Section 2World War I: A New Kind of
War
Notes
Words to know
• Propaganda - Idea's,facts or rumors spread deliberatley to further ones cause or damge an opposing cause.
• War of Attrition - Where each side tries to outlast the
oppponent. • U-Boats - german engineeringcame up with the U-Boats
whichs means "Underwater Boats" also equipped with torpedos for self defence.
More words to know
• Contraband - war materials supplied by a neutral nation to a belligerant one.
• Astrocities - brutal acts of crimes, often commited against
civilians
The Belligerents:
• Central Powers o Germany, Austria – Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman. o Since their territory extend from the North Sea to the Middle East
communication was rather easy and they could move troops very rapidly.
• Allied Powers o Great Britain, France, Russia.o They also had some advantages because of more soldiers and
greater industrial capacity.o Also had the Britain’s Navy the largest in the world.o Eventually 32 countries made up the Allied Powers.
Innovations In Warfare:
• WW1 was an industrialized war.o Mass-produced weaponso German U-boats (Unterseebooten- underwater
boats)o Poison gaso New guns : machine guns and long range artilleryo Airplaneso British tankso Soldierso Total Waro Propaganda
German U-Boats:
Machine Gun From WW1:
Red Baron:
WW1 Airplanes: British WW1 Tanks: Propaganda:
Early Years of the War:• Germany attacks France- September 1914. • Russia attacks German forces- major losses occur.• Fighting in Gallipoli
o Russia needed guns and ammo. Great Britian and France sent battleships to bombard the Ottoman artillery on the Gallipoli Penninsula. EPIC FAIL, went on shore for 8 months, both sides lost many. Allies withdrew.
• Naval Warfareo British set up a blockade to keep supplies from getting
to Germany. Germany set up a blockade of U-boats to sink ships taking supplies to the British. May 1915, German U-boats sank the Lusitania.
o Battle of Jutland in the NorthSea off the Denmark coast.
Early Years of the War Continued:• Naval Warfare
o British set up a blockade to keep supplies from getting to Germany. germany set up a blockade of U-boats to sink ships taking supplies to the British. May 1915, German U-boats sank the Lusitania.
o Battle of Jutland in the NorthSea off the Denmark coast.
• The Stalemateo By late 1915 both sides had come to a stalemate. The
war had turned into a "war of attrition."
The Lusitania• Ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line
o built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland
• torpedoed by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915o sank in 18 minutes, eight miles off the Old Head of
Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard (128 Americans)
• Turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, and provoked the United States into joining World War I.
• Considered the second most famous civilian passenger liner disaster, after the sinking of the RMS Titanic
The Lusitania
The United States and World War I:
• President Wilson stated in 1914 that the United States should remain neutral.
• We supplied food, raw material, and amunition to both sides.
• However, America started mainly trading with the allies. • Germany wanted alliance with Mexico • Promised to help retaking Arizona, New Mexico, and
Texas. • British intercepted and decoded the telegram.
United States Enters the War
• Russia overthrew the autocratic government. • Major Allied countries moved towards democracy.• None of the central powers moved towards democracy.• 1917 congress declared war on Germany
Women During WWI
Women were often a positive influence for the soldiers. While the men were gone, women worked in block mills and on the family farms. About 80,000 women joined the Britsish army as noncombatants. Odd Fact: Women started wearing pants during WW1.
Women served as messengers to get messages from one camp to another. Many women nurses were needed during the war because of a large number of soldiers being wounded or obtaining diseases.
Advantages/DisadvantagesAllied Powers• Americans - industrial and
production power• Britain - most powerful
navy, one of the major world powers
• "Ultra Secret"• High resource supply• A better balance of
technological expertise
Central Powers• Italy - (first country to use
aircraft in military missions) had a more superior airforce
• Germany - larger armed forces using modern weapons and modern tactics
• More enthusiastic
New Technologies of WW1• military aviation - the single greatest change to come out
of WWI• the tank - deciding factor in the end of trench warfare
o tanks were able to cross trenches easily• The field phone and wireless were both used in WWI
o limited effectiveness• The submarine - used to some extent by German
o technology was still very primative• internal combustion gasoline engine was used• Chemical weapons were used on a wide scale for the first
timeo with mixed effectiveness
Better Illustrations
The Harley Arrives"Harleys have been a part of the mobile American landscape almost since the first day someone decided to try strapping an internal combustion engine to a bicycle. By the advent of WWI, Harley Davidson was a well known name among several US motorcycle manufacturers."
The "Ultra Secret"
In 1938 a German defected from Nazi Germany with the "Enigma machine" blue prints to Britain. • deciphering machine for Nazi Germany who later sold
these to their allies, the Japanese We could decipher their messages and translate them to English usually before their own people could.
Why Join The War?
The Zimmerman Note Telegram between Germany and Mexico The Lusitania Sunk by German submarine
The U-Boat• U-boat (undersea boat) refers to military submarines
operated by Germany• particularly in World War I and World War II• most effectively used in an economic-warfare role
(Commerce raiding), enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping
• the primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from the British Empire and the United States to the islands of Great Britain.
• Austrian submarines of World War I were also known as U-boats
The Zimmerman Note
• Supposedly intercepted by the British that came from Germany to be sent to Mexico
• Mexico "could reclaim Texas if Mexico helped the Axis to defeat the US."o Later, the note was argued to be phony when (after the
war) British authorities failed to produce the actual telegraph but it did inflame anti German feelings in the USA and helped the president decide to declare war.
Review Question #1
What Avantages did each side have during WW1?
Review Question #2
How did each new technology affect the way in which WW1 was fought?
Review Question #3
What led the United States to join the Allied Powers?
The End
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