AMERICAN HISTORY
 June 28, 1914--The assassination of the
Austro-Hungarian Archduke Francis
Ferdinand and his wife by 19-year Serbian
Gavrilo Princip
 Most of Europe would be at war within 5
weeks
 How could 1 assassination start a world war?
 A series of political changes in Europe made
war almost unavoidable
 1) NATIONALISM
 Extreme pride or devotion to their country
 Nationalism led to the formation of new
countries such as Germany and Italy in the
1870s
 It also led to competition for power
 This struggle was most visible in the
Balkans—a region of southwestern Europe
made up of many ethnic groups
 The current rulers, the Ottoman Empire,
started falling apart in the 1800s
 The Austro-Hungarian Empire saw an
opportunity to expand—annexing Bosnia and
Herzegovina
 Many slavic peoples, such as the Serbs,
rejected the rule of outsiders
 Russia saw itself as a protector of the Serbs
 By the early 1900s, tensions were high
 2) IMPERIALISM
 Late 1800s—Great Britain and France had
colonial empires in Africa, the Middle East,
and Asia
 Colonies provided markets and natural
resources
 Kaiser Wilhelm II (Germany) wanted colonies,
too
 Germany would need a stronger military
 3) MILITARISM
 The policy of military preparedness and
building up weapons
 1900—Germany began to build a navy that
could take on the world’s strongest navy of
Great Britain
 Germany also enlarged its army and provided
them with the latest weapons—machine guns
and larger artillery
 Germany army officials began drawing up
war strategies
 The Schlieffen Plan—precise instructions for
waging a two-front war against France and
Russia at the same time
 It also called for a surprise invasion of France
by passing through Belgium and subsequent
attack on Russia
 Great Britain, France, and Russia worry about
Germany’s intentions
 These countries start to build up military in
case war breaks out
 European countries believed that strong
militaries would prevent countries from
attacking each other
 3) ALLIANCES
 Countries formed alliances to maintain peace
but they led directly to war
 Two Alliances:
 1) Triple Alliance—Germany, Austria-Hungary,
Italy
 2) Triple Entente—Great Britain, France,
Russia
 Some Europeans believed these alliances
would create a balance of power and
decrease the chance of war
 After the assassination, Princip was arrested
 An investigation revealed the Serbia had
provided them with guns and bombs
 Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for
Ferdinand’s murder and declared war
 Russia promised to protect Serbian Slavs
 Russian army quickly mobilizes
 Germany views Russia’s mobilization as an
act of aggression against Austria-Hungary
 Germany declared war on Russia and France
 THE GERMANS TAKE BELGIUM
 August 14, 1914—German troops cross into
neutral Belgium
 Great Britain pledged to help Belgium so they
declared war on Germany
 Most countries had chosen sides:
 1) Central Powers—Germany, AustriaHungary, Ottoman Empire
 2) Allied Powers—Great Britain, France,
Russia
 By the end of “The Great War” another 30
nations, including Italy, would join the war
 Initially the Schlieffen Plan worked well
 German attack on Belgium was fierce
 Entire villages were burned
 Civilians, included women and children, were
executed
 A NEW KIND OF WARFARE
 French troops mobilized and rushed to meet
the approaching German divisions
 French troops were dressed in bright red
uniforms
 Germans were dressed in gray uniforms that
worked as camouflage to help them blend
into the battlefield
 French troops marched row-by-row onto the
battlefield
 French troops drew their bayonets and they
were met by German machine guns
 French were not ready for the massive
German fire power
 Each German machine gun = 50-100 French
rifles
 THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE
 After one month Germany was about 25 miles
from Paris
 French troops refused to surrender
 French needed a victory so they launched a
daring counterattack along the Marne River
east of Paris—September 7, 1914
 2 million men fought along a 125-mile front
 After 5 days—250,000 lives lost
 French moved Germans back nearly 40 miles
 This battle allowed Russia to mobilize and
force Germany to reposition some troops
 First Battle of the Marne ended in a stalemate
 French and German troops dug trenches for
protection from enemy fire
 Fall 1914—nearly 400 miles of trenches across
western Europe
 Battle lines extended from Switzerland to the
North Sea
 FIGHTING IN THE TRENCHES
 TRENCH WARFARE—fighting in the trenches
 Anytime a soldier or piece of equipment
appeared above the edge of the trench,
it/they were fired upon
 Troops that left the trench to move to
another trench also risked being shot at
 Neither the Allies nor the Germans made
much progress
 Trench warfare became a stalemate
 NEW WEAPONS
 Scientists for both sides created new weapons in
an attempt to gain an advantage
 German military scientists experimented with
poisonous gas
 Gas was a risky affair for both sides because the
amount was unknown and wind was an issue
 April 1915—German soldiers fired canisters of
poisonous gas into allied trenches
 A yellow-green cloud of chlorine gas covered the
allied soldiers
 The gas quickly destroyed the soldiers’ lungs,
and many of them panicked
 British and French forces soon began
developing gas as well
 Soldiers started carrying gas masks
 This led to another stalemate
 British forces soon developed motorized
tanks
 In the first battle 18 out of 48 tanks became
stuck in mud
 Airplanes were used by both sides to map
enemy positions and attack trenches from
above
 At first airplane pilots dropped bricks and
other heavy objects
 They also attached machine guns to the
planes
 Planes participated in air battles called dog
fights
 German Ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen
(aka The Red Baron) shot down 80 planes
before begin shot down himself in 1918
 Trench warfare did not give either side an
advantage
 Strategy would have to change for someone
to gain a clear advantage.
 THE END