world war i: a new kind of...
TRANSCRIPT
World War I: A New Kind of Warfare
First World War General Overview
Following the July Crisis, war began in early August 1914
It was expected to be quick….over by Christmas
Romantic / chivalry… men signed up eager for adventure
A war of movement was expected…..stalemate occurred with trench warfare
No one knew the problems associated with industrialized warfare….19th century tactics were ineffective against modern weapons such as the machine gun
War lasted for 4 years…..approx 9 million soldiers / 20 million civilians would die
First World War Opening Moves
Prior to 1914, all major countries (Russia, France, Germany) had developed very detailed and calculated war plans that would be implemented should war ever erupt.
For Germany, it was surrounded by countries of the Triple Entente, so a war plan was needed to deal with the possibility of war on two fronts (France in the West & Russia in the East)
We can use the map on the next slide to describe how Germany’s geographic location in Europe influenced its pre-World War I war plan
First World War Opening Moves
• The German plan was to quickly knock
France out of the war & capture Paris
before British & Russia forces could be
mobilized & brought into action
• To accomplish this Germany decided to
invade neutral Belgium, sweep through
northeastern France & capture Paris,
knocking France out of the war in only 6
weeks…Schlieffen Plan
• This plan brought Britain into the
conflict in defense of neutral Belgium &
it responded by sending forces to
Northern France
The Race to the Sea, Fall 1914
• By September 1914 the German plan had failed, British & French forces stopped the Germans just outside of Paris. France was saved!!
• ‘The Race to the Sea’ now began as both sides attempted to control the ports along the English Channel
• Both sides also now began to dig in over the next few months to consolidate their positions …TRENCH WARFARE had arrived!
• The Outbreak of War (Interactive Map)
A New Kind of Warfare
The war on the Western Front was a new kind of warfare.
No one had experienced a war like it before. The generals’
plan had not allowed for it. Everyone had to adapt.
What distinguished this war from previous ones?
Trench Warfare
Dominated by artillery
Cavalry became outdated
Dominated by infantry
Industrialized Warfare
Trench Warfare
• Both sides began to construct deep trenches protected by
machine guns & barbed wire.
• Parallel lines of trenches soon stretched from the English
Channel to Switzerland
• Opposing forces were only separated by 25m in some areas.
• Trench warfare dominated the Western Front battlefields of
WWI.
Activity #1: Trench Organization
Front-line : This was the firing-and-attack trench (closest to the enemy)
Support : This trench contained men & supplies that could immediately assist those on the front line
Reserve : This trench contained men & supplies that were available in emergencies should the first trenches be overrun.
Communication : Connected the various trenches & allowed movement of messages, supplies, & men
among the trenches
No Man’s Land
• The space between the allied &
enemy front line trenches
• Characterized with destroyed
military equipment &
vegetation, mud-soaked craters,
rotting corpses, & barbed wire
• Night-time Trench raids were
common
• Snipers were a constant threat
First World War Trenches
The front line trench was supported by much stronger
reserve trenches and linked by communication trenches.
German trenches were usually stronger and better
constructed than allied trenches.
As the Germans invaded Belgium and France they quickly
captured the higher ground and built their trenches in those
areas.
First World War Trenches
Many of their dugouts and machine gun posts were
reinforced with concrete which provided a stronger defence
against artillery bombardment.
The British and Allied trenches were often filled with water
and mud because they were constructed in the low-lying
areas.
Activity #2: Copy & Label the Cross section
2. Artillery
It was the key weapon of
WWI which caused more
casualties than any other
weapon
Fear most by the soldiers
Shrapnel shells
2. Artillery
The area around Ypres,
Belgium experienced the
devastating effects of artillery
bombardments
The Menin Gate stands there
today as a reminder of the
men who have no known
grave (over 55,000 British &
Empire dead)
Thiepval on the Somme has
over 70,000
The following shows a series of aerial photographs of Passchendaele taken before, during, and after the battle in 1917.
As you view the photos, think about the following
How has the use of artillery physically changed the town and surrounding landscape?
In what ways were soldiers impacted by this destruction?
3. Cavalry
Traditionally, Cavalry forces provided
speed & mobility to armies
Cavalry Charge
The emergence of artillery, barbed
wire, machine guns, & trench warfare in
WWI, however, rendered cavalry
virtually useless
Animals were too vulnerable for frontal
assaults & were mainly concentrated on
transportation/supply duties
Tanks became the new cavalry as the
war progressed
4. Infantry
Foot soldier who formed the
backbone of the army
‘Infantry Charge’ replaced
the ‘Cavalry Charge’
Carried a variety of
equipment into battle
4. Infantry Charge
The attacking side’s artillery
bombarded the frontline trenches
of the enemy in the days / weeks
prior to the attack.
As soon as the barrage lifted
(stopped), attacking
troops would go over the
top of their trenches to
attack.
4. Infantry Charge
The defenders now attempted to
hold their positions & destroy the
attacking forces with machine gun
fire & other weapons available
If enemy trenches were captured,
they had to be held against strong
enemy counter-attack….a very
difficult task
4. Infantry Charge
The machine gun was devastatingly effective defending a trench
against the infantry charge.
Firing 8 – 10 bullets / min, this weapon made frontal assaults on
trenches very costly
The theory was that if enough soldiers charged then no matter how
many were killed or wounded on the way, there would still be
enough men alive to capture the machine guns in the enemy
trenches.
July 1st, 1916…Battle of the Somme
Tanks
Tanks were invented by the British as a way to protect soldiers advancing towards enemy trench positions. Their potential vas obvious but they were extremely unreliable and never used effectively during WWI.
5. New Weapons
As countries militarized & prepared for war, new
technologies appeared which introduced the world to the
dark side of the Industrial Revolution
All of the following first appeared during WWI as you will
view in Modern Marvels “World War One Tech” on the
following slides
Machine Guns, Tanks, Airplanes, Submarines, Poisonous Gas
Gas
Gas vas used by the Germans as a way to carve a path through enemy trenches. It had the potential to open a gap in the enemy lines but the gas was at the mercy of the wind so it could blow back onto German positions (the Germans had no gas masks at this time). Additionally, the Germans could not advance until the gas has dissipated. By the time it did Allied soldiers in reserve had the time to move up to front line positions to block the advance of the advancing Germans.
Submarines were used by the Germans as a result of the stalemate in the trenches. The German High Command believed that if the war could not be won in the trenches, then war would have to be carried out on another front. The Germans wanted to use submarines to overcome the superiority of the Royal Navy and cut Britain and France off from the supplies they required from their colonies and the United States. Until the Allied invented new technology to fight the submarine threat, the German submarine campaign proved to be very effective in reducing the supplies the allies needed to carry out the war effort.
Machine Gun
The machine gun was extremely effective and deadly – some could fire between 500-700 bullets every minute. The machine gun led soldiers to create trenches to simply survive on the modern battlefield.
The Airplane
The airplane never reached its full potential as an offensive weapon of war until WWII. In WWI the airplane was first used as an observation platform to identify enemy troop movements. A logical response to stop this practice was to shoot down these observation aircraft with planes equipped with machine guns and hence the fighter plane was born. Bombers were developed later in the war but proved to be largely ineffective due to limited carrying capacity, as well as slow speed and improper use.
