“THE GREAT WAR”
1914 to 1918
 By early 1900’s,
European nations
began massive military
build up, mainly to
protect overseas
interests.
 M: Militarism
 Build up of army and military forces
 A: Alliances
 Formal agreement made between two or more countries
to have each other’s backs in the event of war
 I: Imperialism
 When a country takes over new lands or countries and
makes them subject to their rule (i.e.. Great Britain in
India, France in Africa)
 N: Nationalism
 Pride in one’s country
 MILITARISM
 Many countries had built
up the size of their armed
forces and weaponry.
 Examples
 Austria-Hungary: machine
guns
 Germany: manufactured uboats
 France: added men to their
armed forces
ALLIANCES
 Triple Alliance:
 Germany, Austria-
Hungary,
& Italy
 Triple Entente:
 France, Russia,
Great Britain
 Imperialism
 Germany, France, Russia, Great Britain
 Saw themselves as great nations
 Huge empires
 History of taking sides in earlier conflicts

Nationalism

As seen last unit, led to the development of new
European nations:


Italy, Germany
Leads to power struggles with more established
nations (i.e.. Great Britain, Russia, France)
AustriaHungary
Serbia
Serbia becomes
angry; claims Bosnia
is theirs
Took Bosnia
from Turkey
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand & his
pregnant wife visit
Bosnia
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Serbian terrorist
group: The Black
Hand, hear of visit
assassinated by
Gavrilo Princip
Triple Alliance
Triple Entente
 Germany
 France
 Austria-Hungary
 Russia
 Italy
 Great Britain
Russia
back
Serbia
Great
Britain
enters war
Germany
sees Russia
as a threat
Germany
declares war on
Russia
Central Powers:
Germany, AustriaHungary
Germany invades
Belgium on way to
defeat France/Russia
Allied Powers:
Great Britain, France,
Russia, Serbia
8/1914
WWI
begins
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWF86D_UNxc
 http://www.history.com/videos/wwi-firsts
 US remained neutral: President Wilson says US should stay
out of affairs of other nations. US doesn’t formally enter
war until 1917, although involved behind the scenes:
provides Allied Powers with weapons and supplies.
1915
German u-boat sinks
of passenger liner
Lusitania
120 Americans aboard
_____
German submarines
sank US merchant
ships
1917
Zimmerman Note
Proposed Mexico
attack US. In return,
Germany promises
TX, NM and AZ
_____
April 1917
US enters war
http://www.sonicbomb.com/xv1.php?vid=w
w1_ht&id=548&ttitle=WW1%20%20Hell%20in%20the%20Trenches&s=80&
w=700&h=400
Changes in
Warfare: War in
the Trenches
Also used during Civil
War (1865)
Conditions during
WWI:
•
Rats
•
Lice
•
Rain/flooded
causing trench foot
•
Dead bodies
•
Disease spread
rapidly
TRENCH FOOT
Many soldiers fighting in the
First World War suffered from
trench foot. This was an
infection of the feet caused by
cold, wet and insanitary
conditions. In the trenches
men stood for hours on end in
waterlogged trenches without
being able to remove wet
socks or boots. The feet would
gradually go numb and the
skin would turn red or blue. If
untreated, trench foot could
turn gangrenous and result in
amputation. Trench foot was a
particular problem in the early
stages of the war. For example,
during the winter of 1914-15
over 20,000 men in the British
Army were treated for trench
foot.
Source: http://www.spartcus.schoolnet.co.uk
Changes in
Warfare: No Man’s
Land
•
Ground between
two opposing
trenches (for
example, Great
Britain and
Germany)
•
Seldom crossed in
daylight: shot at,
grenades, barbed
wire, water filled
shell holes.
•
Strewn with dead
bodies, abandoned
military
equipment
Changes in
Warfare: No Man’s
Land
Military advances
such as machine
guns, handgrenades, chemical
gases, along with
traditional trench
warfare led to the
creation of “No
Man’s Land,” a zone
between the trenches
that caused a war of
attrition (or a
stalemate.)
Changes in
Warfare: War in
the Trenches
•
Introduction of
poison gas. Could
choke, blind, or
burn victims.
•
Gas masks used
for first time
•
Tanks
•
Aircraft
•
http://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=
xA4SEpU3WvM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qts3K3KznN4

IN FLANDERS FIELD
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.
DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through
sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.-Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
In addition to propaganda posters, music
played a role in WWI morale. American
George M. Cohan was given a Congressional
Gold Medal by President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt in 1936. Cohan’s music was said to
have raise the spirits of the American public.
Some of the songs he wrote are still part of
patriotic celebrations today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1rkzUIL
8oc&feature=related
Statistics related to the First World War
Nation
Total
Number of
servicemen
engaged in
the war.
Number of
deaths.
Number of
soldiers
wounded.
Number of
men taken
prisoner or
reported
missing.
Austria
7,800,000
1,200,000
3,620,000
2,200,000
Britain (inc
Empire)
8,904,467
908,371
2,090,212
191,652
France
8,410,000
1,357,800
4,266,000
537,000
Germany
11,000,000
1,773,700
4,216,058
1,152,800
Italy
5,615,000
650,000
947,000
600,000
Russia
12,000,000
1,700,000
4,950,000
2,500,000
Turkey
2,850,000
325,000
400,000
250,000
United
States
4,355,000
126,000
234,300
4,500
Civil War – estimate at least 618,000, as high as 700,000
How does the total number of WWI deaths compare to the
estimated number of slaves taken from Africa as a result of
the Transatlantic slave trade?