Ch 16 Sec 2
 1914
– 2 Rival Groups
 Triple Entente
◦ Great Britain, France, Russia
 Triple
Alliance
◦ Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

Chain Reaction
◦ A-H declares war on Serbia
◦ Russia moves army toward border w/A-H
 Mobilizes toward Germany in
anticipation of declaration of war
 Germans view this as declaration of war
◦ Aug 1 – Germany declares war on Russia
◦ Aug 3 – Germany declares war on France
◦ Aug 4 - GB declares war on Germany
 Mid-August
1914, battle lines
were drawn
 Central Powers
◦ At first, Germany and A-H
◦ Later, Bulgaria and Ottoman Empire
 Hoped to gain land
 Allies
◦ GB, France, Russia, Japan
◦ Italy
 Accuses Germany and A-H of unjustly
starting war
 Joins the allies
 The
Schlieffen Plan
◦ Gen. Alfred Graf von Schlieffen
◦ German army would race west to
defeat France
◦ Then fight Russia in the east
◦ Speed vital
 Quickest route through Belgium
 Refuse to allow them to pass
 Germany invades
 Schlieffen
Plan works at first
◦ Aug 1914
 Germans overran Belgium and
moved into France
 Sept. 3 – Germans on edge of Paris
 Battle
of the Marne
◦ Sept 5
◦ Allies attack Germans northeast of
Paris
 2000 taxis used to transport troops
from Paris
◦ Sept. 9 – Germans order retreat
◦ Single-most important event of the
war
 Defeat of Germans left Schlieffen
Plan in ruins
 Quick victory no longer possible
 Russians had invaded Germany
 2-Front war
 Fall
1914
◦ War turned into long and bloody
stalemate
 Western
Front
◦ Deadlocked region in Northern
France
 War
in the Trenches
◦ 1915 – Trench Warfare
 Miles of parallel trenches along Western
Front
 Offer protection
 Huge losses for small land gains
◦ Miserable life
 Men slept in mud
 rats
 No fresh food
 Sleep nearly impossible
 “No
Man’s Land”
◦ Space between trenches
◦ Men go “over the top” to cross
 Met by machine-gun fire
 Many die
◦ Bombed trenches
 New
tools of war kill thousands
◦ Machine guns
◦ Poison gas
◦ Armored tanks
◦ Larger artillery
 Feb.
1916 – German
attack at Verdun
◦ 300,000 die on both
sides
◦ Germans advance 4
miles
 July
1916 - Battle of
the Somme
◦ 20,000 British die in
one day
◦ 500,000 on both sides
by November
◦ British gain 5 miles
 Eastern
Front
◦ German and Russian Border
 Russians and Serbs vs. Germans,
Austro-Hungarians, Turks
◦ More mobile than Western Front
 Central
Powers gain the advantage
◦ Aug. 1914 – Germans force Russian
retreat
 30,000 Russians killed
◦ Sept 1914 – Russians defeat Austrians
 Drive deep into Austria
◦ Dec 1914 – Austria turns the tide
 17-day battle near Limanowa
 Defeat Russians and drive east
◦ Jan. 1915 – push Russians out of
Austria
 1916
- Russia’s war effort near
collapse
◦ Russia not industrialized
 Short on food, guns, ammo, clothes,
boots, blankets
◦ Allies unable to ship supplies to Russia
 Russia
had only one asset
◦ Huge numbers
 prevent Germans from focusing on
Western Front