Causes of the Great War / The War to End All Wars

Europe at its peak

• Industrial revolution at it peak– Most technologically advanced continent on

earth– Wealthiest society

• 25% of the world population lived in Europe

• Modernization led to sense that Europeans were at the peak of the world

• Lead to feeling of superiority

Imperialism

• Building up of colonies

• To maintain a strong industrial economy

• Carved out over seas empires

• Needed raw materials

• Market for finished products

Political Cartoon of Britain’s imperialism in Africa

MilitarismBuilding up of “arms”

• Glorification of war and increase in military spending

• Germany competed against England’s navel superiority

Nationalism

• Great sense of patriotism – leads to feeling of invincibility

• Pride in one’s country or aspiring to becomes one’s own country

• Germany and Italy had only recently become united, independent countries

• Many different countries torn by tensions of different nationalist groups

• Serbians living in realm of A/H

System of Alliances

• Last ingredient needed

• Secret alliances

• Web of treaties to protect themselves

• Triple Alliance: – Germany, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman

Empire

• Triple Entente: – France, Russia and Great Britain

One Thing lead to another

Events that led to the 'Great War‘

a name that had been touted even before the coming of the conflict

Austria-Hungary

unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.

Russiabound by treaty to Serbiamobilization of its army in her defensea slow process that would take around six weeks to complete. 

The Enemy is at the Gate

Germany

allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty

viewed the Russian mobilization as an act of war against Austria-Hungary

declared war on Russia on 1st of August

France bound by treat to Russiawar against Germany and, by extension, on Austria-Hungary

Germany invaded neutral Belgium so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.

The French Infantry in the Battle

Britainallied to France declared war against Germany on 4th of August  obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year old treaty  

With Britain's entryher colonies and dominions abroad offered military and financial assistance

AustraliaCanada

IndiaNew Zealand Union of South Africa.

Canadian Propaganda Poster

Japanhonoring a military agreement with BritainDeclared war on Germany on 23 August 1914

Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan

Italycommitted to defend Germany and Austria-Hungary only in the event of a 'defensive' war; arguing that their actions were 'offensive' declared instead a policy of neutrality The following year joined the conflict on the side of the Allies

United States President Woodrow Wilson declared absolute neutrality

when Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare - threatened America's commercial shipping

U.S entered the war on April 6, 1917

Weapons of the Great War : The War to End All Wars

German Plan

French Plan

Result of Weapons

Trench Warfare

Bayonet

• Originally a defensive weapon against cavalry charge• Rarely attempted until the enemy was retreating

• Use of rifles give infantrymen firepower• Now used as a personal offensive weapon

• Primary close combat weapon used during trench warfare

• Machine guns undermined the bayonet effectivness by an advancing army

Big Bertha Howitzer

• Fire a 2,200 lb shell over 9 miles

• Transported by tractors

• Took 200 man crew over six hours to re-assemble

Flamethrower

• Idea was to spread fire by launching burning fuel• Designed for portable use, carried by a single

man• Belched forth a stream of burning oil for 36

meters• Used mostly to clear forward defenders during

the start of an attack• Often times the cylinder exploded – dangerous

job!

Grenades

• Many types of grenades were used• Called Mills bomb

• Serrated so that when it detonated it broke into many fragments (fragmentation bomb)

• Remove safety pin while holding down the strike lever, and throw

• Had four seconds to get out of the way• Over 100 million were thrown during the

Great War

Machine Gun

• Positioned on a flat tripod• Required a gun crew of 4-6 men

• Fire 400-600 small caliber rounds per min• This figure doubled by war’s end• Worth as many as 60-100 rifles• A fearsome defensive weapon

• Enemy infantry assaults were costly• Toward war end lighter models were being used

a offensive weapons as well

The Mortar

• A short stumpy tube designed to fire a projectile at a steep angle

• Higher then 45 degrees so that is falls straight down on the enemy

• Why would this be ideally suited for trench warfare?

Poison Gas

• Debut in the 2nd battle of Ypres April 1915• Yellow-green cloud

• Destroyed the victim’s respiratory organs• First use provoked widespread

condemnation• Damaged German’s relations with neutral

countries (US)• Other side used it and poison gas usage

escalated for remainder of the war

German infantry man French men loading up gas container

Rifle

• the rifle, which remained the most crucial, ever-present infantry weapon throughout The Great War

• the advent of automatic and semiautomatic weapons waited until the last year of the war

• eight to twelve rounds per minute • 15 rounds per minute achieved by riflemen of the British

Expeditionary Force • range, the average during the war was around 1,400

meters • accuracy could only be guaranteed at around 600 meters

The Springfield, manufactured in the U.S. (at Springfield, Massachusetts), was the standard wartime rifle of the U.S. army

Tank

• 15th September 1916 first used in battle by the British

• early tanks proved notoriously unreliable

• often broke down and became ditched - i.e. stuck in a muddy trench

• Conditions for the tank crews

– heat was tremendous

– fumes often nearly choked the men

• Tanks design improved

• British, French and US made them, Germany never were convinced of their effectiveness

Losses of the Great Wareach symbol – 100,000 deaths