THE WORLD AT WAR

Chapter 18.1 A World Crisis

“One archduke more or less makes little difference.”- The Grand Forks, North Dakota Daily Herald

Focus Your Thoughts . . .

What is ‘isolationism’? What are its benefits and detriments?

“Armed neutrality is ineffectual at best.”- Woodrow Wilson, 1917

What did Wilson mean by this quote?

Causes of World War I

Some 3,000 miles away from Sarajevo, most Americans cared little about the news of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination

Most of Europe felt the opposite, and plunged into war within weeks . . .

How could one assassination start a world war??

Let’s Back Up . . . Where is Sarajevo?

Central Europe: Then Central Europe: Now

Sarajevo is the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was ruled during this time period by the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Causes of World War IAlso known as the ‘Great War’

Nationalism: Most visible in the Balkan’s where the Ottoman Empire was starting to crumble; Austria-Hungary saw an opportunity and tried to push into the region

Imperialism: By the late 1800’s, Great Britain and France already had colonial empires in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia; the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, wanted colonies for Germany too.

Militarism: The policy of military preparedness and building up weapons; Germany began to enlarge both it’s army and navy The Schlieffen Plan – Precise instructions for waging a two-

front war against Russia and France by passing through Belgium leading the other nations to take notice

The AlliancesThe Balance of Power

Germany Italy Austria-Hungary

Great Britain France Russia

The Triple Alliance

(The Central Powers)

The Triple Entente French for ‘understanding’

(The Allied Powers)

What is an ‘alliance’? Why would they feel it was necessary to form them?

War Breaks Out

After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Serbian teenager Gavrilo Princip of the Black Hand, was arrested

After investigating his background, Austro-Hungarian officials discovered that the government had been supplying the Black Hand with weapons

Austria-Hungary declares war; because Austria-Hungary is part of The Triple Entente, Russia begins to prepare for war as well which Germany considers a hostile act . . . Germany responds by declaring war on France

The Germans Take Belgium

On August 4, 1914, German troops cross the border into the neutral country of Belgium; because Great Britain had promised to defend Belgium, they declared war on Germany

At first the Schlieffen Plan worked well; the German attack on Belgium was fierce Germans burned entire villages, executing

women and children along the way

A New Kind of Warfare

The French rushed to meet the German’s in bright red uniforms, while the German’s wore gray which worked expertly as camouflage

French military strategy hadn’t changed much since the 1800’s, and the French were stunned, when given the orders to ‘charge’ and drew their weapons when they were met by a hail of machine gun and artillery fire

15,000 French soldiers were dying per day

The First Battle of the Marne The Germany army quickly advance

through France

Desperate for a victory, the French launched a daring counterattack 2 million men fought for five days straight 250,000 died However . . .

The French rallied and pushed the Germans back forty miles, allowing Russia time to mobilize

The War Reaches a Stalemate

The First Battle of the Marne ended in a standoff

Both sides began to dig trenches, or deep ditches to protect them and help them defend their positions

Trench warfare – Fighting from within the trenches Soldiers lived in the trenches, surrounded by constant machine

gun fire, flying grenades, and exploding artillery shells Opposing forces had their machine guns aimed at enemy

trenches at all times The area in between the trenches became known as “no

man’s land”

More New Weapons

Scientists for both alliances worked to develop new weapons in an attempt to win an advantage:

Chlorine gas – Attacked and destroyed the lungs of soldiers Lead to the introduction of the gas mask Had little impact on battles because the gas was not colorless, as long

as soldiers could see it coming, they could avoid the attack

Airplanes – Not a new invention, but new in terms of it’s being used to conduct

attacks

Tanks – Scared the German soldiers, but they weren’t especially successful

because they often got stuck in the mudIf either side is ever going to win, something’s gotta give . . .

Assignment: Identifying Cause & Effect (Pg. 589)

Cause

Example

Example

Copy the chart above and record four main causes of World War I; below each cause list two supporting examples.

Which do you think was most influential? Why?