Fronts of the War

The Western Front: Germany, France, Britain, and Belgium fought along the Western Front. This 475-mile long f'ront was setback by Germany's Schlieffen Plan for a quick, all-Olit attack on France through the lowlands of

elgium. Rather than fight a war on two fronts, the Germans planned to capture France and then turn their attention to Russia. In August, 1914, Germany attacked Belgium. Within one month German advanced within 50 miles of Paris and the war appeared as ifit would end quickly. But the Germans made several tactical blunders, the French regrouped, and the Western Front stabilized along the French-Belgianfrontier. The two sides settled in a war of attrition.

Battles Along the Western Front: Fighting on the Western Front was characterized by long battles that took hundreds of thousands of lives and gained almost no ground for either side. In 1916, there were two major offensive battles: Battles of Verdun, which lasted six months and created 680,000 casualties and the Battles of the Somme, which lasted six months and ended with more than a million casualties. 1917 marked the German strategic retreat back to the heavily fortified Hindenburg line, entry of the United States into war in April, and the Russian Revolution in November. With Russia out ofwar, Germany was able to concentrate its war effort on the west, an advantage that was offset by the arrival of American money, materials, and eventually troops. On August 8, 1918 the German lines were finally broken.

, The Eastern Front: In 1914 Russia sent its enonnous annies against the Gennans and Austrians along the vast Eastern Front, which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The Russians experienced early victories, but after the Battle of Tannenburg the Gennans marched eastward to victory after victory. Russia's lack of modern technology meant its troops were under-supplies and poorly equipped. One quarter (25%) of Russian troops went into battle without weapons. They were instructed to follow behind the anned troops and pick up the rifles of their dead comrades. In November, 1917, Vladimir Lenin led a revolution that overthrew the government and immediately took Russia out of the war. Lenin signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with the Central Powers. This

eaty caused Russia to lose about 25% of its land and population.

J Vocabulary: 1) blunders: to make a mistake through carelessness or stupidity; 2) frontier: a border between two countries; 3) casualties: military person lost through death, wounds, or injury; 4) comrades: fellow soldier

Trench Warfare

Race to the Sea: When WWI began, generals on both sides believed charges of massed soldiers would lead to quick victories. But modern weapons completely destroyed this tactic, forcing soldiers to quickly adopt a new plan. The answer became the endless miles of trenches in Western Europe. Soldiers dug into the ground to escape the constant rain of bullets and shells. On the Western Front, trenches stretched for 475 miles. In 1914 the entire annual provision of shovels and spades for the British army was a 2,500 items: between August 1914 and November 1918, British troops were provided with 10,368,000 shovels.

Life in the Trenches: Trench warfare consisted of massed charges by infantrymen preceded by long artillery bombardments. Soldiers fixed bayonets to the end of their rifles and waited for the order to go 'over the top,' which meant charging out of the trench toward enemy lines. To overtake the rival trenches, soldiers had to cross "no man's land," a stretch of bombed-out territory between the trench lines that was crossed by tons of barbed wire and dotted with land mines. Few soldiers ever made it into the opposite side's trenches. Even with these horrible conditions, soldiers were hard-pressed to pick which was worse: trench warfare or life in the trenches.

Life in the trenches was dangerous, boring, and terrifying. Snipers and light artillery gunners kept constant watch for heads peaking up over the top of trenches. For long periods of time, neither side would mount an attack. Soldiers had nowhere to go and would wait anxiously for the next offensive while bombs fell constantly around them. Boredom caused some soldiers to go stir crazy, while others suffered from 'shell shock,' which is marked by often hysterical disorders of the mind and emotions caused by the trauma of modern warfare.

Living conditions in the trenches were horrible. Soldiers lived in rear trenches in dugouts, tiny rooms sunk into the earth. Water collected in the trenches, turning soil into treacherous mud. Many soldiers died by drowning in quagmires that had once been their trenches. The wet conditions favored disease, especially trench foot, which one got by not being able to keep one's feet dry. Trench foot rotted away the skin and usually led to amputation. Rats infested the trenches, and thick clouds of flies marked the spot of a rotting comrade whose corpse could not be rescued from enemy fire.

Vocabulary: 1) provision: stock of needed supplies; 2) infantrymen: soldiers trained to fight on food; 3) artillery: mounted guns; 4) bayonets: steel blade; 5) anxiously: uneasiness of mind; 6) offensive: make aggressive attack; 7) hysterical: emotional disturbance or excitability; 8) quagmire: soft spongy land; 9) amputation: to cut from the body

DIRECTIONS: WRITE IN COMPLETE SENTENCES, USE YOUR OWN WORDS!!

Questions for Fronts of the War

1: What was Gennan's Plan called to attack France through Belgium? Was it successful?

2: Do you think this was a smart strategy by Gennany?

3: What do you think 'attrition' means at the end of the Western Front section?

4: List 2 major battles in the Western Front and their outcomes.

5: Why was Russia not very successful in WWI?

6: What 2 things did the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk do?

Questions for Trench Warfare

1: What is a trench?

2: · Describe life in the trenches in your own words?

3: What was trench foot?

4: What was "shell shock"?