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Section 2

1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate

Trench warfare brought the war on the Western Front to a stalemate while Germany and Austria-Hungary defeated Russia on the Eastern Front.

Figure 3

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The ugly side of Nationalism….Government propaganda had stirred national hatred. Most people believed their nation’s cause was just and that the war would be over quickly.

1914 to 1915: Illusions and Stalemate (cont.)

Germany

France

Great Britain

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• Western Front – As Germany marched toward Paris, they were

halted by French troops at the First Battle of the Marne.

– Both sides dug trenches, making advancement from either side difficult. The result was a stalemate.


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• Western Front

– For four years, both sides remained virtually in the same positions due to the trench warfare.


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• The Eastern Front

– The Russians were defeated in both the Battle at Tannenberg and the Battle of Masurian Lake in eastern Germany.


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• The Eastern Front

– Austria-Hungary was defeated by the Russians in Galicia and pushed out of Serbia.

– Germany came to Austria’s aid and pushed the Russians back into their own territory.


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– Italy abandoned the Triple Alliance and attacked Austria. Italy joined France, Great Britain, and Russia and were now called the Allied Powers, or Allies.


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– Russian casualties equaled 2.5 million, almost knocking them out of the war.

– Bulgaria joined Germany and Austria-Hungary. They attacked and eliminated Serbia from the war.


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The Great Slaughter

New weapons and trench warfare made World War I far more devastating than any previous wars.

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• Trenches were elaborate systems of defense protected by barbed wire. Troops lived in holes in the ground separated by a strip of land known as no-man’s-land.

• Attacks consisted of heavy artillery wearing down the enemy’s barbed wire.Then soldiers would attempt to advance on the enemy’s trenches.

The Great Slaughter (cont.)

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• The attacks were rarely successful because the advancing troops were often fired upon by enemy machine guns, ultimately killing millions of men.

• Trench warfare was a tactic that turned World War I into a war of attrition.

• By 1915, airplanes were added to the battlefront for the first time.


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• Planes were first used to spot enemy positions but eventually began to attack ground targets especially enemy communications.

• In the beginning, pilots shot at each other with pistols but were later equipped with machine guns.


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• The Germans used their giant airships, known as zeppelins, to bomb cities but these were easily shot down by antiaircraft guns.


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Other Slaughtering devices (cont.)

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A World War

With the war at a stalemate, both the Allied Powers and the Central Powers looked for new allies to gain an advantage.

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• The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers that consisted of Bulgaria, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.

• The Allied Powers—France, Great Britain, Russia, and Italy—declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

A World War (cont.)

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• The Allies unsuccessfully attempted an attack at Gallipoli.

A World War (cont.)

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• The war soon became a world conflict when a British officer, Lawrence of Arabia, encouraged Arab princes in the Middle East to revolt against their Ottoman overlords.

• The Ottoman Empire was destroyed in the Middle East by British forces who led a coalition of Indian, Australian, and New Zealand forces.

A World War (cont.)

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• At first the U.S. tried to remain neutral during the war.

A World War (cont.)

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• Great Britain and Germany implemented a series of naval blockades against one another.

• On May 7, 1915, Germans sank the British ship Lusitania. About 1100 civilians including over 100 Americans died. Germany ended unrestricted submarine warfare to avoid conflict with the U.S.

A World War (cont.)

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• In 1917, Admiral Holtzendorf convinced the German emperor to resume unrestricted submarine warfare.

• The United States retaliated by entering the war and joining the Allied Powers.

A World War (cont.)

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The Impact of Total War

World War I became a total war, with governments taking control of their economies and rationing civilian goods.

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• World War I eventually became a total war when the countries involved called for complete mobilization of their resources and people.

• The war affected the lives of all citizens in the nations involved.

The Impact of Total War (cont.)

– Countries drafted tens of millions of men.

– Governments rationed food supplies and materials.

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– Imports and exports were regulated.

– Transportation systems and industries were temporarily taken under government control.

– In order to mobilize all the resources of their nations for the war effort, European nations set up planned economies.


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• President Woodrow Wilson declared that the men and women at home helping with the war effort were no less part of the army than the soldiers at war.


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• As public support for the war began to waiver, governments expanded their powers to stop internal dissent.

– Authoritarian regimes relied on force to quiet opposition.

– The British Parliament allowed the government to arrest protesters as traitors.

– Newspapers were censored.


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• Women took on new roles during the war by filling the jobs traditionally done by men.


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• After the war, many jobs were taken from the women as the men returned to the workforce.

• The role women played during the war had a positive impact on the women’s movement and in many areas, women gained the right to vote after the war.


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The Reality of MODERN WARFARE

• Trench warfare brought the Western Front to a stalemate until new allies entered the war.

• Trench warfare and new technology caused a devastating loss of life.

• Governments took control of economies and rationed civilian goods, affecting all citizens.

THE END

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