Chapter 27 – World War I and Its
Aftermath
Section 3 – A New Kind of Conflict
The Allies
The Central Powers
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Enver Pasha
Franz Joseph
Setting the Scene
The “Great War” as newspapers soon called it,
was the largest conflict in history up to that time.
The French mobilized almost 8.5 million men, the
British 9 million, the Russians 12 million, and the
Germans 11 million. But for those who fought, the
statistics were more personal. "One out of every
four men who went out to the World War did not
come back again," recalled a survivor, "and of
those who came back, many are maimed and
blind and some are mad."
The early enthusiasm for the war soon faded.
There were no stirring cavalry charges, no quick
and glorious victories. This was a new kind of
war, far deadlier than any ever fought before.
I. The Western Front
The Germans followed the Schlieffen Plan
and swept through Belgium toward Paris
I. The Western Front
Russia mobilized quicker than expected and
Germany had to shift troops to the Eastern
Front
The Tsar, Head of the Russian Army
I. The Western Front
September 1914 - British and French troops
halted the German offensive in the battle of
the Marne
I. The Western Front
Both sides dug in for the winter, creating a
system of trenches from Switzerland to the
English Channel
I. The Western Front
Battle lines in France remained almost
unchanged for four years during the “trench
warfare”
I. The Western Front
Between the opposing trench lines lay "no
man's land”
I. The Western Front
Soldiers would go "over the top" and charge
across no man's land toward the enemy lines
I. The Western Front
The enemy would counterattack and the
fighting went back and forth, gaining little
territory
I. The Western Front
In 1916, German forces attacked the French
at Verdun – there were more than a halfmillion casualties
Massacre at Verdun
I. The Western Front
In 1916, the Allies launched an offensive at
the Somme River - in the 5 month battle, over
1 million soldiers were killed
II. Technology of Modern Warfare
Modern weapons - machine guns, larger
artillery, and poison gas - added to the
destructiveness of the war
II. Technology of Modern Warfare
In 1916, Britain introduced the armored tank,
but it did little to break the stalemate
II. Technology of Modern Warfare
Both sides used airplanes and Germany used
zeppelins to bomb the English coast
II. Technology of Modern Warfare
German U-boats sank Allied merchant ships
carrying supplies to Britain
III. A Global Conflict
In August 1914, the Russians opened the
Eastern Front but were defeated at the Battle
of Tannenburg
Russian Troops Fleeing after the Battle of Tannenberg
III. A Global Conflict
In 1915, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers
and Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary and
Germany
WWI Italian postcard
represents Serbia
fighting with Austria
and Germany, while
Bulgaria tries to kill
Serbia with a knife
and Greece watches
from the sideline.
III. A Global Conflict
Japan allied with Britain and seized German
outposts in China and islands in the Pacific
III. A Global Conflict
The Turks closed off the Dardanelles and in
1915, the Allies attacked and lost at Gallipoli
III. A Global Conflict
In 1916, Arabs led by Husayn ibn Ali revolted
against the Ottoman Empire
Sharif Hussein bin Ali,
King of the Arabs and
King of the Hijaz
The Great Arab Revolt, Wadi Rum,
1917
III. A Global Conflict
The British sent Colonel T. E. Lawrence - aka
Lawrence of Arabia - to support the Arab
revolt
III. A Global Conflict
European colonies provided troops, laborers,
and supplies
A day for the African army
and the Colonial troops.
French soldiers with black
soldiers from Africa and the
colonies