A. 1914-1915: Illusions and
Stalemate
1.
Gov’t propaganda 
enthusiasm for war
2.
Many illusions about the
war
B. War in the West
1.
Schlieffen Plan  Attack
FR thru BLG
2.
GR ruthless in BLG
3.
First Battle of the Marne –
Sept. 6-10, 1914
4.
Trench Wafare
5.
New technology:
Airplanes, Zeppelins,
Tanks
C. War in the East
1.
More mobile than Western front, equally costly
2.
GR defeated RS at Battle of Tannenberg (Aug. 30, 1914), and
Battle of Masurian Lakes (Sept. 15, 1914)
3.
A-H defeated by RS in SRB
4.
ITL withdrew from Triple Alliance  joined Entente
5.
GR supported A-H  drove RS back into their territory in 1915
6.
GR & A-H joined with Bulgaria to defeat SRB in 1915
7.
Ottoman Empire entered war in 1914 on side of GR & A-H 
The Central Powers
8.
Slaughter of the Armenians
D. 1916-1917: The Great
Slaughter
1.
“No Man’s Land” – area
between the trenches
2.
Limited stategy  artillery
bombardment to “soften
them up”, then troops
would go “over the top”
3.
Machine gun = slaughter
4.
Battle of Verdun (1916) &
Battle of the Somme
(1917)
E. Daily Life in the
Trenches
1.
Horror & Confusion – Panic
during battles
2.
Barbed wire, shell holes,
injured and dying men, dead
men & body parts –
persistent presence of death
3.
Mustard gas introduce in
1915
4.
Regular daily schedule &
monthly rotations
5.
Live and let live” system
F. The Widening of the
War
1.
Stalemate caused both sides to look for new allies
2.
War spread to Middle East – T.E. Lawrence (BR) encourage
Arab revolutions against Ottomans
3.
BR and FR seized GR colonies in Africa, Involvement of
colonies
4.
Immediate impact of WWI in Africa = extension of colonial
empires
5.
Long term impact = Africans influenced by EU ideas of social
and political equality, growth of anticolonial movements
6.
Japan joined allies in Aug. 1914
G. Entry of the United States
1.
U.S. had practiced policy of
isolation
2.
Naval conflict between GR
& BR
3.
Sinking of the Lusitania –
May 7, 1915
4.
GR returned to unrestricted
submarine warfare in 1917
5.
U.S. enters war April 6, 1917