WORLD WAR I BEGINS
1914
THE “SPARK”
• On June 28, 1914 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was
assassinated by Gavrio Princip while visiting the city of Sarajevo
• Princip was a member of the Black Hand, an extremist Serbian
nationalist group
• Austria blamed Serbia and issued a number of demands
• Serbia refused, and Austria declared war
• Russia mobilized its military in preparation for war with Austria;
• In response, Germany declared war on Russia and mobilized its
military
MOBILIZATION, SUMMER 1914
• As the combatant countries mobilized for war, the mood in most
places was jubilant
• Many volunteers saw the war as a great adventure, and nearly
everyone believed that it would be over quickly
• Most people were also confident that their side would win
WORLD WAR I ALLIANCES
WAR BEGINS: LATE SUMMER-FALL,
1914
• German Western Offensive
• August-September 1914
• Following the Schleiffen Plan, the German army charged through Belgium and into
French territory
• The Germans reached the outskirts of Paris; the soldiers could see the Eiffel Tower
• First Battle of the Marne
• September 5, 1914
• Reinforced by the first arrival of British troops, the Allies stopped the German advance
and pushed them back several miles
• Battle of Tannenberg
• August 30-31, 1914
• The Russians mobilized more quickly than the Germans had expected, and invaded
Eastern Germany
• The Russian advance was turned back at this battle
THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE
THE GREAT STALEMATE BEGINS,
FALL-WINTER, 1914
• After the Battles of Tannenberg and the Marne, the war settled
in to a brutal STALEMATE
• What does this mean?
• During the winter, both sides dug extensive networks of
Defensive Trenches
• On the Western Front, for the next three years neither side
would win a decisive battle, nor advance more than a few miles
into enemy-held territory
DIAGRAM OF A TRENCH SYSTEM