The War
1914-1917
Propaganda
German drawing illustrating the military
alliances in Europe
► The
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Great War . Historians . Peter Simkins | PBS
Battle of the Marne (First and Second)
Battle of Tannenberg
Trench warfare
Battle of the Somme
►First
battle that the Brits fought
 Battle of Verdun
►Longest battle
►Define-”War of
 Russia is gone
attrition”
Battle of the Marne,1st
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August 1914
 Three armies of the German invasion's northern wing were sweeping south
towards Paris
 Schleiffen Plan-defeat France and turn attention to Russia
September 10th
 Battle of the Marne was over
French
250,000 casualties
British
12,733 men
Germany was prevented from a quick and decisive victory
But she was far from defeated
► Germany-20,000
► Russia-95,000
► August , 1916
► Total German victory
Tannenberg
and huge propaganda item
► But the sheer weight of the Russian army ensured its survival
Trenches
► WWI
 Typified by its lack of movement
► Stalemate
exemplified on the Western Front from autumn 1914
until spring 1918
You had company in the trenches!
► Lice
► Frogs
► Slugs
► Nits
and horned beetles
► Rats
in the millions
 Gorging themselves on human remains (grotesquely disfiguring
them by eating their eyes and liver) they could grow to the size
of a cat.
Italy
► Italy
joins the Allies
 Treaty of London in 1915
 Promised land after the war
► Started in February of
► December 18,1916
► Longest
Verdun
1916
battle in the war
► The Germans were
► French- 550,000
trying to bleed France white
► Germans-440,000
Battle of the Somme
► Brits-420,000
► French-200,000
► Germany-500,000
► July,1916
 large-scale British attack
 French were being used at Verdun
 Lasted until November 18
► Little was gained
Russia
► War
placed an unbearable strain on Russia's weak economy,
resulting in mass shortages and hunger
 The army was poorly equipped
 15 million men away from farms (could not produce food)
 Winter of 1915-1916 was severe
► The
The Crumbling of an Empire
Tsar took personal command of the army in 1915
 He was blamed for the failures
► He left the Tsarina in charge.
 She was incompetent
►let Rasputin run the government
►because she was a German, rumors circulated that
she was trying to help Germany to win.
► By
February, 1917, the government was in chaos
 Tsar went to pieces and did nothing
► March Riots because of food shortages
 Soldiers mutinied
► Duma forced Nicolas to abdicate in March
 Gets on a train to Petrograd but is arrested.
The Last Romanovs
► When
all were assembled, Yurovsky (secret police leader) reentered the room, followed by his entire Cheka squad carrying
revolvers. He stepped forward and declared quickly, "Your relations
have tried to save you. They have failed and we must now shoot
you." Nicholas, his arms still around Alexis, began to rise from his
chair to protect his wife and son. He had just time to say "What. .
.?" before Yurovsky pointed his revolver directly at the Czar’s head
and fired. Nicholas died instantly. At this signal, the entire squad of
executioners began to shoot. Alexandra had time only to raise her
hand and make the sign of the cross before she too was killed by a
single bullet. Olga, Tatiana and Marie, standing behind their
mother, were hit and died quickly . . .
► The
room, filled with the smoke and stench of gunpowder, became
suddenly quiet. Blood was running in streams from the bodies on
the floor. Then there was a movement and a low groan. Alexis,
lying on the floor still in the arms of the Czar, feebly moved his
hand to clutch his father’s coat. Savagely, one of the executioners
kicked the Czarevitch in the head with his heavy boot. Yurovsky
stepped up and fired two shots into the boy’s ear. Just at that
moment, Anastasia, who had only fainted, regained consciousness
and screamed. With bayonets and rifle butts, the entire band
turned on her. In a moment, she too lay still. It was ended. -Nicholas and Alexandra, by Robert K. Massie (1968)
Russia Leaves the War
► Vladimir Lenin seized political power
► Russian fighting stopped along the Eastern
(Dec.1917)
► Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
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