World War I
THE EASTERN FRONT AND
GLOBAL INVOLVEMENT
LOCATION
Longer than the Western Front
No stalemate like the Western Front, but just as
deadly
Trenches never
really developed,
more fluid troop
movement
1000 miles long,
so troop density
was lower
BATTLE OF TANNENBERG 1914
Germany vs. Russia—almost destroyed the
Russian army
Happened at the same time as the Germans
were losing the Battle of the Marne in France
Kept Russia at bay the rest of the war
Russian retreat resulted in permanent loss of
land (15% of its territory)
THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN
1915-1916 in the Ottoman Empire
Purpose: to capture the capitol city of Istanbul and
secure access for Russia to the Dardanelles strait
(warm water port!)
An attempt by Britain and
France to lure Greece and
Bulgaria into the war on
their side
Also a new front was needed
since the Western Front was
deadlocked.
THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN
Half a million died in the campaign
The Allies gave up the fight after a year
Heavy involvement from Australia and New
Zealand, still a deeply felt loss—prior to this
loss, they had great confidence in their British
military roots
BATTLES IN AFRICA AND ASIA
Germany’s colonial possessions came under
assault
Japan attacked their holdings in China and in
the Pacific islands
English and French troops attacked African
possessions—not well defended (Germany only
recently established presence there)
Results in Africa: Germany lost all colonies
COLONIAL LOSSES
Almost
9,000,000 colonial soldiers were
conscripted (the draft)
A million and a half came from India—all ethnicities:
Sikhs, Pakistani Muslims
Others came from Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Jamaica
They were given indigenous uniforms and led by an
ethnic “national”
ON YOUR PAPER…
Use the map on page 418 to answer the
questions on your paper.
AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR
1917 Germany intensified submarine use in the
Atlantic Ocean—using U-boats
Announced they would sink any ship,
unannounced, that was near Britain
This was called unrestricted submarine warfare
This policy had been used before—1915, Germany
sank the British passenger ship Lusitania—
included 128 US citizens.
Germany had stopped this kind of warfare for
awhile, but needed an edge on the Allies so they
resumed it in 1917
U-BOATS
“undersea boat”
Used for enforcing a blockade—for example,
American supplies being transported to Great
Britain as support in the war
Able to sink large ships with a single hit
(Lusitania was a one-hit sink)
AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR
The Germans took a gamble—they’d force the
British to surrender before the US was
provoked to full war
They lost the gamble.
Woodrow Wilson, the US President, warned
Germany several times to stop unrestricted sub
warfare, but 3 US ships were sunk
The US had previously kept a strict (?) nonintervention policy
ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM
German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman
sent a telegram to Mexico saying they’d help
them “reconquer” the land lost to the United
States if they’d join with Germany in WWI.
Britain intercepted the note, decoded it, and
passed it on to the US.
Zimmerman initially denied the note’s
existence, but in a speech later tried to explain
the tone was misunderstood…
ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM--ORIGINAL
ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM--DECODED
ON YOUR PAPER…
Read the Zimmerman Note and Arthur
Zimmerman’s speech about it. Then answer the
questions.
RUSSIA BOWS OUT
Russia was suffering from harsh winters, low food
supply, low fuel supply
Civil unrest forced the Czar to abdicate his throne
The new government tried to stay in the war, but it
was still too hard to maintain
A revolution produced another new government
under Vladimir Lenin—ended Russia’s involvement
in the war.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended the war between
Germany and Russia
END OF THE WAR
With Russia gone, Germany could focus its efforts on
the Western front
Almost to Paris, it seemed like Germany could win the
whole thing, but their army was so weakened, a newly
revived Allied army was able to beat them—with
140,000 new US troops
350 tanks, then 2 million more US troops arrived
One by one, Central Powers surrendered
Kaiser Wilhelm stepped down on November 9, 1918.
The new government met with the French to discuss a
treaty.
Armistice—agreement—signed November 11 at 11 am.
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