ALLIANCES DRAG THE WORLD INTO WAR

• Russian military mobilized against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia

  • Also mobilized along German border, expecting Germany to join Austria-Hungary

  • Germany declared war on Russia on August 1st

    • Saw Russia mobilizing as a declaration of war

    • Germany declared war on France two days later

• Schlieffen Plan

  • Germany wanted quick end to a two-front war by quickly defeating France via Belgium

    • Germany needed to conquer France before the full mobilization of Russia

    • In reality, they never conquered Paris

  • After France fell, Germany would rush to the east, beating Russia and winning the war

    • Germany overestimated the Russian military’s time to prepare

SIDES IN WWI

• Allied Powers

  • France

  • Britain

  • Russia

  • Italy

  • Japan

  • Serbia

  • United States (later)

• Central Powers

  • Germany

  • Austria-Hungary

  • Ottoman Empire

  • Bulgaria

MODERN MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

• New tech innovated to break stalemate

  • Britain made tanks to move across No Man’s Land

  • Germany made zeppelins (hydrogen gas balloons) to bomb English coast

  • U-boats in naval warfare

  • Both sides weaponized aircrafts

  • Poison gas caused blinding, burns, blisters, and lungs to fill with liquid

Various fronts in the war

• Western front

  • Germany went through Belgium to get to France

    • France was only fortifying its borders to Germany

    • Belgium was neutral, but it was a way to avoid pummeling through French borders

      • Germany invades Belgium, outraging Britain, who declares war on Germany

  • By early September, German forces were at the outskirts of Paris

    • Major German victory seemed just days away

  • Trench warfare ends in a stalemate

    • First Battle of the Marne

      • Allies stopped Germans from advancing

      • Made a successful counterattack

      • Both sides dug into trenches, battle lines largely unchanged for 4 years

    • Germans and French had 450 miles of trenches across Europe

      • Running across No Man’s Land to assault enemy trenches

      • Led to massive casualties

    • Trench life

      • Diseases spread rapidly in cramped conditions

      • Wetness causes trench foot, leading to amputation

      • Constant bombardment by artillery caused "shell shock," aka PTSD

• Eastern front

  • Ottomans tried to cut off vital Russian supply line through the Dardanelles Strait

    • British, Indian, Australian, and New Zealanders sent to open the strait

    • Battle of Gallipoli was a disastrous defeat for Allies

      • After 10 months of 200K deaths, Allies retreated

  • Armenian Genocide

    • Ottomans (Islam) and Russians (Christian orthodoxy) fighting in Caucasus

      • Home to Armenians (Christian orthodoxy)

    • Ottomans labeled Armenians as traitors

      • Deported entire Armenian population

        • Death march to Syria

      • 0.6M - 1.5M Armenians were killed or died of hunger/thirst