EUROPE AT WAR
Agenda:
1. Europe at War Notes
2. Writings of WWI
Worksheet
Extension: Europe at War
Textbook Worksheet
CENTRAL POWERS VS. ALLIES
 By the end of the war, the two sides were:
Central Powers
Austria-Hungary
Germany
Bulgaria
Ottoman Empire
Allies
Russia
France
Great Britain
Japan
Italy
U.S.
THE WESTERN FRONT
1914 - Stalemate along the border of France
This was the Western Front
*THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN*
 Germany’s plan to win the war
It was:
 Germany planned a long war.
 Attack & defeat France FIRST
 Then rush East to fight Russia
 In order for this to work, what had to happen? What
actually happened?
THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE
Germany was on track to defeat France
 Made it almost all the way to Paris
The First Battle of the Marne
 September 5th
 French armies regrouped in the Valley of the Marne
 600 taxicabs rushed French soldiers from Paris to the
front lines
 Finally Germany had to retreat
EFFECTS OF THE FIRST BATTLE
OF THE MARNE
Destroyed the Schlieffen Plan
 Russia had already invaded Germany
 Germany was going to have to fight a war on two fronts
after all
TRENCH WARFARE
Stalemate on the Western Front
Troops dig trenches to protect themselves
from fire
Trench Warfare
 They then fight from those trenches
 Why does this make war last longer?
EXPERIENCES OF TRENCH WARFARE
Some soldiers lived in
the trenches for weeks
or months
Lived with rats, dead
bodies, disease,
starvation
Led to huge loss of
human life for little
land gain
TRENCH FACTS
 British Army treated 20,000 soldiers for trench foot
 To boost morale, there was a trench rotation. A week at the front, a
week in support, and a week on reserve.
 1/3 of all casualties on the Western Front may have been killed or
wounded in a trench
 Daytime was mostly safe. Raids attacks, and eavesdropping near enemy
lines occurred at night or early morning.
 Soldiers in the trenches often drank impure water causing dysentery
 New weapons created a “no-man’s land” between enemy lines.
 Soldiers would fight days , and many would die, for little or no gain in
land
MACHINE GUNS, POISON GAS, TANKS &
SUBMARINES
 Poison Gas – Some caused blindness, others caused death by
choking. Chlorine gas ‘boiled’ you from the inside out.
 Machine Guns – Defining feature of WWI, main cause of the
huge death toll, made it difficult for troops to advance
 Barbed Wire – Cause soldiers to get stuck trying to cross the
front lines, became easy targets
 Tanks – Could cross any type of terrain
 Submarines – Changed naval warfare forever
 Fighter Planes – Dog fights in the air
WAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT
Meanwhile, troops were also battling
between the German and Russian border
RUSSIA STRUGGLES
By 1916, Russia’s army was on life support
Short on food, guns, ammunition, supplies
The one thing Russia did have: a huge
population
 Though the Russian army was not strategically sound or
well-equipped, they tied up German forces in the East
 Suffered massive death tolls
TIMELINE
 1914 – WWI begins
 June 28, 1914 – Franz
Ferdinand shot
 1915
 Stalemate on the Western
front
 Gallipoli Campaign
 1916
 Feb – Dec – Battle of Verdun
 July – Battle of the Somme
 Russia struggles
 1917
 U.S. enters WWI
 Russia withdraws from the war
 1918 – WWI ends
 1919 – Treaty of Versailles
signed
WRITINGS OF WWI
Read In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, 1915
 What are your reactions to the poem?
 How does this poem symbolize war form the soldiers’ perspectives?
 Sea of Ceramic Poppies
 In Flanders Fields video
IN FLANDERS FIELDS
BY JOHN MCCRAE - MAY 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
WRITINGS OF WWI - WORKSHEET
 Read the selection from All Quiet on the Western
Front & Answer the questions on the worksheet.
 Using info from the document and your own historical
knowledge, also answer the following questions:
 How does this selection from the novel depict war?
 How did soldiers think about war before experiencing it?
After?
 How do you think the war will impact soldiers when they
return home?
 Why do you think this generation is called the “Lost
Generation”?
 Due tomorrow for a stamp.