe expands

Central Powers 1914

Motivation: Gain more power in the Balkan peninsula

• Germany

• Austria-Hungary

• Ottoman Empire

• Bulgaria (1915)

Major Allied Powers

Motivation: Italy joins the Allied Powers because Britain and France promise a portion of land along the coast of Austria-Hungary

• France

• Russia

• Italy (Treaty of London - 1915)

• Britain

• Belgium

• Serbia

The Battle of Verdun

• February 21, 1916 → December 18, 1916 (almost a year)

• Germany intends to make this a war of attrition

• Battle is a stalemate with over 700,000 casualties

• To distract the Germans from Verdun, the British began an attack in Somme on the Germans

The Battle of the Somme

• July 1st → November 13, 1916

• Deadliest battle of the war

• British fired off 1.6 million shells

• Shells did relatively little damage to the Germans

• British walked confidently through no man’s land towards German lines

• Largest British loss in the history of the British Empire

• Battle is a stalemate with 1.1 million casualties

Third Battle of Ypres

• July 31 → November 6, 1917

• Town of Ypres is located in Belgium

• Heaviest rain in 30 years turns soil into a marsh, clogging rifles and stopping tanks

• Essentially, another stalemate with 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties

Chlorine Gas

• Suffocating can last for days

• Bronchitis or pneumonia can develop

Mustard Gas

• Gets its name from yellow appearance and mustard-like smell

• Gas masks useless against mustard gas

• Causes blisters

• Can lead to lethal respiratory infections or deadly pneumonia